Rights Holder: Royal Institution of Cornwall
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BEAD
Unique ID: CORN-18442A
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A small dark blue wound spherical glass bead with an off central perforation. The bead is slightly miss-shaped, due to the bead being held too long in heat during the manufacturing process. The bead would have been formed on an iron mandrel or rod, by melting glass until it flowed onto a rotated rod to form a disc. The bead is 10.8 mm in diameter, 7.5 mm in height with a the central perforation that varies from 2.8 mm to 3 mm in diameter, suggesting that the iron rod that it was made on was tapered. Irregular beads similar to this bead are common from the Iron Age, Roman and Early Medieval periods making dating difficult. The bead displays wear on each side of the perforation, suggesting it was possibly part of a necklace or string of beads.
There is a similar cobalt blue glass bead (2005.26.14) excavated from the Iron Age site at Castle Dore on display in the Iron Age case at the Royal Cornwall Museum.
Quinnell (2004) illustrates similar globular beads of dark blue glass from Trethurgy, Cornwall on page 92, fig.52, nos.19-20, which are dated from the 4th century AD.
Crummy (1983) illustrates a similar short oblate bead of opaque blue glass from Colchester on page 33, fig.34, no.562, which is dated from the Post-Roman period.
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: IRON AGE
Subperiod from: Middle
Period from: IRON AGE
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa 400 BC
Date to: Circa AD 1100
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Height: 7.5 mm
Weight: 1 g
Diameter: 10.8 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Saturday 1st July 2017 - Monday 31st July 2017
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Primary material: Glass
Manufacture method: Hand made
Completeness: Complete
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
District: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Sancreed (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SW4130
Four figure Latitude: 50.11345773
Four figure longitude: -5.62413124
1:25K map: SW4130
1:10K map: SW40NW
Grid reference source: GPS (from the finder)
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crummy, N. | 1983 | Colchester Archaeological Report 2: The Roman small finds from excavations in Colchester, 1971-9 | Colchester | Colchester Archaeological Trust Ltd | p.33, fig.34 | no.562 | |
| Quinnell, H. | 2004 | Trethurgy: Excavations at Trethurgy Round, St. Austell | Truro | Cornwall County Council | p.92, fig.52 | nos.19-20 |
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Timeline of associated dates
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