Turkana

Before glass

Ostrich eggshell has been worked into beads in this region for thousands of years. Shells were chipped into rough shapes, the edges smoothed on stone and a hole drilled through the centre, then used on leather clothing, belts and necklaces to distinguish age group, life stage, occasion and standing. Doum palm seed and fish bone were used the same way. Glass beads came later, along trade routes from the coast, and did not replace the older forms so much as restate them.

Metal, and what it says

The Turkana are the only East African community to work metal into their adornment — iron and copper beads formed into belts worn by married women, where the metal itself indicates the husband's clan. That is the logic running through all of it: the material is not decoration, it is information.

Worn, not displayed

Among herding communities, ornament travels with the wearer — there is no drawer to keep it in. Pieces are built up across years rather than bought as a set, so a stack thickens with age and is restrung rather than replaced.

• Added to across a lifetime, not made at once
• Layers read differently by age and marital status
• Worn daily, through work and movement
• Repaired and restrung; rarely discarded

A code, locally held

Unmarried women wear brightly beaded necklaces, belts and medallions; the layers indicate a family's standing and, by extension, what is expected in marriage. Colours carry meaning — white for purity, red and yellow for vitality. These readings vary between families and between parts of the county. They are held by people, not by reference tables, which is why this record is incomplete until those people are interviewed.