Ostrich egg shell bead necklace.
These beads are made by women of the San people in Botswana (perhaps the oldest surviving indigenous people in Africa). The beads are made from ostrich eggshells, which were useful water containers in the desert and were used to make beads when they were broken.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
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