A cowrie shell from the Red Sea/Indian Ocean, found in a 7th-century grave at Aldeburgh, Suffolk.pic.twitter.com/PkD6JHgyNK
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One interesting feature of the distribution of Indo-Pacific beads is the sheer number found at both extremities of Eurasia — they occur in their thousands and on a significant number of sites in both Late Yayoi/Kofun Japan and Late Antique western Europe...pic.twitter.com/yC8egiHNXj
(Incidentally, the above maps are from http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935413.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935413-e-46 … & https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352226716300095 …; note, the finds of Indo-Pacific beads from Kofun Japan are even more numerous than those from the Yayoi period).
Some Indo-Pacific beads found in Japan; for more on such finds, see 'The Far East, Southeast and South Asia: Indo-Pacific Beads from Yayoi Tombs as Indicators of Early Maritime Exchange', by Oga Katsuhiko & Sunil Gupta — https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02666030.2000.9628581?needAccess=true …pic.twitter.com/FvFHQkDR8m
Of course, not just Indo-Pacific beads found in Kofun Japan; here's a Roman glass bead found in the early 5th-century AD Utsukushi no.1 burial mound in Nagaoka-kyo, Japan: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/17691 pic.twitter.com/os8IhYwyAO
Returning to the far west of Eurasia, here's an excellent paper on Red Sea/Indian Ocean trade with western Europe and England in the 5th–7thC focusing on elephant ivory rings: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uvN7DgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA131#v=onepage&q&f=false …pic.twitter.com/LP3HlDXnS1
Well over 100 elephant ivory rings—cut from the base of a tusk of an African savannah elephant—are known from 5th- to 7th-century England alone, with many more known from continental cemeteries; the latter are thought to reflect 'a heavy inflow of the material' in the 5th–7thC.pic.twitter.com/9UnWvooSv2
The distribution of Red Sea/Indian Ocean cowrie shells in 6th- to 7th-century NW Europe; like ivory rings, they are found in substantial quantities and over a large geographical range: https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2006-07_J._Drauschke,_%27Byzantine%27_and_%27oriental%27_imports_in_the_Merovingian_Empire.pdf …pic.twitter.com/VLK6nU3Gy8
Fwiw, Drauschke notes for NW Europe as a whole that Red Sea/Indian Ocean goods are not only found in large+increasing quantities in the 6th- to 7th-centuries, but are also not 'components only of high-status graves', esp. c.570–680, a point Hills likewise makes for ivory rings…
Importantly, similar points can be made re: the Indo-Pacific beads found in their thousands in early medieval Europe, which occur in graves presenting 'varying “degrees of richness”. The beads thus do not appear to be the prerogative of a privileged few': https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352226716300095 …pic.twitter.com/wL0jTLxVqd
Two more imported elephant ivory rings found in Anglo-Saxon graves, from Sleaford (Lincolnshire) and Dover (Kent): http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=96898&partId=1 … & http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=755613001&objectId=1341153&partId=1 …pic.twitter.com/h5HL1R3PZB
A 6th-century Frankish bird brooch decorated with Indian garnets and a pearl: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464859 …pic.twitter.com/giSAtwMKA7
A cowrie shell from the Red Sea or Indian Ocean found in an Anglo-Saxon grave in Lincolnshire: http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html …pic.twitter.com/uuH1VV03d3
A 7th-centuy Frankish brooch set with garnets and a sapphire that probably originated in Sri Lanka: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/465373 …pic.twitter.com/qkF500OBCQ
Votive crown of King Recceswinth, 7thC AD, made of gold, rock crystal, pearls and sapphires: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orfebrería_visigoda_en_el_MAN_(14234939376)_(2).jpg …pic.twitter.com/wfVa66oAmw
A late 5th-/early 6th-century paten made from gold, turquoise and Indian/Sri Lankan garnets; found with early 6th-century Byzantine coins and a chalice near Gourdon, France: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trésor_de_Gourdon_02.JPG …pic.twitter.com/UuO541gbks
Can you see a drop in the number of these evidence after the plague of the 540s (K Harper says it led to Europeans turning inwards) or after the 630s (Pirenne's thesis)? Or was everything chummy, no breaks?
Of beads? Yes, definitely what's seen in Europe, a mid sixth century drop off.
Thanks a lot, your previous tweets got me worried for a while
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