Conference ‘Glass beads: technological evolution and trade through the centuries’
Curated by Chiara Squarcina with Mauro Stocco and Augusto Panini, organised by Monica Piscina

The thematic in-depth examination of the art-historical aspects of the art of the glass bead from antiquity to the present day is now at its fourth edition. While in the first conference a complete history of this particular production was traced out, and in the two following conferences some important collections of glass beads in Italian and foreign museums were closely analysed, this year's topics will be the technological developments that have characterised and accompanied the production of glass beads over the centuries, and the diffusion of these objects through short and long-range commercial contacts. It represents an important opportunity to continue to understand better the varied world of glass beads thanks to the presence of illustrious scholars in the sector, who have been working in the field for years, both through archive research and archaeological excavations.

Venice, Museo Correr, Salone da Ballo
16 September 2024, 10 am-12.30 pm; 2.30-5 pm

10 am-12.30 pm

10 am
Chiara Squarcina Scientific Director Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia
Augusto Panini Expert and historian of beads
Opening greetings and introduction to the conference themes

10.30 am
Cristina Boschetti Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet)
Aarhus University, Denmark

Glass beads in Italy during the age of migration: social and economic dynamics

11 am
Carla Perra Comune di Carbonia, Dir. excavations of Nuraghe Sirai

Primary production of glass in the Sardinian-Phoenician fortress of Nuraghe Sirai in Carbonia (SU)

11.30 am
Pierre Niccolò Sofia Università di Padova

Knick-knacks or instruments of economic policy? Glass beads, Venice and world trade between the 17th and 18th centuries

12 noon
Questions from the audience and discussion


2.30-5 pm

2.30 pm
Alessandro De Cola Università di Bologna

Glass coins: The conterie market in East Africa during early globalisation

3 pm
Paolo Bellintani Uff. beni archeologici Prov.Aut.Trento
CPSSAE - Centro Polesano di Studi Storici Archeologici ed Etnografici - di Rovigo
Ivana Angelini Dipartimento Beni culturali UniPD
Nicola Albertin CPSSAE - Centro Polesano di Studi Storici Archeologici ed Etnografici - di Rovigo

The glass beads of Frattesina in Europe and the Mediterranean at the time of Ulysses


3.30 pm
Wolbert Smidt Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Research Centre for Ancient South Arabia and Northeast Africa
Department of Anthropology, Mekelle University, Ethiopia


Traditions of use and cultural interpretation of beads in northern Ethiopia - observations from ethnohistorical field research


4 pm
Augusto Panini Expert and historian of beads

Venetian glass beads in 15th and 16th-century African archaeological contexts


4.30 pm
Questions from the audience and discussion
Closing of the session



On Tuesday 17 September at 10 am in the Chiesetta dogale of the Doge's Palace there will be the presentation of the proceedings of the conference ‘Pearls 3.0. The pearl collections of international museums', in the presence of the volume's editors. On this occasion it will be possible to pick up your own copy of the volume in Italian or English.