Stefany,
I can't give you the true age of these beads but my feeling on these pecked hole beads is that they are some of the earliest stone beads made. This said my guess on age would be in excess of 5,000 years.

All my best ........ Danny

please would you like to show and/or explain?

was photographed and interviewed at Ilorin in 1998. Metal (iron or steel) peckers were collected. Witnessed a polishing demonstration. Also at Ilorin, three old powder glass workers were interviewed with a demonstration. The jasper or "lantana" beads are common and you no doubt have some. It's an ancient industry, probably Hausa using material from the Northern Nigeria area.

There's an old article in "MAN" titled "Stone Beads from Ilorin", I think (ask Beadman). Also, a hint that the same work went on at Bida, although Etsu Nupe was not aware of it.

What does the literature say about pecking? Can you do it without metal tools? I would think the conical perfs are bow drilled. Visit the experts on these techniques. Meanwhile, some of the "neolithic" stuff would appear to be Cambay or some such. "Neolithic" is another standard marketing term to add flavor to value when selling.

The clay stuff? Always suspicious. JP used to say, at least, they're not new. They're pretty clean, intact, and uniform to have been dug up in these quantities. There's the other theory that they're made from powdered shards of old pottery, hence the "ancient" dating of these beads. It's been done with new pottery fakes.

Can you peck hard stone with deer antlers or some such?

part of an article from African Arts Vol. 19, No. 4 by Ann O'Hear on Ilorin Lantana Beads.

From what I have been told, some of these beads may indeed be in the range of a thousand or thousands of years old, but.........it is also quite possible a fair number of them are no more than a few hundred years old. The techniques of pecking, grinding on a stone etc could easily have been used much more recent than we would think, simply because more modern techniques were not yet available in parts of Africa.

I'm hoping Thomas will add to this discussion too....

The Dani people in the Balim Valley in Irian Jaya were living in a Neolithic age when visited in 1938 AD.
The bauxite Abo beads made in Ghana and jasper Lantana beads made in Nigeria were still pecked on a big scale in the first half of the 20th century.

so what can anyone tell me about the tiny unglazed pottery beads, also said to be very old?

Hi Stefany,
somewhere in my apartment there must be a copy of a french document on unearthed "Dogon" pottery beads, but I can't find it at the moment. What I remember from that report, the tested beads were ± 600 - 700 years old. But I think a lot of this kind of beads are still made easy and not that old.

These small clay beads are known as tomb beads. They were supposedly made around a plant stem or small stick which burned away during the firing process. They come from Mali and the old ones were available many years ago. The beads currently being sold on the market are new.

Alok Kanungo is an archeologist who has worked closely with James Lankton. during a dig in India he found stone beads that were dated at 4,000 BC (neolithic). the book can be found on the Internet, it shows stone beads identical to the beads excavated in Mali. He also did research and a dig on ancient glass beads manufactured in India. I have the report with pictures if anyone would like a copy please contact me with your email address and I will be happy to send it.

I'm still not used to look in the BCN private mail option, but happy it's there!
I've sending you a reply, thx for the offer

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=%2Fopenforum%2F&tK=neolithic+beadman&wT=1&yVz=yTz&aO=1&hIz=3000&hJz=2000&cmd=find&by=&xcfgfs=tK-wT-yVz-aO-hKz

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=%2Fopenforum%2F&tK=neolithic+beadman&wT=1&yVz=yTz&aO=1&hIz=4000&hJz=3000&cmd=find&by=&xcfgfs=tK-wT-yVz-aO-hKz

so i agree for these sorts of beads the term "Neolithic" is always used rashly- it may only refer to the technology rather than any time period, up to C20th... and craftsmen and lapidary metal hand tools are known.
Maybe there will be even more convincing visible evidence one day that links the beads most specifically to one tradition, whatever the descriptive name may be.

i generally see Lantana beads as elongated shapes, of cornelian, and recognise many as the typical shapes from India.

meanwhile those pottery beads- i've been told several times that they are found in sealed
burial jars in Mali. etc. has anyone here seen them being made?

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=%2Fopenforum%2F&tK=lantana&wT=1&yVz=yTz&aO=1&hIz=4000&hJz=3000&cmd=find&by=&xcfgfs=tK-wT-yVz-aO-hKz

Off to educate myself some more.....!!!

I totally get "neolithic" in age/dating and "neolithic" relative to a specific culture's technological development.

It doesn't detract from the value of these beads for me, but it reinforces my 'system' when it comes to collecting beads, fwiw.

I always consider the price compared to how much I love the beads themselves. I'll pay more if they are worth it TO ME.

I feel that sometimes I get a deal and a real bargain, and other times I get hosed. If I don't get caught up in 'worth' and 'investment', then I can roll with both.

Jamey, thank you for the clarification.

One of the reasons Joyce and David from BCN have worked so hard to keep the BCN Forum software is to keep all the old posts still available and easy to search. There is such a wealth of information there!
I use this option a lot.
I actually even use it to sometimes search my own old posts. So even though you are always free to ask questions, it is also good to have a look by searching. You'll usually find something on any bead that is out there.....

From Scott Semans (coincoin.com) I have that beads like this one are used by the brides-to-be of the Mandinka, to show they are about to marry and are waiting for their beloved (which is somewhere in the bush collecting more precious goodies for her).
They are made of jasper, and show pecked, very small, not strait perforations.
The speciment shown is 36,5 mm long,but I own several more, both larger and smaller.
As I am about to upload them to my web page, educated information would make me happy.