Robert Bednarik published a paper in 2006 that may be of interest to bead collectors in the study and interpretation of symbols, symbology, and their potential meanings and communication. The paper is thought-provoking for those willing to wade through it. My apologies if the article was previously posted, if so I could not find it in the BCN archives.

“Without doubt the technological deductions beads permit us are of great interest, but of perhaps more importance are the cultural and cognitive deductions they make possible… beads convey a great deal more information about their makers and users than their history.”

http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/semiotics/cyber/rbednarik4.pdf ....(cut and paste)

Robert Bednarik: Lecture No. 4. Beads, symbolism and self-awareness, Semiotix Course 2006, Cognition and symbolism in human evolution

“Semiotics is the multidisciplinary study of information, meaning, communication, interpretation, sign systems and evolution, texts, interactions, organizations, cultural and social transformations, sense-making and all other topics that may emerge from future research, models and theories.”

https://semioticon.com

Robert G. Bednarik: https://semioticon.com/pool/robert-g-bednarik/