Assessing ostrich eggshell bead production at Little Muck Shelter: Experimental production to test efficiency and success rates of pathways 1 and 2

Abstract

The manufacturing of ostrich eggshell (OES) beads during Africa's Middle and Later Stone Age followed two production strategies referred to as pathways. Both include the selection of OES blanks, which may or may not be heated, followed by first perforating the fragment before trimming the edges (pathway 1) or by trimming the fragment before perforation (pathway 2), and both conclude with rounding and polishing. Commonly, each pathway is present in an assemblage, although typically pathway 1 beads are more frequent. What is not clear are the reasons that both production strategies exist, if one pathway presents more advantages than the other or if there are social or other reasons for following one strategy over the other. In this study we experimentally create OES beads using these two pathways to determine if one pathway has benefits over the other. We also test if heat treatment has either advantageous or disadvantageous influences on OES bead creation. We look at OES bead technology found at Little Muck Shelter, where both pathways are present, to determine if our experimental findings are reflected in the archaeology. The results show that there are many ways to manufacture OES beads and that both pathways 1 and 2, as well as heat treatment of shell, has advantages and disadvantages. Neither pathway offered a faster manufacturing method for bulk production, but pathway 2 did yield a vaguely higher success rate. Heat treatment of shell did aid the process in making the drilling and trimming of beads slightly faster but was less often used at LMS. The use of different pathways as well as the sporadic use of heat-treated OES by occupants at LMS depended on many complex technological and social factors.