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Posts from Heddels for 08/21/2023
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By Zach Liollio on Aug 21, 2023 12:01 am
Chromatic pieces of smooth glass. Like their precious stone counterparts, the history of trade beads is a dichotomy of exploitation and art, of conquest and native cultures. The interaction of European colonial powers with African and Native American tribes is best described as “complex.” Like the universe itself, our understanding of this interaction continues to expand to this today and evolves with each successive generation. After all, cultural exchanges go both ways. Exquisitely manufactured goods from Europe, which included artisanal glassware, were traded for raw materials and other resources to supply an industrializing world. In turn, everything from music to cuisine and even artistic design felt the eternal influence of indigenous peoples.
This exchange wasn’t purely transactional, however. While the old platitude that “money is the root of all evil” may ring true, the real culprit is moral bankruptcy; when suffering is inflicted on others for material gain. Trade beads — while simple and vibrant—represent human artistry, cultural expression, and the many tears of suffering shed in the hot sand.
What is a Trade Bead?
Here are some Pre-Columbian North American examples of jewelry crafted by indigenous peoples—in this case, the Anasazi or Ancestral Pueblos of the American Southwest. Images via an anonymous collector.
Defining beads and how they became symbols of commerce is a history lesson in itself. Beads, in one form or another, have been around since prehistoric times. If you enjoy modern fashion, then you have a lot to thank early cave dwellers for—many archaeologists believe that beads originated as the first form of personal adornment. The earliest likely examples were made from marine shells in Africa. In France, beads and other jewelry carved from bone were found at a prominent Neanderthal site. So important are these artifacts that bead trading may be one of the reasons that we developed spoken languages.
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