Ancient Excavated Small Djenne Well Worn Nila Beads, Mali - Rita Okrent Collection (AT0146)

Ancient Excavated Nila Glass Seed Bead Strands in shades of gray.

These beads arrived in Mali via ancient trade routes to Djenne and are 600-1000 years old. They may have come from Asia and the Mediterranean as early as 300 BC and were re-discovered when excavations began on the old Djenno site in the early 1970's. Although Mali artifacts are strictly prohibited from leaving the country, the beads don't fall under this restriction due to their origins.

Gray (with white and possibly a few other beads with colors) - wonderful neutral grays. These gray beads are likely to be gray even if treated lightly with olive oil, but many strands have mix of colors beneath or within group of gray beads.
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The beads in the photos are representative of those available.
Note, strands may also contain other colors of beads,  including white beads. No two strands exactly alike.  

Need a lot of these for your projects or do you need other mixed color nila strands? Please send us a message via the message box or via email at ritaokrent@gmail.com and we can give you quantity pricing based on size, color and quantity.

Bead sizes mainly in the 2-3mm range.  Some strands have beads up to 4mm.  Approximately 22" of beads per strand.

These small humble beads are very special.

More info: Djenne, Mali (Africa) - or rather the ancient town of Djenno (250 BC - 900 AD approx.) is 3+ km.s from "modern" Djenne and is considered to be one of the best bead archaeological sites in the world.
Djenne and Timbuktu (500 km to the north) were connected by a very active Trans-Saharan trade route between the 15th - 17th centuries and a variety of trade items passed through these two cities.

As bead researcher and expert, Robert K. Liu writes in Ornament Magazine: “The term Islamic Period Glass Beads is used, similarly to Roman Period Beads, to classify groups of ornaments from specific geographic areas and time periods, with recognizable characteristics including patterns and techniques. In the case of Islamic glass beads we know they originated in the Middle East and flourished mostly between the seventh and twelfth centuries. Their designs display a wide mix of techniques and styles: millefiori/mosaic (including pierced mosaic pad beads), trailed, filigreed, combed, fused rods, segmented/blown, folded (an Islamic innovation, Holland and Holland 2006) and those derived from amulet shapes, like charm case beads with loops.”Islamic glass beads traveled from their sources of production in the Middle and Near East together with the expansion of Islam to North Africa, Southern Europe (Spain), India and the Far East and they reached areas well beyond Islam’s actual limits of expansion such as Northern Europe. They also flowed into Sub-Saharan Africa, where they were valued and cherished for centuries in the Malian ancient kingdoms as a symbol of status and played an important role in the communities’ rites and ceremonies such a burials, initiation or dowries.

As per bead expert, Jamey Allen: Islamic Period beads are ca. 1000 years old. Dating from between ca CD 900-1200. They might be as early as CE 700, and as late as 1400. In 1400, Western Asian glass industries were destroyed by Tamerlane. And soon after, Egypt desisted as well. This is when Venice stepped in and became the glassmaker for all of Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.


African Item 0146