Viking Era Beads

In addition to the research on bead furnaces I am, of course looking at the beads themselves.  Callmer's book on the topic has a LOT of useful information.  I pumped that information into an excel spreadsheet and started to run some numbers.  A caveat - Callmer ignores amber beads, metal beads, and finds with less than 10 beads - this will skew the numbers.

To help understand how this skew will work, here are some alternative numbers from Brondsted's survey of Danish Viking era graves (1936 - Acta Archaeologica VII). The information is a little sketchy but he summarizes 345 graves including 314 inhumations and 41 cremations. Of those graves 49 (14.2%) have 1 or more bead. 35 of those 49 have known numbers of beads (the others say only "beads"). Only 7 graves (2%) have 10 or more beads. For the 35 graves with known numbers the average (mean) number of beads is 8. The median number of beads is 3, and the mode is 1. Of the 23 beads of known type & number 17 are glass, 4 amber, 1 rock crystal, and 1 stone. Clay beads are also mentioned but without specific numbers. So please remember that Callmer's information below likely only applies to 2% of the finds, and ignores 17% of the beads (amber). Still it is the best information we currently have.  Some day it would be nice to revisit each of the 299 finds in Callmer and add the additional information.

Callmer also uses intensity rather than raw numbers of beads within his work. This number combines information about the finds, with information about the numbers of beads to provide more information. He calculates this using the following formula:
sqrt ( (number of finds of a bead type / total number of finds) (%) X  (number of beads of a bead type / total number of specified beads)  (% ) ) The first version of this page I did continued to use those intensity numbers. While 'intensity' has a weakness since you can't simply say 'X% of beads were...' it does have a value in that it combines finds and bead numbers to provide something closer to 'popularity'. The older version of the page based on those numbers is still available here.

This article works specifically with the numbers of beads found.  Thus in this article and on the plates below when I show 3.4% this means this type of bead accounted for 3.4% of the total beads found in this period.

This article is divided into four sections:

Fun with numbers

A look at some interesting numbers including number of beads per find, and bead size.

Colours

What colour was the most popular?

Bead Recognition Charts

What beads are most common when and what do they look like?

How do I use this

This section wraps everything up into a bundle to help you go shopping.

Fun with Numbers

Total number of finds: 299
Total number of beads: 14876
Largest Find: 1216
Smallest Find: 10

Period	Number of Beads	Number of Finds
BP I (790-820)	2100	49
BP II (820-845)	1483	41
BP III (845-860)	1792	29
BP IV (860-885)	1193	21
BP VII (885-915)	3124	16
BP VIII (915-950)	1165	36
BP VI (950-960)	1140	28
BP IX (960-980)	1664	49
BP XII (Post 980)	315	10
No Period	900	20

The average (mean) number of beads in each find is 49.8. (This is the total number of beads divided by the total number of finds.)

The 5 largest finds have 1216, 603, 402, 365, and 304 beads. Those 5 finds are so large that they add almost 10 beads to the 'average' number (without those 5 it would be 40.1).

There are 21 finds with 100 or more beads (7.0% of the finds). More than half of those (12) are less than 150 beads.

The Median number of beads in each find is 32. (Half the finds have more than 32 beads, half the finds have less.) Let's just take a moment and consider the implication of that a little bit further. Remember that according to Brondsted's numbers Callmer is only looking at the top 2% of the burials. If you are wearing more than 32 beads you are saying "I'm in the 1%". Those lovely necklaces with more than 150 beads? "I'm in the top 3% of the top 2%" or "I'm in the top 0.06% of vikings".

The Modal number of beads per find is 17. (The most common number of beads in a find - 11 finds have 17 beads)
The second mode is 28 (10 finds have 28 beads)
There are 7 third modes (the next most common number of beads in a find). These are groups of 9 finds with the same number of beads. Thus the next most common number of beads is actually 7 different numbers. There are 9 finds with 18 beads, 9 finds with 20 beads, 9 with 27, 29, 36, and 9 with 47 beads. That is quite a range (18-47). The average (mean) of those 7 numbers is 28.6 beads.

When we group the finds into ranges we very quickly see a pattern.  Less beads is more common.

Number of beads	Number of finds	Percentage
10-19	66	22%
20-29	71	24%
30-39	55	18%
40-49	33	11%
50-59	13	4%
60-69	19	6%
70-79	8	3%
80-89	2	1%
90-99	11	4%
100-149	12	4%
150-199	3	1%
200+	6	2%

The next logical question is 'did the number of beads per find change over time'. In cases like this visual images are often a big help.



That spike in BP VI is pretty interesting isn't it? Turns out the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th largest finds are all in BP VI. That messes up the 'average' number. This is one reason why I keep referring to 'mean', 'median', and 'mode'. Let's clean that graph up by just looking at the median and number of finds.



That helps clear things up a bit. It looks like BP III and VI thought more beads was good while the other periods thought 'less was more'. But because it is always fun to make people think around corners - I'll ask a question. Was this because in those periods the person buried had worn more beads during their life? Or was it because their kids thought 'less was more' and hence put more beads into mom's grave since they weren't going to wear them themselves.

Finally we can look at how the ranges covered above change over time. Each of these thumbnails links to an image of a single period. This video combines them all so you can watch the groups change.

BP I (790-820)	BP II (820-845)	BP III (845-860)
BP IV (860-885)	BP VII (885-915)	BP VIII (915-950)
BP VI (950-960)	BP IX (960-980)	BP XII (Post 980)

Sizes of Beads

Callmer gives bead size by a range. i.e. a bead with a diameter (size of bead perpendicular to the string) of his type "162" means its diameter is 3-5mm. To make numbers work I assigned this a "minimum" of 3mm, "avgerage" of 4mm, and "maximum" of 5mm. For each class of bead these numbers are listed (e.g. B392 beads are 12,13,14 mm diameters). For each find a weighted average, minimum, and maximum was created. The minimums for each find are then averaged to obtain the "average minimum" below.  The "average maximum" and "average average" (a fun concept) are calculated in a similar fashion.

Average Average Diameter: 9.9 mm (median 9.2, mode 9)
Average Minimum Diameter: 7.1 mm (median 6.2, mode 6)
Average Maximum Diameter: 12.2 mm (median 11.6, mode 11)

For those following along in imperial units 12mm is a little less than ½".

What does all that mean?

While it is possible that a person would wear a huge number of beads the most likely bead necklaces are much smaller than you see in the modern re-enactment and museum interpreter communities. A necklace of 20-30 beads ranging from 7 to 12 mm (¼ to ½ inch) in diameter would appear to be "common" among those who could afford a collection of beads. Remember that this sampling EXCLUDES finds with less than 10 beads - i.e. it likely already excludes the lower classes, most men, and focuses on the more wealthy burials.

What colour was the most Popular? How common are decorated beads?

Another interesting finding is the colour/type of bead. I split the beads into five main groups:

Monochrome

Single colour beads including those with metallic foil embedded in them

Multicolour

This includes beads with simple lines, simple colour dots, and the fancy millifiore beads

Crystal

Crystal

Carnelian

Carnelian

Stone

Jade, Amethyst

The different groups have very different percentages of the number of beads when looked at over time.

AD	790	820	845	860	885	915	950	960	980
BP	I	II	III	IV	VII	VIII	VI	IX	XII
Monochrome	78.0%	83.9%	95.1%	68.1%	65.2%	48.1%	96.3%	78.2%	76.7%
Multicolour	21.5%	14.3%	4.2%	16.6%	34.5%	17.9%	1.2%	5.2%	11.5%
Crystal	0.4%	0.7%	0.2%	6.0%	0.2%	16.2%	1.3%	9.2%	5.2%
Carnelian	0.0%	1.1%	0.5%	9.2%	0.0%	17.6%	1.2%	7.5%	6.7%
Stone	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

As always pictures help, but I'm not sure which of these two works best.

  

The first thing that jumps out is that decorated beads are uncommon. They peak between 885 and 915, amounting to just over a third (34.5%) of the total number of beads found in that period, but their average percentage is only 14%. So all those fancy beads really are uncommon. If you think about that in terms of a 30 bead necklace that means on average there would only be 4 decorated beads. If you see a necklace with a dozen decorated beads it is pretty much a given it is from that 885-915 period.

224 of the 299 finds have multicoloured beads (75%). Of those finds with multicoloured beads the average number again presents interesting data. The 'mean' (which is 'average' to most people) is 6.7 multicoloured beads. The median is 4 (half the finds have less than 4, half have more). The mode (most common number) is 1 (38 of the finds have a single multicoloured bead - that means 17% of the finds that have a multicoloured bead have only the one). The 2nd mode (next most common number) is 2 beads. 37 finds have 2 multicoloured beads (16.5% of the finds with multicoloured beads). That means a third of the finds with multicoloured beads have only 1 or 2 multicoloured beads. The highest number of multicoloured beads in a single find is 81. That find is one of the rare ones with 134 beads. Only 39 finds (17%) have more than 10 multicoloured beads.

With regards to my own time of interest (BP IV 860-885), when I put the bead types in order of number of beads, some interesting things pop out. The first multi-coloured type is #8 in the list - B531 one or two colours of lines around a bead. The next is #11 (B616 - single colour dots) and #16 (B056 - more simple lines). To find a millifiore bead type we have to run down to 29th, and those are simple plain beads with a millifiore eye added. The really pretty millifiore beads start at #65.

Colour

Colour means we need a new table, more pretty pictures, and some more explanations. Again lets use Bead Period IV as an example. The first column shows the percentage of beads which have a base colour identified. 60.7% in this case. Beads might not have a base colour identified when they are stone, or made entirely of reticela or millifiore for example. Since we know that 15% of the beads in BP IV are stone beads, 60.7% with an identified base colour would seem reasonable.

Within that 60.7% the remaining columns identify the percentage of the beads with the base colour noted in the first row. This allows us to note that greyish green beads are most common (24.5%) followed closely by pale turquoise (17.7%), dark blue (17.5%), and white/greyish white (14.1%). Together these four base colours account for just under 75%, with the remaining 17 colours providing the final 25%.

In the bead charts I use two concepts to look at comparative numbers of beads. Diagnostic beads are those that occur only during one specific period. Semi-Diagnostic beads are those that are at least twice as common in one period as any other period. In both cases they provide information that appears to be date specific. The same concepts can be applied to colour as well. If a colour only occurs in one period, or if it is twice as common in one period compared to others than that is work noting.

There are no diagnostic colours. Forget-me-not blue, and blueish grey beads are semi-diagnostic for period I. Medium green, dark green, or Malva (reddish purple) beads are all semi-diagnostic for period VII.

This video combines all of the images so you can watch the groups change.

Period	Pie Chart	% with base colour	noncoloured	white/grey white	grey	black	yellow	greyish yellow	orange	red	yellow brown	brownish red	dark brown	malva (reddish violet)	dark blue	forget-me-not blue	bluish grey	bluish green	pale turquoise	light green	medium green	dark green	greyish green	silver
I		77.81%	2.02%	17.07%	0.00%	1.84%	0.55%	0.12%	0.24%	0.37%	0.18%	2.51%	0.12%	0.37%	46.21%	0.73%	3.49%	5.69%	0.00%	0.00%	1.47%	0.00%	17.01%	0.00%
II		43.56%	1.08%	16.41%	0.00%	0.46%	2.94%	0.31%	0.46%	1.08%	0.46%	5.88%	0.00%	1.86%	48.30%	0.15%	0.93%	8.51%	0.00%	0.00%	1.24%	0.00%	9.91%	0.00%
III		79.46%	2.11%	7.30%	0.00%	0.49%	21.49%	0.07%	0.14%	0.00%	0.00%	0.56%	0.00%	0.14%	60.04%	0.00%	0.00%	1.76%	0.42%	0.00%	3.30%	0.07%	2.11%	0.00%
IV		60.69%	2.49%	14.09%	0.00%	2.90%	5.52%	0.14%	1.10%	0.41%	0.00%	5.39%	0.00%	0.69%	17.54%	0.00%	0.55%	5.52%	17.68%	0.00%	1.52%	0.00%	24.45%	0.00%
VII		68.63%	1.73%	8.82%	0.00%	3.87%	7.79%	0.09%	0.19%	0.00%	0.00%	0.37%	0.00%	4.52%	17.91%	0.00%	0.00%	7.37%	0.19%	0.00%	45.99%	0.19%	0.98%	0.00%
VIII		65.15%	10.01%	19.24%	0.00%	6.59%	6.06%	0.00%	0.79%	0.13%	0.13%	7.51%	0.26%	0.66%	14.49%	0.00%	0.13%	3.16%	10.94%	0.00%	2.77%	0.00%	17.13%	0.00%
VI		47.46%	12.75%	20.52%	0.00%	4.25%	2.03%	0.55%	1.11%	0.37%	0.00%	12.94%	0.00%	0.74%	6.65%	0.00%	0.00%	3.33%	8.32%	0.00%	1.29%	0.00%	25.14%	0.00%
IX		29.33%	10.04%	5.53%	0.00%	4.92%	24.39%	0.00%	2.66%	0.00%	0.00%	4.51%	0.20%	4.71%	29.51%	0.20%	0.20%	0.61%	2.05%	0.00%	5.33%	0.00%	5.12%	0.00%
XII		65.08%	41.46%	8.78%	0.00%	2.44%	3.90%	0.00%	2.44%	0.49%	0.00%	12.20%	0.00%	1.46%	18.05%	0.49%	0.00%	1.46%	0.98%	0.00%	0.98%	0.00%	4.88%	0.00%
No Period		14.33%	41.86%	24.03%	0.00%	1.55%	6.20%	0.00%	1.55%	0.00%	0.00%	3.88%	0.00%	0.00%	10.08%	0.00%	0.00%	1.55%	0.78%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	8.53%	0.00%
Overall		58.4%	5.27%	12.80%	0.00%	2.85%	8.43%	0.13%	0.61%	0.23%	0.08%	3.60%	0.06%	1.81%	31.90%	0.17%	0.79%	4.84%	3.21%	0.00%	13.02%	0.06%	10.14%	0.00%

I have also been asked about the colours and clarity of the glass used. This table lists the numbers of beads found by colour and transparency.

Translucency	noncoloured	white/grey white	grey	black	yellow	greyish yellow	orange	red	yellow brown	brownish red	dark brown	malva (reddish violet)	dark blue	forget-me-not blue	bluish grey	bluish green	pale turquoise	light green	medium green	dark green	greyish green	silver
Transparent	375	0	0	0	26	0	0	1	7	0	0	157	2709	0	1	233	0	0	59	0	503	0
Semi-Transparent	83	108	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	63	11	0	185	0	0	19	0	23	0
Opaque	0	1005	0	248	586	11	53	16	0	313	5	0	1	1	68	3	0	0	43	5	355	0

Shape

Like colour, shape means we need a new table, more pretty pictures, and some more explanations. Again lets use Bead Period IV as an example. The first column shows the percentage of beads which have a shape identified. 76.7% in this case. Beads might not have a shape identified if that is not what defines them. For example Class C beads are "Warm-made decorated folded glass beads are not divided into individual types" (Callmer 1977) thus their shape is not important.

Within that 76.7% the remaining columns identify the percentage of the beads with the shape noted in the first row. This allows us to note that rounded with plane parallel ended beads are most common (59.23%) followed closely by some types made both of rounded or cylindrical beads (13.44%), rounded (10.16%). Together these three shapes account for just under 85%, with the remaining shapes providing the final 15%. Type 126 (rounded with torodated ends) is 'semi-diagnostic' for Period III. Type 134 (Rectangular prismatic) is semi-diagnostic for period VIII. Type 135 (rectangular prismatic with cut corners) is semi-diagnostic, and 139 (octagonal rectangular prismatic) is diagnostic for period VI. Type 130 (Cylindrical with oval cross-section) and type 143 (symmetrical hexagonal bipyramidal) are semi-diagnostic, and type 133 (truncated bicones with bases as the ends) is diagnostic for period IX. Type 131 (truncated cone) is semi-diagnostic for period XII.

I haven't yet come up with a good image for the shape data.

Period	Overall %	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	129	130	131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140	141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	122, 124	122, 127
I	83.67%	0.17%	5.46%	0.00%	76.89%	2.90%	0.00%	2.73%	0.06%	0.00%	0.06%	2.33%	0.00%	0.28%	2.22%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	6.49%	0.40%
II	83.88%	1.53%	54.74%	0.08%	29.10%	1.61%	0.24%	3.70%	0.16%	0.00%	0.08%	0.72%	0.00%	0.24%	1.37%	0.00%	1.21%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	2.89%	2.33%
III	88.84%	0.69%	11.18%	0.19%	9.61%	0.50%	0.82% (SD)	0.94%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.25%	0.00%	0.06%	0.06%	0.00%	0.94%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.57%	74.18%
IV	76.70%	3.50%	10.16%	0.44%	59.23%	1.09%	0.00%	2.19%	0.00%	0.00%	0.11%	0.44%	0.00%	0.77%	4.48%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.33%	0.33%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	1.86%	0.44%	1.20%	13.44%
VII	75.38%	1.10%	12.70%	0.38%	3.86%	1.02%	0.04%	0.38%	0.00%	0.04%	0.00%	0.08%	0.00%	0.21%	1.53%	0.00%	0.04%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.34%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.47%	0.08%	0.08%	77.62%
VIII	77.42%	0.00%	8.98%	1.00%	59.65%	7.10%	0.22%	9.76%	0.11%	0.00%	0.11%	0.55%	0.00%	1.77%	0.78%	0.00%	0.44%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	4.66%	4.88%
VI	67.37%	6.90%	9.38%	0.13%	53.13%	5.99%	0.00%	3.65%	0.00%	0.00%	0.13%	0.52%	0.00%	0.13%	9.51%	0.00%	0.13%	0.00%	0.26%	0.00%	0.13%	0.52%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	4.30%	0.78%	3.52%	0.91%
IX	80.41%	7.62%	68.76%	0.45%	8.97%	4.71%	0.00%	0.90%	0.00%	0.15% (SD)	0.07%	0.00%	0.07%	0.22%	3.59%	0.00%	0.07%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.52%	0.00%	0.07%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	2.24%	0.37%	0.07%	1.12%
XII	75.24%	5.06%	18.57%	0.00%	63.29%	3.80%	0.00%	1.69%	0.00%	0.00%	0.42%	2.11%	0.00%	0.42%	1.69%	0.00%	0.42% (SD)	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	2.11%	0.00%	0.00%	0.42%
NP	82.33%	17.54%	3.51%	0.13%	13.63%	0.54%	0.00%	12.82%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.40%	0.00%	0.00%	36.30%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.40%	1.48%	1.62%	0.00%	0.27%	0.54%	0.00%	4.99%	3.64%	0.27%	1.89%
ALL	79.65%	3.27%	21.01%	0.29%	32.21%	2.52%	0.16%	3.08%	0.03%	0.03%	0.06%	0.65%	0.01%	0.35%	4.52%	0.00%	0.32%	0.00%	0.02%	0.05%	0.25%	0.14%	0.01%	0.02%	0.03%	0.00%	1.12%	0.37%	2.06%	27.42%

Bead Recognition Charts

The preferred types/styles of beads seem to undergo shifts during the period of the viking age. To help understand this I colourized Callmer's plates of beads.  Colourizing has problems due to:

Inaccuracies

In the black/white versions there is sometimes not enough definition to know what colour should be used. See beads G031:2 and G031:7 in plate 19 for an example.

Errors

Consider bead class B110 as seen in Colour Plate I, and Plate 7. There is a mismatch.

In addition to those problems please note that the colours I selected are just my choices based roughly on the 4 colour plates in the book, they are NOT supported by a colour analysis. Finally note that the process I used to colourize makes all of the colours appear as solid blocks. The watercolours in the book (Colour Plates 1-4) seem to show a range of colours within each colour block. It is likely that the variation is just the amount of water in the paint (except where it is deliberately used to show facets), but since I can't know if the artist did it intentionally it should be noted. As a summary please use extreme caution using these as documentation.

With these concerns in mind I created some bead recognition charts.  These charts collect beads for a given period based on how many of that type were found in that period. I took those numbers and grouped them into Very Common (≥125), Common (≥50), Less Common (≥20), Uncommon (≥2), and Trace (single beads).

Based on the numbers of beads I have also marked some beads:

Diagnostic

This is the only period where this bead is found. This means that if you see that kind of bead on a necklace it pretty much guarantees that it belongs to that period.

Semi-diagnostic

The number of beads found in this period is at least twice the number found in any other period, and is at least 3 beads.

Finally it is worth mentioning is that Callmer has a method of drawing.  The string always goes across the page.  Thus diameter is measured vertically on these pages, length is horizontal.  On the charts I show some of his information. The bead category (e.g. A020), the colour, and the clarity. (eg. Yellow T. = yellow background colour and transparent).  ST is semi-transparent, and O is opaque.  Callmer made the T/ST/O choice by holding the bead up to a strong light.  The diameter range (eg. 9-11 mm) and the length/diameter ratio are also provided. (e.g. a length/diameter ration of >1/2 <1/1 means the length of the bead is longer than half the diameter but not as long as the diameter).  The final piece of information is the percentage of the beads provided by that bead class in that period.

BP I 790-820AD
BP II 820-845AD
BP III 845-860AD
BP IV 860-885AD
BP VII 885-915AD
BP VIII 915-950AD
BP VI 950-960AD
BP IX 960-980AD
BP XII (after 980 AD)
Diagnostic Beads

How do I use those?

I had someone ask how to use the information here and the charts.

I would suggest - review the "numbers" and "colours" sections above, figure out the number of beads you want on the necklace, and do a couple of quick calculations. Then print off the chart for the period you care about, make some notes and take it into a bead store.

Let's use BP XII for our example this time and make a nice big necklace with 30 beads.

From the second table we know that about 76.7% of the beads in this period are monochrome beads, 6.7% are carnelian, 5.2% crystal, and 11.5% are multicolour beads.

From the third table we know that most common colours are clear (41%), dark blue (18%), dark brown (12%), and greyish white (8.8%), all other colours are below 5%.

The bead-type percentages on the charts will guide you but I find that reviewing the numbers above helps me put my mind in the right place - mostly monochrome of these four colours.

Of that 30 beads we want about 2 carnelian and 1.5 crystal. So get 2 of each. One S001, and one of either S011 or S012, one each of T007, T009, T010 although if you can't find one use a T001 instead.

We want four multicoloured beads - pretty much any of the ones on the page will do, they are all about the same prevelance. If you happen to see something like B236 or B505 do grab it as they are diagnostic for this period.

The remaining 32 beads will be monochrome beads. A001 and A131 are "most common" so try and grab 3 or 4 of each of them. A couple of A171s and an R001 if you can find it would be next. A silver foil in clear glass bead (E110), and another clear blown glass bead (E001), with one each of A020, A090, A341, and A360. We now have 15-17 beads so we need another 6 to 8 beads form the "uncommon" monochrome beads. E140 is nice if you can find it. A290, A032, and A066 are diagnostic and thus good targets. Any of the A, E, F, or Q beads will do at this level.

Pay for your purchases, sling the beads between your broaches and off you go...

Less beads if you are poor, more if you are rich. Use up to 1200 beads depending on how silly you are feeling and how "rare" you are comfortable being.

Sources: Please see the bibliography