By Mette Langbroek

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In the early medieval period, beads were available abundantly: hundreds of thousands of decorative beads have been deposited in mostly female inhumation graves across Europe dating between AD 400-750. Whereas beads are found regularly in Merovingian cemeteries, they have been excavated less often in settlements. During the excavation of the early medieval settlement at Oegstgeest, 113 beads made of glass, amber, rock crystal and faience were found, distributed over 31 features. Seventythree of these beads were found in a grave on the edge of the settlement; the rest of the beads were found in other features scattered across the settlement. Thanks to the extensive sieving campaign that was organised on site, more beads have been found than on a ‘regular’ early medieval settlement excavation. Besides the 113 lost, deposited or discarded beads, the sieving campaign also yielded overwhelming evidence for the production of amber beads. In total 781 pieces of amber bead-making waste were found distributed over 34 features in the settlement.6 This is by far the most amber-working evidence ever excavated on a Merovingian site in the Netherlands: other sites that have produced amber-bead making evidence are Utrecht-Leidsche Rijn (nine pieces of amber-working debris) and Wijnaldum (eleven pieces of amber-working debris). In this chapter, the beads and bead-making evidence found in the early medieval settlement of Oegstgeest, the exchange connections that the beads represent and the meaning of beads in Merovingian society will be discussed

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