This dissertation studies what beads do, and what they do not do, as an archaeological source material. The study examines 338 excavated graves from a cemetery called Ihre (Ire) on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Ihre was excavated in several campaigns from 1933-1950 and is dated from the Roman Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period. For this work the full corpus of 5441 objects registered from the excavations have been used to determine patterns with regard to who was — and was not — buried with beads. Some 88 contexts (87 graves and one stray find) at Ihre contained a total of 3727 beads.

The beads have been sorted using a technological typology structured by a chaîne opératoire perspective, allowing their modes of production to be studied and discussed in detail. For this process the author draws on almost twenty years’ experience as a glass artist and beadmaker.

Both production methods and the origins of the beads, including a list of possible production centres, are examined. Based on current evidence, there is no support for the primary production of raw glass in Scandinavia, but imported raw glass was worked at several sites in what is called ‘secondary production’, where glass was formed into objects.

Moving on from production to consumption, the study includes a thorough examination of the graves that contain beads and considers whether there are patterns of gender or age that relate to beads. The largest assemblages of beads belongs to Vendel Period graves with no osteological determinations, but feminine-coded grave goods. This is followed by a group of four young girls who together account for 21% of the total number of beads from Ihre: their assemblages are large but contain less complex beads than those of adult women. The adult women of the Viking Period appear to have a smaller number of beads. This may be a result skewed by some Viking Period graves having been plundered, but it may also be related to a shift in fashion. No adult men buried alone were interred with beads, but masculine-gendered children up to the age of fourteen were sometimes buried with a small number of beads.

The ways beads were worn in relation to their human ‘host’ and the dress of Iron Age Gotland have also been examined. The feminine costume of Ihre was layered: first there was probably an underdress, followed by a peplos. These were held together at the shoulders by a pair of dress pins. On each side of the ribcage, underneath the arms, an animal-head brooch was used to pin together the sides of the peplos. A chatelaine was often affixed to the chest or arm to carry a knife and keys. An outer garment such as a shawl or possibly a kaftan was held together with a brooch under the chin. Beads were worn as necklaces, both multi-row bead collars with bead-spacers and stranded necklaces with pendants. There are no instances at Ihre where beads were arranged hanging from brooches or dress pins. In a few instances they may have been used as decorations on small bags or strings affixed to combs or knives.