| Original Message: Koli, Kori, Segi etc. |
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Jim Lankton, O. Akin Ige & Thilo Rehren have recently published a paper titled "Early Primary Glass Production in Southern Nigeria" [published in Journal of African Archaeology, Vol. 4(1)]. Fragments of glass working crucibles, of ritual glass objects and of drawn glass beads found in Ile-Ife (Nigeria) were analysed. A very unusual high-lime, high-alumina type of glass was found in the crucibles, which matched the composition of certain dark blue drawn beads and some of the blue and green glass fragments also found in the aje ileke (kori stones). Because similar high-lime, high-alumina glasses have been found in West Africa only and glasses of a similar composition are not known from Europe, the Middle East or Asia, the glass cannot have been imported from said geographical areas. Above authors interpret their findings "to propose the primary manufacture of high-lime, high-alumina glass in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 2nd millennium CE, with glass production centered in southern Nigeria and quite possibly near Ile-Ife". Their results not only provide the first strong evidence for early glass production in West Africa, but they also indicate that certain drawn beads that had formerly been ascribed to European or Middle Eastern origins were indeed manufactured locally, in southern Nigeria. One of the beads depicted in the paper shows an opaque, drawn so-called "segi" bead. Cheers Evelyn All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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