History of glass in subSaran Africa Wikipedia
The production of beads from imported glass shards, cullet (scraps) and undesired glass beads has a lively presence in SubSaran history. Imported glass was either formed by melting such imported glass, potentially adding desired colorants, and then shaping the melt into a bead form; or, by grinding down the imported glass to form a powder which would then be shaped, heated and cooled.