Cattle for beads: the archaeology of historical contact and trade on the Namib Coast

Cattle for beads: the archaeology of historical contact and trade on the Namib Coast is about classification, description and chemical analyses of glass trade beads.
Kinahan, Jill
cattle-for-beads
91-506-1335-9
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Title: Cattle for beads
Subtitle: The archaeology of historical contact and trade on the Namib Coast
Author: Jill Kinahan
Series: Studies in African Archaeology 17
Uppsala Department of Archaeology and Ancient History
Namibia Archaeological Trust
Windhoek, Namibia 2000
ISBN 9150613359 / ISBN 91-506-1335-9
Softcover, 21x30 cm, 119 pages, 22 tables, 62 figures, 15 colour plates, 3 appendices

Description: Cattle for beads: the archaeology of historical contact and trade on the Namib Coast

Early contacts between indigenous pastoralists at Walvis Bay on the Namib Coast and Western seafarers are poorly documented and little understood. Trade augmented regional exchange networks with a range of archaeologically visible and easily identifiable objects, in this thesis I use a parallel classification and seriation of glass beads and imported ceramics to develop relative dating techniques. The sequence identifies three phases of social and economic change. Until the nineteenth century, wealthy pastoralists controlled external trade and the circulation of goods inland. By the mid nineteenth century, British merchants had set up commercial operations at Walvis Bay and the regional network had broken down. Archaeological and documentary evidence agree that by the end of the nineteenth century, indigenous pastoralism at Walvis Bay had collapsed, and the people were dependent upon wage-labour, charity and scavenging. Techniques developed here use trade goods to provide high resolution dating, and other archaeological evidence to shed new light on the indigenous response to contact. These methods may be applicable to similar situations of contact arising from the global spread of Western commerce.

Description: Cattle for beads. The archaeology of historical contact and trade on the Namib Coast

ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
REVIEW OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE !KHUISEB DELTA
HISTORY OF THE NAMIB COAST
EARLY EXPLORATION
OFFSHORE TRADE
EXPANSION OF THE CAPE MARKET
MERCHANTS TAKE OVER TRADE
COLONIZATION
THE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT
THE NAMIB COAST
THE STUDY AREA
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND RESULTS
SURVEY METHODS
SURVEY RESULTS
MATERIAL EVIDENCE
FAUNAL REMAINS
ARTEFACT ASSEMBLAGES
!KHUISEB DELTA CONTACT SEQUENCE
TRADE BEADS
REVIEW OF GLASS BEAD RESEARCH
BEAD CLASSIFICATION
RESULTS
SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS
CERAMICS
CERAMIC WARES
CERAMIC CLASSIFICATION
RESULTS
SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDIX 1: GLASS BEAD VARIETIES
APPENDIX 2: CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
APPENDIX 3: KEY TO SITE NAMES AND REFERENCE NUMBERS

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