Ancient Near Eastern Stone Bead Necklace - 54 cm

Mesopotamian Necklace with Steatite and Carnelian Beads
Culture / Period: Ancient Near Eastern
Date / Period: 3000 - 500 B.C.
Material: Stone
Dimensions: Length: 540 mm
Condition: Good condition

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Provenance information:
Object Registration ID: 58

The current owner purchased this Mesopotamian necklace with steatite and carnelian beads from Auke van de K. in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. The previous owner, Auke van de K. from Leeuwarden, stated that the object had been in his collection since an unknown date. According to the previous owner, the object had previously been in a private collection in the Netherlands since the 1970s. No further information concerning the earlier ownership history of the object was available from the previous owner.

Background Information:
This necklace is composed of steatite and carnelian beads and belongs to the broader material culture of the ancient Near East. Beads and necklaces were widely worn as personal ornaments and could also express status, identity, regional taste, or symbolic meaning. In Mesopotamia and neighbouring regions, stone beads formed part of daily adornment as well as burial and ritual traditions.
Carnelian was valued in the ancient world for its warm reddish-orange colour, while steatite was commonly used for small carved or polished objects because of its workable nature. The selection, shaping, drilling, and polishing of such beads required specialised craftsmanship. Bead production was part of an organised craft tradition, with artisans using established techniques to create ornaments that were both decorative and durable.

The broad dating range from 3000 to 500 B.C. covers several major periods in Near Eastern history, from the Early Bronze Age through later Mesopotamian cultures. During these centuries, long-distance exchange networks connected Mesopotamia with regions supplying semi-precious stones and other raw materials. Such objects were traded across large distances, moving through networks that linked cities, workshops, merchants, and communities across the ancient Near East.

Objects of this kind played a practical and social role in daily life. They were worn on the body, handled, repaired, restrung, and passed between individuals or generations. This necklace forms a tangible connection to the ancient Near Eastern world, in which personal ornaments were part of appearance, identity, craft production, and exchange.