Unisa online - The glass of Chibuene

Dr Marilee Wood discusses the morphology of some of the thousands of beads she has examined at the site of Chibuene in southern Mozambique

Unisa’s Department of Anthropology and Archaeology hosted independent researcher Dr Marilee Wood, a specialist in researching African beads on 27 March 2012. Her presentation focused on the Chibuene beads series which were found on the site of Chibuene, just south of Vilanculos in southern Mozambique. This site has produced thousands of glass beads and shards.

Her discussion examined these artefacts morphologically and through chemical analysis to piece together where they came from and who was bringing them from distant ports. She said the Chibuene beads were very small and almost all the beads were grey. When tracing the origins of the Chibuene bead series, she examined well over a 1000 beads from the site, but it was difficult to determine where the beads were made.

Speaking about the inhabitants of Chibuene, Dr Wood said there was evidence that Chibuene was a cosmopolitan area, with mixed populations, which was made possible through the ancient port’s thriving trade with distant cultures in the Indian Ocean from at least the 8th century up to the mid 10th century.

Dr Wood has developed numerous bead series over the years such as the Zhizo, Indo-Pacific, Mapungubwe, Zimbabwe and Khami series. Zhizo beads are related to the Chibuene beads. Discussing their similarities, she said these beads accounted for 85% of the beads found at the Chibuene site.

Some of Dr Wood’s other findings revealed that southern Africa was not an end-of-the-line trading outpost but was a key in world trade in this early period.