Measly but motley and manifest: The typological and chemical characterisations of glass beads from the Southern Waterberg, Limpopo Province of South Africa

While glass beads are the unequivocal proxy for the long-distance trade that linked southern Africa with the wider world, their frequency occurrence on farmer sites is highly variable. Archaeological research in the Southern Waterberg on sites linked to pre-colonial mining (especially of tin) and metal trade, has retrieved only twenty-five glass beads from the two sites (Smelterskop and Rhenosterkloof 1). The present study reports on the typological and chemical characterization of these beads, as well as their implications for the chronology and patterns of precolonial trade in this area. The bead series (15th to 19th century AD) are congruent with the C-14 dates and the culture-historical data but they also provide new information that extents our currently patchy knowledge borders on glass beads from the region. The meagre evidence of glass beads in the Southern Waterberg is consistent with low bead frequencies in the wider area throughout the Second Millennium AD. This contrasts with coeval settlements in gold producing areas north of the Limpopo that are endowed with rich exotic goods. This suggests the immediately local nature of trade, in which down the line intermediaries traded in local forms of production. Additionally, the low frequencies of glass beads in this area may as well be a partial reflection of the large sieve diameters used during excavations.