File:Roman melon bead (FindID 78023).jpg

English: A complete faience melon bead. The internal and external surfaces are pale white/buff and red/brown and no trace of the glaze survives. There are twenty deep and evenly-spaced grooves. Both ends are worn flat close to the perforation as a result of abrasion against other beads. It is 17.3mm high and has a diameter of 23mm and the perforation has a diameter of 10.6mm. It weighs 7.1g.

This type of bead was in use during the 1st and 2nd centuries, being most common in the 1st century, particularly on military sites. Early finds come from Neronian contexts at Camulodunum (Harden 1947, 307 no. 3). Faience melon beads were produced in a wide range of sizes and have wide perforations and convex profile with vertical or slightly diagonal grooves scored into the outside surface. They were produced in a wide range of blue shades ranging from turquoise to bright blue with a buff/greyish core. It is likely that the smaller beads were used in a similar manner to other beads as a form of personal adornment, although the larger faience and glass melon beads may have been impractical to wear, particularly around the neck.Other examples can be seen in Crummy 1983, figure 32.