Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Beads Found Along With Small Metallic Objects A Little Over A Week Ago. |
I previously posted a variety of miscellaneous small metallic finds, including a few pieces of melted silver. These beads were found the same day as some of those finds and in the same general vicinity. I've been researching beads to see if I can find any evidence of their age.
I've found a lot of information about beads of the Spanish Colonial period as well as earlier and later periods.
Manifests show many beads, sometimes hundreds of thousands per shipment, being imported to the New World by the Spanish for a variety of purposes. Deagan's book, Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1600: Vol. 2, Portable Personal Possessions, shows that most of those beads were glass, but others were jet, aquamarine, pearls, wood, crystal, coral or amber, and some of silver. Clay or terracotta was not mentioned in those listings.
It appears to me that these beads are clay or terracotta.
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| End of Bead Showing Clay Composition. |
If I knew this bead was centuries old, the condition would make me think that it came from the dunes.
The other small items that I discussed yesterday seem like they could also be from recent dune erosion.
I once found a small gold bead on the same wreck beach. I've told about that before. It wasn't easy to find after it was detected by the metal detector. I had it along with some shell sand on my detector coil and could hear when it was moved, but still had a hard time seeing it.
In the process of trying to find evidence of the likely age of this bead, I found some good information and resources even if I didn't find any positive answers.
Below is a link to The History of Trade Beads on the Peach State Archaeological Society web site.
Here is the introductory paragraph.
October 12, 1492, Columbus recorded in his logbook the natives of San Salvador Island were given red caps and glass beads. This is the earliest written record of glass beads in the Americas. The Spanish explorer Hernando Cortéz landed on the coast of Mexico in the spring of 1519. His ships carried glass beads along with other European trade goods. The Spanish explorers Narváez in 1527 and De Soto in 1539 carried glass beads for trade with the native inhabitants of Florida.
Glass beads were by far the most common. You will find a few from the Atocha listed in the MelFisher artifact database.
Here is detailed academic study of 16th century beads in South America.
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33813391/FEINZIG-DOCUMENT-2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Among the beads of the native populations, stone and shell were common materials.
I thought that clay or terracotta beads would be among the most common, but that does not seem to be the case. Many of the materials used to create beads have a symbolic significance, which is one reason that materials that are more difficult to work and form might be used more often than easily workable clay.
At this point I can't say if the beads are old or not. I'm still looking for evidence that might point one way or the other.
The other small items that I discussed yesterday seem like they could also be from recent dune erosion.
I once found a small gold bead on the same wreck beach. I've told about that before. It wasn't easy to find after it was detected by the metal detector. I had it along with some shell sand on my detector coil and could hear when it was moved, but still had a hard time seeing it.
In the process of trying to find evidence of the likely age of this bead, I found some good information and resources even if I didn't find any positive answers.
Below is a link to The History of Trade Beads on the Peach State Archaeological Society web site.
October 12, 1492, Columbus recorded in his logbook the natives of San Salvador Island were given red caps and glass beads. This is the earliest written record of glass beads in the Americas. The Spanish explorer Hernando Cortéz landed on the coast of Mexico in the spring of 1519. His ships carried glass beads along with other European trade goods. The Spanish explorers Narváez in 1527 and De Soto in 1539 carried glass beads for trade with the native inhabitants of Florida.
Glass beads were by far the most common. You will find a few from the Atocha listed in the MelFisher artifact database.
Here is detailed academic study of 16th century beads in South America.
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33813391/FEINZIG-DOCUMENT-2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Among the beads of the native populations, stone and shell were common materials.
I thought that clay or terracotta beads would be among the most common, but that does not seem to be the case. Many of the materials used to create beads have a symbolic significance, which is one reason that materials that are more difficult to work and form might be used more often than easily workable clay.
At this point I can't say if the beads are old or not. I'm still looking for evidence that might point one way or the other.
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A quick survey of Shipwrecks In The Americas by Robert E. Marx, shows the following 16th century wrecks listed as wrecking near Fort Pierce.
1551. Nao San Nicolas, 200 tons, Captain Juan Christoval, was wrecked near Fort Pierce and the Indians recovered a great deal of what it carried....
1554. The ship of Farfan (probably its owner) sand near Fort Pierce, richly laden with gold and silver...
1564. A Spanish historian briefly mentions the los of three ships of Don Juan Menendez on the Florida coast near Fort Pierce.
Sometime before 1570. The ship Vizcayo, on which Don Anton Grandado was a passenger, wrecked richly laden near Fort Pierce inlet...
Sometime before 1570. A Spanish privateer, El Mulato, wrecked, richly laden, near Fort Pierce….
That is only a small sample of the 16th century wrecks of Florida. There are many other 16th century wrecks listed simply as wrecking along the coast of Florida, or near Cape Canaveral or in the Bahama channel. In addition, there are many more wrecks from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
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The price of gold seems to be making a comeback this morning after falling last week.
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The surf predictions are beginning to look more encouraging for next weekend.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com |
Treasureguide@comcast.net
