The Chickasaw glass bead typology (types/varieties) shown on Table 1 is described below. Click on the thumbnail of each bead photo for an enlarged view, which opens in a new browser window.
 IA/IIIA XL type is tubular in shape and simply constructed (compound only if there was a thin clear glass coating on the exterior which none of these beads exhibited). The ends or all of this type are rough and unpolished. There are no surface decorations. All of the beads are extra large exceeding 18 mm in length and having a diameter of 3-5 mm. All of these beads are opaque with white being the prevalent color, but burgundy and black also occur.
 IA/IIIA VL 1 type is tubular in shape and exhibits simple construction. There are no surface decorations, although most beads show groove (stress?) lines parallel to the hole. The ends are not tumbled and worn, shortening their length. The beads are opaque blue, although not as dark as navy.
IA/IIIA VL 2 type is tubular in shape and exhibits simple construction. There are no surface decorations. The beads are tumbled including most ends. The beads are opaque and powder blue. Most of the beads measure 16mm in length.
 IA/IIIA Translucent type is tubular in shape and simple in construction (compound only if there was a thin clear glass coating on the exterior which none of these beads exhibited) with ends that appear uneven but more tumbled than the IA/IIIA XL. There are no surface decorations. Most of these beads are 6-10 mm in length and 2-3 mm in diameter. All of these beads are translucent with clear or navy blue being the dominant colors, less common in green and amber.
 IA/IIIA Opaque type is tubular in shape and simple construction (compound only if there was a thin clear glass coating on the exterior, which a minority of these beads exhibited). The ends tend to be slightly less polished when compared to the IA/IIIA Translucent. There are no surface decorations. All of these beads are opaque, The beads average 4-6 mm in length with a diameter of 2 mm. All of these beads are of medium to large in length. Black or white are the dominant colors with powder blue or green examples. The powder blue types are slightly longer than the black or white beads, but shorter than IA/IIIA VL 2. As noted previously some, but not most, of these beads (white and fewer black) have a clear coating. The black color appears burgundy in intense light.
 IB/IIIB XL type is tubular in shape with complex construction (composite construction only if there is a thin clear glass coating on the exterior of the matrix bead which none of these beads exhibited). The mono-colored matrix bead has applied stripes making the construction complex. The stripes tend to be single lines of thin glass running parallel or slightly twisted to the length. The number of stripes varies with six or eight being normal. The ends are rough. The beads tend to be slightly smaller than the IA/IIIA XL with lengths exceeding 18 mm and diameters of up to 5 mm. The beads are opaque with the matrix color normally bluish white or black. The bluish white type has three alternating red and blue stripes, which have a slight twist along its length. The black type has six single red stripes parallel to the length. The bluish white variety tends to erode at the ends, shortening the true length.
IB/IIIB VL type is tubular in shape with complex construction. The mono-colored matrix bead has applied stripes making the construction complex. The stripes are single lines of thin glass running parallel to the length. The number of stripes is eight with four each of alternating brick red and powder blue. The lengths are 16-18mm.
 IF/IIIF type demonstrates a variety of shapes with barrel prevalent. Construction may be either simple or compound. The interior of the compound beads demonstrate a denser appearing glass, some colored differently from the exterior. The surfaces of these beads have been ground into multiple facets, most with 18, not including the ends which were also normally ground flat. The lengths vary from 5mm to 18mm; however most are about 8mm. Prevalent colors are clear and blue.
 IIA1/IVA1 variety(s) has been discussed previously. They include simply constructed large and medium sizes and less frequently very large sizes (very rarely this bead may exceed 18 mm in length). This variety includes those specimen that wear a clear glass outer coating, similar to Brain's (Brain 1981 8) IVA1. The beads have rounded or polished ends. This bead assumes a number of shapes from round to barrel to doughnut to peanut.
 IIA7/IVA7 variety(s) includes all opaque green drawn beads, which are large and medium sized and less frequently very large. These beads have simple construction except for a very few which exhibit a clear thin glass coating that was not reported by Brain for Tunica. Bead sizes range from 4 mm to 25 mm in length. The surface of the glass typically shows the longitudinal "stretch marks" of manufacturing which are not typically apparent on the IIA1/IVA1. The shapes of this variety differ from those of the IIA1/IVA1 in that these beads tend to be more barrel shaped and rarely occur as peanuts.
 IIA/IVA Other type includes all of the other simply constructed IIA and IVA colored varieties except the white IIA1/IVA1 and green IIA7/IVA7. The beads are simply constructed drawn beads of medium, large and less frequently very large sizes with lengths of 4 mm to 18 mm. The bead shapes ranges from round to oblong and exhibit more similarity to IIA1/IVA1 than IIA7/IVA7. Compared to IIA1/IVA1 and IIA7/IVA7, IIA/IVA Other has fewer medium sized beads.
 IIB/IVB type includes all complex bead varieties including those beads, which exhibit a thin clear glass coating, making the structure composite. All of the other structural elements of IVB-size, shape, color, stripe color and opacity are exhibited in the IIB types. These beads have a matrix of IIA1, IIA7 or IIA Other types with stripes applied followed by polishing. The shapes range from round to oblong to barrel with sizes ranging from 8 mm to 16 mm. The sizes are normally large or very large. Note this type includes Brain's WIIIA1-3 which are drawn varieties as opposed to wound beads.
 IIJ type includes Brain's WIIIA 4-6, large spheroid beads of complex construction. The matrix bead is opaque black which surface decorated with encircling and entertwining lines of either yellow or white color. Most of this type has flattened ends. The typology was adopted from "Glass Trade Baeds (Courtney-Rausch 50).
 IIIA1 variety exhibits a tubular shape with a compound structure with a translucent green core surrounded by a brick red opaque exterior. The bead lengths average 8-12 mm. Most of the ends are not polished.
 IIIA type includes any tubular compound bead other than IIIA1. The two layers of glass in these beads each contribute significantly to the diameter, unlike the beads with the thin clear glass coating. In the Chickasaw database, this includes two varieties of Chevron beads. One variety demonstrates a brick red core covered with a black surface coat and a round cross-section. The ends of the beads have been ground to bevels that reveal a show of the red core. These beads are very large with lengths approaching 18 mm. The other variety also has a red brick core with a black outer coat and a round cross-section. The ends are ground slightly, and in the outer black coat has been ground away to reveal thin longitudinal stripes of the red core. These beads are not as long as the first variety with lengths to 16 mm.
 IVA2 variety is the same bead as Tunica IVA2, which is the same compound bead as IIIA1 above, except in shape. IVA2 demonstrates round to barrel shapes as opposed to the tubular shape of IIIA1. The ends of IVA2 are polished flat or mildly round. The bead lengths normally range from 6-10 mm.
 IVB (IVA2) variety is the same bead as IVA2 above, with the addition of three compound surface stripes. The stripes consist of either three sets of two black sandwiching one white stripe, set at 120 degrees to the axis of the bead or three sets of single broad powder blue, set at 120 degrees to the axis of the bead. The ends are ground sub round and the lengths range from 6-10 mm.
 WIA VL/XL is a wound bead type with no surface decoration. The majority of the beads are extra large, some exceeding 25 mm in diameter; the remainder are very large. The shape is round to near round. Colors and opacity vary with translucent pale blue being most prevalent. Opaque white, powder blue, black, and amber, clear, red, brick red and translucent amber and clear occurring in lesser degrees. The winding of the translucent beads is normally evident on their surfaces while that of the opaque white beads are not. This bead type includes all of the WIA varieties found at Tunica.
 WIA L represents a wound bead type that includes beads that are round or near round in shape similar to WIA VL/X save the length or diameter is smaller. Colors vary more than the WIA VL/XL.
 WIA M bead type is a wound and round very similar to WIA L and WIA VL/XL except in size. The WIA M is medium sized when taking its diameter. Most of these beads are opaque black or white, while a few are round and translucent raspberry. The opacity and colors mirror the WID beads.
 WIB is a wound bead type that is donut to flattened tear shaped. The sizes of WIB are very large and large. The color range of these beads is similar to the WIA though most are translucent pale blue, amber, navy blue or clear. This bead type includes the WIB varieties found at Tunica.
WIB Wrap is a wound bead type that is trends from barrel to donut-shaped but structurally differs from WIB in that this bead type was produced by making a single gross wrap of glass where the WIB demonstrate multi-layers of glass windings. This single wrap tends to make the bead imperfect in shape, i.e. the single wrap did not have adequate cohesion to maintain the desired shape prior to cooling. The surface of these beads are slightly polished leaving uneven surfaces. The colors of this bead are similar to WIB with lighter hues or tones with green, blue, clear and amber translucent varieties exist and black opaque varieties are found within the collection. The WIB Wrap types are sized large and thus smaller than most of the WIB. The WIB Wrap was not noted at Tunica.
 WIC is a wire-wound type beads with an oval shape. The most frequent color is pale blue exactly like WIA VL/XL. These beads are similar to the WIA VL/XL beads as far as color, glass, density of wire wounds and size. The majority of these beads are extra large with the remainder being very large. This type of beads was also found at Tunica and classified WIC.
 WID represents a wire-wound type bead that is oval shaped but much smaller than WIC. The bead sizes range from medium to large with most being medium. These beads occur most frequently as opaque white or black or less frequently translucent raspberry the most common varieties. A number of the raspberry beads have been heavily oxidized to a pink opaque powder and have lost the integrity of their holes. This type of bead was found at Tunica and classified WID.
 WIE bead type is spheroid shaped wire-wound beads. The beads are large sized and are found in a number of color varieties-amber, navy blue, clear and green are the most popular, all translucent. The WIE type was found at Tunica and classified as such.
 WIIA type includes wire-wound shaped faceted beads with each bead having eight five-sided facets. The sizes are large and very large. This type is identical to those found at Tunica with the translucent amber, navy blue and clear color predominating. These bead colors and glass translucence are identical to the WIB.
 WIIB type includes wire-wound shaped beads assuming forms resembling raspberry and melon. Other shapes are spiraled or straight grooves or flattened. The shapes were added while the bead was cooling. Most of the beads are barrel shaped with the exception of flattened beads. These barrel shaped beads are translucent with colors of amber, clear and navy blue dominating with glass identical to WIB, WIE and WIIA. The flattened beads are opaque white or translucent amber or blue. This barrel shaped type of bead was reported at Tunica as WIIB.
WIIC VL type is wire-wound which have a constant shaped pentagonal cross-section with translucent amber color. The amber glass opacity and color is the same as the WIIA beads and WIB beads. This type of bead in this size/color/opacity was not was found at Tunica.
 WIIC XL type is wire-wound demonstrating a constant shaped crosse-section, either pentagonal or rectangular. The pentagonal varieties are translucent pale blue, like most of the WIA VL/XL and WIC. The rectangular shaped beads are made of opaque white glass. The pentagonal variety was found at Tunica WIIC1 but the rectangular variety was not noted at Tunica.
WIIIB type is wire-wound bead with leaf-shaped surface decorations. These beads are large in size and typically opaque white with the leaf translucent blue. This bead type was found at Tunica. While these beads are present in the collections, none occurred in features with sound provenance. This type will not be discussed further.
 WIIIC type is a wire-wound bead, which has either interior or exterior decoration caused by fusing different color of glass rods. This type is extra large and is either round or spheroidal in shape. Most of these types are round, translucent clear or amber with the first wound layer a mottled glass of mixed red, white and blue glass covered by the clear or amber exterior.
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