Shipwreck Beads

History of metallurgy would tell us that as early as the Bronze Age, people were already employing various kinds of minerals for mundane activities in their settlements. Aside from being exposed to the dangers present in the wildlife, individuals who existed way back in antiquity were also very much in touch with the mystery of the open seas. A proof to that are the shipwreck beads that were discovered respectively in the Uluburun Region and Orkney Islands.

Uluburun Region

In the fourteenth century, a schooner cruised from Cyprus with a load of three hundred fifty copper ingots which little to the knowledge of the crew, would soon become shipwreck beads. At the Uluburn Region, strong winds forced it to dock. As a result, large rocks hit the cedar skin of the boat thus causing major damage. Soon after, the vessel sank towards the base of the ocean. The smashing incident was very hard to the extent that the craft crashed into a rocky and steep slope.

By 1982, a certain Mehmet Cakir went diving off to Turkey’s southern coast. During his underwater adventure, he was able to spot metal pieces that were scattered on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. He readily reported what he saw to The Institute of Nautical Archaeology where two years after, the project director of INA, George Bass, started his own quest to provide veracity to the said shipwreck beads. True to what was relayed, he was able find objects that were made out of amber, ebony, ivory and glass, among the others.

Orkney Islands

Excavated in 2005, the Orkney Islands is recognized to be a home of a primordial cemetery. Does the sound of it send goosebumps to your spine? Anyhow, the region is composed of a chain of seventy islets to the northern point of Scotland which is located fifteen miles to the south of Greenland. The referred graveyard is dubbed as Knowes O’ Trotty which constitutes huge piles of stones and sands that covered a lot of corpses. Aside from those, there were also different types of shipwreck beads seen.

Knowes O’ Trotty was initially dug in 1858 by Sheriff Clark and George Petrie. In the midst of the human bones, they were able to obtain twenty- seven shipwreck beads. A large “sun” disc reached 76mm with a hole on the middle was caught in sight. In the most recent quarry, there were triangular trinkets, rectangular saucer plates and gold fragments recovered. The charms discovered were said to have the same design and style noticed in Wessex, England.

Even in these contemporary times, do you believe that there are still shipwreck beads that are enigmatically remain hidden at the abyss?