Malian Strand of Beads

Blue and teal for the most part, with a few yellow beads that wandered in and stayed.

This strand of beads comes from Mali, West Africa, and dates to the early 1st century, in excavated glass, roughly 2000 years old. Ancient glass beads unearthed in Mali are generally thought to have reached the region through long-distance trade, though where and when individual beads were made is often debated. These are small disc and short cylinder beads in weathered blue and blue-green. Scattered among them are a handful in pale yellow and white. Burial has given the glass a soft, matte surface with faint iridescence in places. The strand is 14 inches long.

Two thousand years underground, and still on speaking terms with color.