faience and glass beads from the late bronze - Department of ...

17prove the best resource for bead studies. Late Bronze Age graves containing beadssimilar in style to those from Uluburun occur throughout ancient Greece, Cyprus,southern Anatolia, the Syro-Palestinian coast, and Egypt. Datable bead deposits that donot constitute grave goods, while considerably less frequent, are also discussed.Faience BeadsThe faience beads recovered from the Uluburun shipwreck form eight generalcategories, as outlined in Table 2.1. 4Some categories include one or more subcategoriesrepresenting beads exhibiting slight differences in decoration, proportion, or techniqueof manufacture.There are a few exceptional faience beads with patches of preserved glaze,always bright blue in color. The overwhelming majority of faience beads, however, nolonger retains any original glazing. Due to the attrition caused by the marineenvironment, the original glazed surface is often completely eroded, leaving the beadwith a pitted, granular, friable surface and giving the illusion of a gray or white color.Such erosion also increases the bead’s porosity and consequently its susceptibility tostaining resulting from other agents in close proximity.4 The common name for each category was selected to represent that category’s most recognizable feature,usually referring to its decoration, form, or size.