Even with the limited transportation technologies of the time, the passage of trade over the world carried glass beads from the Roman Empire to the Fifth Century A.D. Utsukushi burial mound in Nagaoka, Japan:
It found that the light yellow beads were made with natron, a chemical used to melt glass by craftsmen in the empire, which succeeded the Roman Republic in 27 BC and was ultimately ended by the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
The beads, which have a hole through the middle, were made with a multilayering technique -- a relatively sophisticated method in which craftsmen piled up layers of glass, often sandwiching gold leaf in between.
Link -via The Agitator | Photo: Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
Previously: East Asian Man Found in Roman Empire