3,000 YEAR OLD GLASS BEADS at "Britain's Pompeii" came from Iran

The newly released excavation report, 'Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement': Volume 2, Chapter 17, concerns itself with the necklace and beads found at the site. Buried in the chapter is truly one of the most remarkable aspects of the whole excavation to come out: that the people who lived here possessed exotica from way beyond their assumed reach - that the glass beads in a necklace came from 3,000 miles away in Iran.
"Britain's Pompeii" - Must Farm - is not just a Bronze Age settlement of ordinary farming folk. These people had wealth, influence very likely - and connection.
MUST FARM ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT VOL 1: www.repository...
MUST FARM ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT VOL 2: www.repository...
00:00 - Introduction & Overview
02:14 - 56 beads
03:11 - Must Farm excavation report
04:30 - As reported by the BBC
06:22 - “4,500 kilometers is a long way!”
07:43 - How do they know the beads came from Iran?
08:53 - The Uluburun Shipwreck
09:30 - More from the BBC article
11:22 - The amber bead
12:01 - A wealthy household?
14:07 - The Must Farm wagon wheel
15:00 - Specialist traders/artesans?
17:16 - The fragility of archaeological preservation & discovery
18:51 - Outro & goodbyes
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[@badfairy9554]

Awesome. Beads always a sign of friendships.

[@genier7829]

Every time I watch you two I think of my late father who would have LOVED all the ancient archeology made public in the past 10 years since his death. And especially KZbin which makes it so accessible. I remember him coming back from a trip to England in 1976 with multiple photos of grassy mounds with a pen for scale.......ancient burial mounds. Our last trip was for his 90th birthday. He was the oldest visitor ever to climb down the ladder at Grime's Graves.

[@randomcomputer7248]

The best thing about the internet era. Learning is nearly limitless and channels are now looking very professional. You can tap into other people passions and learn.

[@badfairy9554]

sorry for your loss.

[@thundercatshooo600]

I'm currently in Cordoba because of the Prehistoric Guys, visiting the Dolmen de Menga in the next few days. It's beautiful here.

[@dianespears6057]

Must Farm - yay! Dr. Sheridan on Must Farm beads - double yay. Thank you for covering it.

[@stephenlatimer1428]

hi from australia. love this channel. the first few seconds is the best explanation of human existence i have heard.

[@Ari-jj9op]

"...before stuff got messed up by people writing about it..." needs to be your tag line!

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

Our ancestors were so much more sophisticated than they are given credit for having been.

[@CostaCola]

But... but... I don't want to hear about rich nuance and fascinatingly complicated but illustratable processes our ancestors devised; I just want to hand-wave everything that I don't understand at first glance as the clear work of aliens! How else can I pretend to be smarter than everyone else while putting in zero effort?? /S

[@pencilpauli9442]

There was a fantastic exhibition in the Museum in Weston Park, Sheffield (1995) with findings from a fenland site. The causeway was constructed from oak and alder. Alder has water resistant properties, so was used for the pillars. Oak is durable and so was used for the decking, as well as use of ash and/or willow. The exhibition illustrated that humanity has always been capable of understanding how to use the materials and techniques available to them at the time. I really despise the "lost civ peddlers" for the great disservice they do to our ancestors. Aliens my hairy arse! lol

[@CostaCola]

@@pencilpauli9442 well said!

[@janetsanders5356]

Or maybe, we assume we are so much smarter/different than them

[@Jane-nc2fr]

Totally agree. We are a bit arrogant and think we are so sophisticated and the ancient ones were extremely clever and intelligent.

[@StuartGrant]

Neil Burridge of Bronze Age Swords has been working on replicas of some of the axes from Must Farm just this week. Absolutely fabulous work .

[@jorisdemoel3821]

Some special programs on Must Farm would be very highly appreciated!

[@snazzyminx5072]

Just stumbled across you guys and wanted to say how fabulous your channel is. I really hope you do a series of videos on Must Farm, after all, it is one of our best sites so worthy of some time. Keep up the good work and I look forward to binge watch your old videos this weekend.

[@terrabytesarcheology]

i think the layout of the huts is the most interest, ie, a sleeping area, a weaving area, a cooking area etc. all huts had a similar collection of utensils such as we find in modern dwellings e.g. a querne, bowls, pots, a loom, bedding etc.

[@HypaBumfuzzle]

An excellant video to get me thru the day! What a treat.

[@theartisancompany]

Love the history! TFS

[@HelenKempster]

You two are so funny. Knowledgeable and obviously very well read, but the way you put over what could be dry Information is great I knew a bit about Must Farm but had no idea about glass beads and goods from Iran Thank you.

[@janetsanders5356]

As a handspinner I always wonder how often "beads" found in archeologic situation are actually whorls for spindles. Modern spinners can use a wide range of sizes and shapes of stone, clay, metal or wood whorls to spin wool, silk, doghair etc. within historic times we know a spindle could be seen as part of a womans status (as well as keys on her belt) as a mans sword might be.

[@tao.of.history8366]

It does make me wonder about the communication network too, how much people knew about others and what was going on elsewhere.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Yes, and there was no internet, no phone, no telegraph, not even letters (or maybe there were letters, but not in the way we know now)

[@MarthaJamsa]

There are similar finds in Central Europe, dated to a Neolithic context, that have been suggested to be from Egypt. Even the Amesbury Archer was born in or near the European Alps, not England. I hope to see further discoveries that will help describe ancient trade and travel routes. Thanks for your interesting discussion. ❤

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

it seems there was a lot of traveling during the Bronze Age. It's said the Egtved girl originated in the Schwarzwald region and traveled up and down to Denmark several times in her (not so very long) life!

[@joelledurben3799]

Many people don't know if gran's jewelry is costume or Cartier, and whether the old tea cup is 20 years old or 200 - just watch Antiques Roadshow! I suspect it was similar in the Bronze Age. The experts treasured the beads, the traders made a living from them, and others thought "pretty" or "useless" and judged accordingly.

[@ruththinkingoutside.707]

I think it’s incredible that they actually found the beads.. as a ‘beader’ for over 35 years.. those things can disappear even if you swear you hadn’t blinked .. lol.. Really though, I’m not surprised that they travelled so far or by when they were lost.. Jewelry is timeless in its own way, ESPECIALLY back when a ‘pretty, shiny, whatsit’ was enough to be considered a stunning heirloom.. With genetics telling us that there was multiple waves of early agriculturalists crossing the channel, the people, not just the ideas.. something that’s small, infinitely portable and cherished? Those things can get spread FAR and wide much easier than nearly any other kind of item. We know lithic finds have traveled hundreds of miles sometimes. (There countless millions of other tools we will never find TO trace) Whereas a beaded necklace, could even be worn by a small child, handed over to another generation to make another move to the west for their claim stake on farmland.. I’ve got a lifetime of woodland ‘bushcraft’ experience and mini farming, so my understanding of prehistory life is more than academic.. even so.. when you really start to get your brain around the physical abilities of these people, then.. realize that even some remarkably NON athletic people hike the Appalachian Trail and have regular 20+ mile days.. 🤯 that’s a 6 month “walk” and some incredibly unprepared people, who even once they get trail legs, still have no idea how to navigate without markers, can’t forage, etc etc.. Basically, I’m always impressed by how much prehistory people did, and how far stuff traveled occasionally.. but, I’m not exactly “surprised”.. They deserve wayyyyy more credit than they get typically anyway, but, if some of the people I know, can hike 2,100+ miles ?? Oh yeah, I have no trouble thinking that some portable stuff made it so far.. because it could have taken decades to make the trip, but, it’s also possible that there was active trade routes, and things traveled by section, passed on, and traveled again.. or some determined people went most or all the way.. it clearly wasn’t a goods highway, or we’d find stuff all over.. but that’s why the occasional thing is all the more believable, because sometimes some people do ridiculously difficult things, because they can.. like fluffy nerds who take a 6 month ‘hike’ 😂

[@greendragonreprised6885]

I'm constantly amazed by the length of ancient trade routes.

[@ruthcherry3177]

Thanks again, guys, very interesting!!! Going back to the wheel, which you've mentioned in previous videos... could it be that there's only one because it isn't to do with transport at all but for textiles? We already know that wheels are used to spin wool, but could they have a use in spinning other materials... the very name, twine, comes from the fact that strands are twisted together to form it. All string, rope and most basic threads are made up from twisted strands of some fibers of some kind or another. Maybe they were making highly sought-after textiles that were very valuable! The beads could be adornments for fine clothing and not for a necklace at all. Just a few of my thoughts. Looking forward to seeing you interview Dr. Sheridan, and anyone else you can manage to entice. Keep up the good work - it's nice to have you back after the dry spell last year when you were on your travels, and of course when Rupert had his new hip!

[@lenabreijer1311]

The spinning wheel wasn't invented for another 1500 years. They used drop spindles until the 1500th century approximately.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Although spinning wheels and potter's wheels are from a much later date ... this still is an interesting theory. Anyway the wheel can have been used for many other purposes (we do not know anymore ...)

[@lenabreijer1311]

@@ingeleonora-denouden6222 it was probably in the house for the same reason we had car parts on the kitchen table when dad was fixing the car before we had a garage.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

@@lenabreijer1311 you remind me of my first husband taking apart his motorcycle and putting all parts in our small rented apartment

[@aussie405]

Not sure if you realise, the spun yarn is on spindles, not a loom.😊

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Yes, what was shown were spindles or spools of yarn ... but maybe there was a loom too, which wasn't shown (maybe in another episode)

[@girlnorthof60]

I do hope you have Mark Knight as a guest as well. A new sub via KZbin suggestions, I look forward to hearing more on Must Farm... along with catching up on your past episodes. Thank you. 🙏 Pat/ Yukon, Canada

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Must Farm is one of the most interesting finds, in my eyes. For me (and others I know) the most interesting are the textiles: fibers, thread/yarn, weaving, and the tools that go with it. I have my own 'theory' on why this small settlement was so 'rich': I think it was an 'industrial' settlement, where they produced some very wanted/needed products. Maybe the beads were like currency, paid for the products.

[@helenamcginty4920]

'If you're interested in this'.... What a question. 😂

[@helenamcginty4920]

Ps looking fiward to your follow up on the beads.

[@Kradlum]

Weirdly, I finished watching this video, turned on the TV and Digging For Britain was at Must Farm!

[@chappellroseholt5740]

Good evening from the rainy and even little bit of snowy SF Bay Area. Enjoyed this very much and will look forward to hearing the archaeologists talk further about Must Farm. Out here in California I've never heard of it, shame on me. G'night.

[@paulapridy6804]

This is fascinating. Thank you.

[@spiritofanu3112]

I believe travel and trade was a lot more prevalent and extensive than we have acknowledged. Plus there was the possibility of slaves being brought from far away and what possessions (if any) they had. Really looking forward to hearing more about this site! Thank you!

[@vickywitton1008]

I LOVE hearing about Must farm!

[@susanohnhaus611]

Is must farm the same as a crannog? A whole channel on Must farm? I'd subscribe!

[@kmscheid3303]

Do you think perhaps somebody saw the other wheel or wheels, just didn't find the one later recovered from the dig? Beads as markers of trade routes are so fascinating.

[@bvalt1]

It seems every day we find more and more evidence that humans were more advanced and connected in so many ways than we ever give them credit for in prehistoric times. How much have we actually got wrong about our history???

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

it's all the fault of those who messed up things by writing them down ... f.e. historians and archaeologists from a few centuries past. And authors of school-books ...

[@weethree2070]

we are constantly learning!

[@nightlyshift]

The more individual pieces of knowledge we accumulate, the wider our horizons grow - every detail opens the door to new possibilities in out thinking.

[@rosemcguinn5301]

Thanks so much. This was fascinating!

[@roxiepoe9586]

My initial degree is in geography. I am forever wondering from whence, how long, and by what means an object traveled. These beads hit all of my interests and obsessions. They will occupy my musing hours deep into the night! Thank you for the report.

[@acfanter]

Omg… the OPENING LINE … SPOT ON!!!

[@woofbarkyap]

Could you do a Must Farm series? Focussing on a different aspect each time? (1 vote for fibres here :D)

[@alistaircullen6505]

Single wheel might be a bronze age unicycle 😂

[@sheribrogden9247]

Wheelbarrows have 1 wheel

[@pencilpauli9442]

Wagon Wheels really were so much bigger in the old days lol On a far more serious note, how wide were the causeways if they had wagons in the settlement! That's impressive too imho Great stuff, thanks guys!

[@cburawa]

The amber most likely originated in Scandinavia and was fashioned into a bead in Ireland, the report states. So, completely off the B.C. topic (which is exciting): could there have been routine trade between Scandinavia and Ireland/Scotland in the prehistoric and the Vikings went a-Viking to the west because of already historic interaction?

[@johnschuster-u6s]

Might it be possible that trade was more common and far reaching than we have previously assumed? In that case, the beads (being small) might confer less status than the distance might suggest. Just a thought.

[@henryhay9543]

Agreed! Surely to manufacture small beads in quantity is not difficult. Their transport would have been relatively easy. Witness the prodigious quantities of modern ethnic jewellery available at contemporary craft markets. Contrast the making of beads to the labour, skill and time required to construct a whole wagon, its wheels, framework, etc. Likewise, the casting of bronze axes - a dear material in itself but really not that hard to cast and work or recycle once the basic skills have been learned.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

@@henryhay9543 It isn't the making of the beads that makes them so valuable, it's the distance they had to travel (at least partly by ship ... do you know what ships they had in the Bronze Age?)

[@TallulahB58]

Thank you Francis Pryor for your discovery and investigation at Flag Fen.

[@praveenb9048]

The old trope of an expedition taking along some glass beads to trade with the natives...

[@kyleriv]

Just a provocative thought. A wheel at a clay quarry where pottery is found in a burnt out building… maybe it could have been a potters wheel for throwing pots and kilns have always had a nasty habit of burring down buildings. Any chapters on what else was found?

[@lenabreijer1311]

Pottery wheels arrived with the Romans. Bronze age pots were coil built

[@mkd4076]

Can't wait!

[@clothcapkev2088]

There used to be a lot of Brick works around Peterborough, hence the clay quarries.

[@acfanter]

SEARCH GESTURES UNDER SYSTEM SETTINGS TO Deactivate YOUR THUMBS 👍🏻 UP, etc. love you both!!

[@randycompton5230]

Britain is an island and has profited by trade since man arrived there. The first trade item that comes to mind is Tin. In the Bronze Age, that may have been more valuable than gold. Please don’t get semantic with me and say there were no tin mines near the site. Tin left the island and thousands of other items came in return. Can glass beads and cloth be as valuable as gold? You bet. The old adage applies as well to that time as now, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”.

[@sicko_the_ew]

I don't think it's necessarily so that the glass beads would've been high status objects, since as far as I'm aware, once you've got the trick, they're easy enough to manufacture in large numbers (although it's then strange that there were so few of them, I suppose). My main reason for thinking so is that I know Victorian traders sold huge quantities of glass beads to ordinary village Zulus for a long time. (And it occurs to me that it would be very interesting to know the history of the bead trade, here. Were there beads finding their way all the way down South during the Middle Eastern trade with East Africa? Or did seekers of ivory and hides crossing the early colonial frontiers discover that they could trade beads for valuables like that?) Here's a thought. You might be able to establish some kind of "bead durability index" based on bead finds in sites of more recent age. An abandoned _isibaya_ from the 1920's would have some fallen objects from that time, and whatever did not fall, one assumes is still someone's possession today? So many questions. The big thing I wonder about is whether the bead decorated clothing of those times might have had any similarity to Zulu beadwork. Is there some kind of "natural way" of decorating with beads? And what happened to all the beads that didn't survive? (I suppose I'm back to my "bead durability" question again, now.)

[@HeffalumpHorralump1]

I’m not sure how you can tell where a piece of Amber was worked. Why could it not have been worked in Scandinavia or Britain? Is it because there’s evidence of amber working in Ireland in the period? Also was it the Ulubrun ship wreck that had ingots of (possibly) Cornish tin?

[@thhseeking]

No fireworks when Michael waves his hands? :P

[@permabroeelco8155]

🤔They put the other wheel on a long pole for the stork.

[@petehoover6616]

Most of the beads do not have round holes. The glass ones were melted to drill maybe? But the amber bead's hole must have been gouged rather than drilled by some twisted drill bit.

[@philiprowney]

I live 17 miles East of the site. You can pick up flint scrapers and selfish hammer stones in fields around Whitemoor prison.

[@ricksandybutler7629]

Or, were the beads the trinkets of trade? Do we put too much value on them? Is it not ture that things like beads were given as gifts when meeting new people while on great adventures? Easily carried, pretty to look at, but of little real value, but of great value as a gift to the child of a person you wish to endear yourself to when hoping to start a trading relationship.

[@arnman2093]

Perhaps beads were just the change you got if the trade was imbalanced. Hey that is not fair...how about some beads to make up the difference? OK.

[@frank-y8n]

Only one of two wheels fell into the water while the other wheel was burned?

[@ellen4956]

Maybe the wheel was a "spare". If they did rebuild, even if it wasn't close by, why wouldn't they have gone back to look for some of these things that were so highly prized? One has to wonder.

[@seankelly5318]

With so many valuable items you would have thought the survivors would have recovered these items, at least the wagon wheel. Maybe no one survived?

[@billybobwombat2231]

Australian locals traded regularly over much bigger distances and much further back in history than this trading event

[@woofbarkyap]

If a wheel falls off a wagon it's more likely to roll into nearby water than the wagon itself. Maybe they just repaired their wagon and drove it away.

[@hawklord100]

If you have read the Historic documents that Wilson and Blackett have found and written about in their books over the years, then this discovery is not as astounding as it may seem to some.

[@jamiegallier2106]

❤❤❤

[@pencilpauli9442]

Britain's Up Pompei They've found the body of a Bronze Age ancestor of Frankie Howerd.

[@jonm7272]

Wow, it's almost like these were human beings, just the same as us, with trading economies and the capacity to travel 🤔. I'm astonished that anyone is surprised by the fact that these commodities have travelled and been traded. The only amazing thing here is the wonderful preservation and snapshot of a community. Surely there's nothing actually new to knowledge here?

[@sillysausage2244]

The blue faience 'donkey beads' are still being made in Qom, Iran, today...

[@witono8981]

I have beads in javanise

[@theomnisthour6400]

Amazon Primate Express?

[@rhondakiblinger7339]

Wow! Way to focus on the Archeology😂😂

[@deormanrobey892]

Keeping busy I see.

[@nukhetyavuz]

those glassbeads 🧿must have been prototurkic,the colour and usage goes back to turks,but probably living in iran,its called nazar boncugu,is blue,and turquise was,and is still used in mosques and tilestones,its the colour of the turks... but then,even,in egypt and how it made the way to england is most probably a worldwide shamanistic practice then..cool🧿

[@guyanaspice6730]

Hearing you two just rambling about already known trade between The British Isles and Middle East is Truly Distrubing. There is plenty of archeology showing trade long before this site as well. All your books in your background; you fellas read them? Q: Don't you two get Highly upset when Ancient Artifacts are destroyed? I Assume you would. Well, you two guys are doing the Exact Same thing by giving people False information in History and Prehistory. No Shame in your game at all??? I Truly admire and Highly Respect The British People. From USA. Academics here aren't any different than you two. But today with the Internet, people can learn and discern the truth. We don't have to hear Academics Deceiving us Anymore. May God Bless UK and USA. Truth shall set You Free. Verse somewhere in the Bible. We can look that up online too 😉

[@nilcarborundum7001]

would you care to point to which information is "false"? I think you must have misunderstood something here.

[@guyanaspice6730]

@@nilcarborundum7001 I'm not watching video Again. Tin n more is KNOWN to have been traded between British Isles n Middle East (Near East is part of Middle East). Man has been Seafaring for Over 130,000 years at least (over 1 million if you include Indonesia Islands); as a result, man was Trading too. Let's go the other Direction of China. Chinese Silk was found in Egyptian Tombs n more. Let's Stop this little misleading game. Tell All Truths. I can go on but most WANT to be LED down the wrong path Because it pleases them.

[@declanmurphy6427]

It is not necessary to see your faces all the time you're talking. more graphics and videos on the topic would be better!