A Preliminary Overview of Ancient Egyptian Stone Beads

Abstract

Stone beads are one of the most common artifacts of ancient Egypt, but despite this they have received little attention from scholars. The first and only attempt at a comprehensive study is the late 1930’s investigation of Nai Xia, who looked at beads in all materials at what is now the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London, UK. The present survey builds on the work of Xia, and offers summaries on two aspects of stone beads: first, the relative amounts of rock and mineral varieties used during each period of Egyptian history; and second, the changes in bead form, perforation and polish through time for broad categories of stone.