Abstract:
Two glass trade beads, one red and one yellow, retrieved from a secure archaeological context on Magoro
Hill, an erstwhile Venda stronghold in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, were analyzed with Raman and
photoluminescence spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy identified the pigment coloring the yellow bead
as lead tin yellow Type II and the glass as a typical soda–lime–silica glass. Both pigments and glass type
were in use over a long time span and therefore the bead cannot be used as a temporal marker. The pigment
coloring the red bead, on the other hand, was identified as nano-(Zn,Cd)S1 xSex mixed crystals, a
pigment that was only widely used in the early 20th century. This date casts doubt on local oral tradition
that associates the brick-built structure from which the beads were recovered with Manzinzinzi, a Venda
chief who, according to contemporary documentary accounts, had already passed away in the 1880s. The
more recent date for the red bead resolves the apparent discord between the oral and written records,
suggesting that the building was probably erected and/or occupied by one of Manzinzinzi’s successors.
