| Original Message: Nothing fancy - I use Wikipedia a lot and go from there! |
|---|
|
And I'd encourage you to donate a small amount each year (like $10) to the Wikipedia Foundation to help them stay in operation. As far as the potential looting of ancient sites - let's face it, unless you buy your beads from an archeology department that had gotten permission from the owners of the site where they were excavated - all ancient (1000+ years old) beads we encounter on the marketplace have been taken from burial or other sites, by locals or foreign adventurers. With maybe the exception (and I believe this would be a very small percentage) of some heirloom beads that were passed down for generations for hundreds to thousands of years. Certainly some pema raka and dzi beads would fall into the latter category. African and other trade beads from the Colonial Era on up to present times are "sometimes" taken from grave sites but I believe the vast majority have been in circulation or in collections in their respective countries since their introduction. This is just my humble opinion and it might be interesting to hear some other ideas on the travels of ancient beads that we can buy on today's market. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
|
|