'Faience bead' In: A.B. Powell and L. Higbee, Prehistoric Burial, Settlement and Deposition on the King’s Gate Development, Amesbury Down, Wiltshire

The intact small, quoit-shaped faience bead (Fig.3.6) from Middle Bronze Age grave 63263 is roughly circular in plan and roughly symmetrical in profile, with a gently pointed triangular hoop and a central, approximately circular transverse hole through which the thread for suspending it would have passed; its diameter is 15.5–15.7 mm, its maximum thickness 4.4 mm, and its hole diameter 6.8–7.1 mm. The hole is slightly lipped, and this relates to the bead’s mode of manufacture: faience paste would have been wrapped around an organic object (such as a wide twig); its hoop would then be shaped by moulding with the tips of a finger and thumb; and when dry enough to fire, the bead was probably slipped off its support so as to prevent the burning support from damaging the bead during firing. The lipping, and the very slight unevenness of the hoop surface, could have occurred as the bead was shaped on the twig. The shallow grooving running down the interior of the hole probably also relates to the manufacture process, at the point when the bead was pulled off its support.