I know I’ve been writing about beads many times before, but beads really do something to me, especially historical beads. They are so beautiful, so well-made and so unique.


Did you know that the first objects made from glass were in fact beads?

It is a bit unclear exactly when the art of glass making was invented, but it is at least 5000 years old. We know that in Anatolia, they knew how to put melted glass onto amulets and beads made from stones and leather. The first beads made from glass appears around 3000 BC at Nippur in Mesopotamia. The oldest glass bead workshops was discovered in Egypt dated to around 1500 BC.

Beads from the Stone age/Bronze age and the Merovingian period.

Photo 1: T11924 – Amber bead from Frosta, Stone age/Bronze age.
Photo 2: T809 – Glass bead from Dalem, Late Roman Period/ Merovingian period.
Photo 3: T22012:10 – Glass bead from Flatanger, Merovingian period.
Photo 4: T22012:13 – Glass bead from Flatanger, Merovingian period.
Photo 5: T21520:125 – Glass bead from Nærøysund, Merovingian period/ Viking age.
Photo 6: T22012:9 – Glass bead from Flatanger, Merovingian period.
Photo 7: T22012:6 – Glass bead from Flatanger, Merovingian period.
Photo 8: T22012:5 – Glass bead from Flatanger, Merovingian period.

Photo 1-2: Ole Bjørn Pedersen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo 3-8: Caroline Fredriksen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Glass has always been highly valued. Drinking glasses and glass beads were both rare and expensive luxury goods that were used exclusively by the upper class. Glass, along with precious stones, gold and ivory, were used as inlays in jewelry, weapons and furniture, and glass beads were often included as an addition in necklaces along with gold and precious stones.

Photo 1: T18605 – Collection of beads from Sunndal, Viking age
Photo 2: T2167 – Collection of beads from Steinkjer, Late Iron age
Photo 3: T8365 – Collection of beads from Heim, Late Iron Age/ Merovingian period
Photo 4: T18198:g – Collection of beads from Rauma, Viking age
Photo 5: T9263 – Collection of beads from Tingvoll, Viking age
Photo 6: T14060:c – Collection of beads from Rauma, Viking age

Photo 1: Izabela Rzadeczka-Juga, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo 2: Caroline Fredriksen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo 3-6: Ole Bjørn Pedersen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Beads are very commonly found in graves from the Migration period, the Merovingian period and the Viking age. They were often used to show wealth, status and power, but they were also probably loved because of their beautiful appearance. The huge amount of glass beads found in Scandinavian Merovingian and Viking age graves, shows that these beautiful treasures were very fashionable and beloved. In Lovö, in Sweden, there is a child grave dated to the Viking age containing over 700 glass beads, and at Hestnes, Norway, they found over 300 miniature beads in one grave during an excavation during the summer of 2020.

Most often we see beads made of glass, but there are also beads made by amber, metal, bone, natural stone and ceramics too. Some of the glass beads have only one color, others are detailed mosaic beads with different beautiful colors.

Photo 1: T2785 – Bead from Stjørdal, Early/Late Roman Period/ Migration Period/ Iron age
Photo 2: T11094 – Bead from Alstahaug, Late Iron age
Photo 3: T553 – Beads from Trondheim, Late Iron age
Photo 4: T20716:2 – Bead from Osen, Late Iron age
Photo 5: T23253 – Bead from Sunndal, Late Iron age

Photo 1-4: Ole Bjørn Pedersen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo 5: Per E. Fredriksen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Glass beads also were an important piece of merchandise throughout history as it was a expensive, exclusive object. Working well as ballast in ships, they could easily be transported over long distances, and they reached even the most remote areas. In many cases, the first contracts and trade connections between different cultures can be connected to glass beads.

From the Viking Age, the production of glass bead has been known in trading places and political centers, such as Kaupang, Ribe and Birka, just to mention some. We know both about the finished beads and the bead makers’ waste and therefore we have a fairly precise picture of the glass bead production of the Viking Age.

Photo 1: T14060:d – Glass and clay beads from Rauma, Viking age
Photo 2: T16136:c – Glass bead from Værnes, Viking age
Photo 3: T26325:4 – Glass bead from Overhalla, Early /Late Iron age
Photo 4: T4976 – Amber bead from Rennebu, Late Iron age
Photo 5: T26325:5 – Glass bead form Overhalla, Early /Late Iron age
Photo 6: T13711:e – Glass beads from Ørland, Viking age
Photo 7: T10650 – Rock crystal beads from Namsos, Viking age
Photo 8: T1078 – Rock crystal bead from Ørland, Viking age
Photo 9: T21291:11 – Glass beads from Oppdal, Viking age

Photo 1-8: Ole Bjørn Pedersen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo 9: NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, CC BY-SA 4.0

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What kind of beads are your favorite?