Editing Beadwork (section)

== Ancient beading ==
[[File:String of blue faience ball and cylinder beads MET 22.1.1280.jpg|thumb|A string of blue faience beads from north [[Lisht]], a village in the [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphite region]] of Egypt, c. 1802–1450 B.C.]]
The art of creating and utilizing beads is ancient, and ostrich shell beads discovered in Africa can be carbon-dated to 10,000 BC.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Dubin|first=Lois Sherr|title=The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|year=2009|isbn=978-0810951747|location=New York|pages=16}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last1=Sciama|first1=Lidia D.|url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beads-and-bead-makers-9781859739952/|title=Beads and Bead Makers: Gender, Material Culture and Meaning (Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women)|last2=Eicher|first2=Joanne B.|authorlink2=Joanne Eicher|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=1998|isbn=978-1859739952|pages=1–3}}</ref> [[Egyptian faience|Faience]] beads, a type of ceramic created by mixing powdered clays, lime, soda, and silica sand with water until a paste forms, then molding it around a stick or straw and firing until hard, were notably used in [[ancient Egypt]]ian jewelry from the [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First Dynasty]] (beginning in the [[Bronze Age|early Bronze Age]]) onward.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dee|first1=Michael|last2=Wengrow|first2=David|last3=Shortland|first3=Andrew|last4=Stevenson|first4=Alice|last5=Brock|first5=Fiona|last6=Girdland Flink|first6=Linus|last7=Bronk Ramsey|first7=Christopher|date=2013-11-08|title=An absolute chronology for early Egypt using radiocarbon dating and Bayesian statistical modelling|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|language=en|volume=469|issue=2159|pages=20130395|doi=10.1098/rspa.2013.0395|issn=1364-5021|pmc=3780825|pmid=24204188|bibcode=2013RSPSA.46930395D }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Peck|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MV8UAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT192|title=The Material World of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-1107276383}}</ref> Faience and other ceramic beads with [[Vitrification|vitrified]] [[quartz]] coatings predate pure glass beads.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Dubin|first=Lois Sherr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7tOAQAAIAAJ|title=The Worldwide History of Beads: Ancient, Ethnic, Contemporary|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2010|isbn=9780500515006}}</ref>

Beads and work created with them were found near-ubiquitously across the ancient world, often made of locally available materials. For example, the [[Alaskan Athabaskans|Athabaskan]] peoples of [[Alaska]] used [[tusk shell]]s ([[Tusk shell|scaphopod mollusks]]), which are naturally hollow, as beads and incorporated them into elaborate jewelry.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dubin|first=Lois Sherr|title=The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present|publisher=Abrams|year=2009|isbn=978-0810951747|location=New York|pages=463}}</ref>

Beadwork has historically been used for [[Prayer beads|religious purposes]], as good luck [[talisman]]s, for barter and trade, and for ritual exchange.<ref name=":2" />