Toward a Systematic Analysis of Archeological Beads? A View from the Lower Falemme, Senegal

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Toward a Systematic Analysis of Archeological Beads? A View from the Lower Falemme, Senegal
Authors:	DeCorse, Christopher R. Richard, François G. Thiaw, Ibrahima
Year:	2003
Periodical:	Journal of African Archaeology
Volume:	1
Issue:	1
Pages:	77-109
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Senegal
Subjects:	archaeology beadwork chronology Anthropology and Archaeology
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/43134713
Abstract:	Beads testify to local and regional exchange networks throughout West Africa. The analysis of a bead collection - consisting of 474 mainly European-made beads - recently recovered from the Lower Falemme area of Senegal provides an empirical illustration of the untapped potential of beads as sources of temporal information. The Lower Falemme provides a relevant geographic lens for assessing the material impacts of European capitalism on the sociopolitical systems of the Upper Senegal River. While locally produced ceramics lend significant insights into issues of timing, trade imports - beads most particularly - play an important role in chronologically situating sites and material assemblages. This paper presents a systematic bead description system and examines its utility with reference to the Falemme assemblage. The resulting data point to 19th-century occupations, a period that is corroborated by associated trade import and local ceramic assemblages, as well as available documentation. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French. [ASC Leiden abstract]