Behind the Glass: Glassmaking in Medieval Nigeria

Newly-discovered glass beads, crucible fragments, and raw glass from Ile-Ife, Nigeria, are evidence of a massive workshop for making glass beads for West Africans a thousand years ago. Dr. Abidemi Babatunde Babalola, a McMillan Stewart Fellow at the W.E.B. Dubois Institute at Harvard University, will discuss the results of his archaeological excavations at Ile-Ife, where he has discovered the earliest evidence of glassmaking in sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, glass beads in Africa were thought to be made from glass imported from Europe. Dr. Babalola’s research demonstrates the technological sophistication of West African glassmakers before the European encounter.

Dr. Babalola received a Rakow Grant for Glass Research from The Corning Museum of Glass in 2017.