Bead-dazzled

This little (very little – the scale is in millimeters) red bead was found in 2010 at the Seven Site, a bit upslope from the SL- fire feature.  We’re in the process of determining what it’s made of (I think glass; others thing maybe other things), and are consulting with bead experts about where it might have come from, but I thought I’d put it up here so readers can speculate on it. 

It’s the only such item of ornamentation to be found at the site, but there very likely were more.  It’s much smaller than the size of the coral rubble that makes up the site, so items like it may well have filtered down through the rubble to much greater depths than we’ve probed.  It’s also smaller than the gauge of our screens; as Ric says, it’s remarkable our team even found it.  The penny was not found at the Seven Site, but reminds us that we're deep into fundraising for the 2015 Niku VIII expedition -- hint, hint....