Collection of Beads

These beads were found together in the 10th-century Cirebon shipwreck. Most of them are made from semi-precious stones, mainly chalcedony, which includes carnelian (orange) and agate (banded). They vary in colour from cream to orange to grey, some transparent and others opaque. They are roughly circular in form, generally with a concave depression around the hole openings due to the drilling process.

Three of the beads are of dark brown glass, one of which may be an ‘eye bead’ (decorated with dots). Rather than having holes drilled through them, they were made using the winding technique. This involved wrapping them around a rod while the glass was molten. Two further beads in the group are made from shell.