334 (33)

307

Beads

Other round shapes

1509    TL74 2438 (*2525) 9 Incomplete; one end convex, the other fiat; d 8,

1 4mm; tuming possibly not finished.

Sąuared

1510    TL74 2226 (2417) 9 fig 205 Comers faceted; 7x7mm, 1 3mm; opaąue yellow.

1511    TL74 2433    (*2525)    9    fig 205

Sides bevelled; 5.5x5.5mm, 1 2.5mm; yellow.

Possibly discarded because chipped.

Polyhedral

Both appear to be from cuboids with facets at the corners (ie 14-sided beads); one face (?the end) on each fragment still has the marks from trimming risible, the other surviving faces are polished.

1512    TL74 2407    (*2529)    9    fig 205

Fragment; estd C.14+ x 14+mm; yellow.

1513    CUS73 285    (111,10)    9

Fragment; estd c.l6+xl6+mm; yellow.

Unfinished beads

The pieces of amber recovered illustrate all the stages of manufacture, from the błock in its natural State through to the finished bead. Each stage is characterised by specific tool marks, alone or in combination (see colour pl 8). The błock was first trimmed by a knife - into a roughly cylindrical shape when a round bead was in-tended. Knife-trimming leaves a characteristic combination of ovoid or bean-shaped pits together with parallel lines (marking the direction of the cuts, which are always at a right angle to the pits’ long axes). The pitting occurs where tiny lumps of amber were dislodged by the cutting. The central hole for the string was then drilled through the trimmed błock, starting from both ends and meeting near the middle. The bead was then mounted on a lathe and smoothed by tuming against a sharp tool to achieve the desired shape. The initial tuming left grooves on the surface, which were removed in the finał polishing. This finał stage was probably carried out by holding a broad-ended tool against the lathe-tumed bead. The groups of waste materiał listed below are categorised according to the stage of manufacture reached, and whether the finał shape was to be rounded or sąuared etc. Some incomplete items may have had evidence of a subseąuent stage of manufacture on the missing portion. Untrimmed blocks, offcuts and fragments too smali to be categorised are omitted. Unworked pieces and uncompleted items of amber have also been found in York, though dating is uncertain (Tweddle 1986, 186).

Stages of manufacture (see colour pl 8 B-F)

number of beads defined, all contexts

A knife trimmed	22
B broken during hole drilling	6
C hole fully drilled, but no	61
obvious sign of tuming
etc on exterior
(?broken at first stage of
tuming or faceting)
D broken, tuming etc for	40
shaping incomplete
E broken, tuming etc for	8
shaping complete, but
polishing incomplete
total defined from all	137
stages;

The above figures suggest that tuming was the most hazardous stage of manufacture (6 out of every 7 defined breakages) with initial knife-trimming next, and relatively few breakages seeming to result from hole-drilling (the figures may only be statistically valid for rounded beads).

BC72 4790 (250) 10 colour pl 8 (cf Mead 1977, 211-2):

1514 & 1515

Rounded:

stage A    19

stage B    3

stage C    41

stage D    36

stage E    6

Squared:

stage B    1

stage C

(also acc. no. 2885 from same context, cat no. 1515) 2 stage E    2