When Carl E. Guthe excavated these beads in Ilihan Cave (Cave 17) in the province of Samar in the southern Philippines, they were not strung together as they are today. According to his field notes, when Guthe visited this large burial cave on June 12, 1922, he observed several clusters of beads and associated ceramics. Materials recovered from the site include dozens of imported Chinese and Thai ceramic vessels, locally made earthenware ceramic jars, and the 42 glass and 2 agate (carnelian) beads shown here, all dating to the 14th through 16th centuries AD. In her recent research on the more than 3000 beads in the Museum’s Philippine Expedition Collection, Philippine archaeologist Pauline Basilia has documented the remarkable diversity of beads from Samar: they date from the Neolithic (5000–1000 BC) period to these later examples. Her work attests to the continuing potential of old collections to generate new research results.
In honor of the University of Michigan’s 2017 bicentennial, we are celebrating the remarkable archaeological and ethnographic collections and rich legacy of research and teaching at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology by posting one entry a day for 200 days. The entries will highlight objects from the collections, museum personalities, and UMMAA expeditions. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is also posting each day for 200 days on Twitter and Facebook (follow along at #KMA200). After the last post, an exhibition on two centuries of archaeology at U-M opens at the Kelsey. Visit the exhibit—a joint project of the UMMAA and the Kelsey—from October 18, 2017 to May 27, 2018.