The Ancient Beads of Bahrain: A Study of Ornaments from the Dilmun and Tylos Eras

Abstract

This work represents the first in-depth study of the ancient beads of Bahrain ever attempted. It examines a select group of such beads, comprising a sample of 4,813 specimens recovered from various archaeological sites in Bahrain by means of excavation, in order to isolate their most essential features; that is, those aspects of the beads most crucial to an archaeological understanding and appreciation of ornaments of this sort. It then proceeds to describe and analyze these essential features whilst at the same time constructing a bead typology particular to the Bahrain Islands, something which had never existed before and which is made available through this work for the first time. Using both the essential features and the typology produced by them, the study then employs these as avenues through which it examines not only the cultural and socio-economic development of the Dilmun and Tylos eras (i.e., the Bronze and Iron Ages on the Bahrain Islands), but also the important role played by beads as markers of such development throughout these overarching chronological epochs.