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Trade beads from ca. 1740, found in a Wichita village site in present-day Oklahoma

Nineteenth-century European trade beads found in Alaska

Chugach woven spruce-root hat

Trade beads are beads that were used as a medium of barter within and amongst communities. They are considered to be one of the earliest forms of trade between members of the human race. It has also been surmised that bead trading was one of the reasons why humans developed language.^[1]

^ Pagel, Mark (24 June 2015). "Why We Speak". The Atlantic. Retrieved 11 September 2015.