Gold-in-Glass Beads from the Kazakh Altai: Manufacturing Technology and Its Implications for Eurasian Exchange

Gold-in-glass (GG) beads, composite ornaments encapsulating metal foil between glass layers, are widely distributed across the Mediterranean and Inner Asia, yet their presence and transmission remain insufficiently understood. In particular, the mechanisms by which Mediterranean natron composite glass circulated within pastoral-nomadic steppe networks require clarification. This study examines two GG beads from a third–fourth century CE burial at Tautekeli in the Kazakh Altai, a corridor linking the central and eastern steppe. Integrated SEM–EDS and micro-CT analyses demonstrate natron soda–lime glass compositions and reveal differing production strategies: one bead combines distinct glass batches, while the other derives from a single source. Structural evidence supports a drawn-tube core with viscous outer-layer application rather than formation by double tubes. This study provides new insight into the technological flexibility of GG bead production and shows that Mediterranean natron glass continued circulating across Eurasian steppe networks into the third–fourth centuries CE.