The Pacific has a long history of shell raw material use for the creation of prestige goods, such as the strings of small disc beads commonly known as “shell money”. Recent test excavations by the Southern Vanuatu Archaeology Project in Loukanuo, Tanna, yielded a shell bead assemblage dated to 1250 ± 25 cal BP and 1275 ± 26 cal BP. We identified a total of 1159 shell beads, excluding fragments, from three layers. The beads were composed of common Pacific species of Conidae and some Strombidae. Differentiated by degree of alteration, two main types of beads were identified: whole shell beads with little alteration, and heavily worked microdiscs. A combination of established bead macro-analysis and novel traceological methods revealed that the shell bead assemblage represents multiple stages of production, from blanks through to finished beads. This finding suggests that the site was likely a manufacturing area for this form of material culture. The bead analysis results from Tanna provide insights into the standardisation of these bead forms. The Tannese microdisc beads demonstrate similar morphology and production with ISEA Austronesia and Lapita artefacts, but differ from Papuan assemblages. This difference may indicate shell bead manufacturing technology was acquired in the time of Lapita, but endured and progressed after the Papuan Expansion, and into pre-colonial times.