Ancient Nila and Fouille Beads
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The following pages contain some beautiful strands of rare ancient Nila and assorted coloured glass, stone and terra cotta beads from the Dogon and Gao areas of Mali.
Although popularly known as 'Nila' (which is an Arabic word for blue) they display a beautiful translucent blue green colour and have differing opinions as to their origins See this informative article for further details.
Fouille is the name Malian bead dealers use for similarly beautiful translucent beads, which are probably of a similar age to the Nila, as they are found amongst them.
Most of these beads probably arrived in Mali around 1000 years ago, via the ancient trade routes to Djenné .. from other areas of Africa, Europe and the Middle East .. many have been buried beneath the desert sands for centuries.

Early translucent blue Nila with a few mixed coloured ancient glass beads found in situ
All have been slightly oiled to better reveal their true colours