A banded agate bead (at left), a long terra cotta bead (center) and a cylindrical steatite bead (at right) were all found in the deposits of a room in Trench 54.
Tiny steatite microbeads (less than 1mm in diameter) such as those seen here were probably perforated with a sharpened copper wire, while stone drills with larger tips were used for carnelian, lapis, and amazonite beads.
Flakes of various shades of agate, carnelian, jasper, chert, and lapis lazuli indicate the range of raw materials being processed in this part of Harappa during the Ravi phase.
Conservators very carefully excavate and consolidate a necklace of terra cotta beads found in the Ravi Phase levels at Harappa in 1998. On the left is Arif Husain of Karachi University assisting Elizabeth Robertson of the Smithsonian Institution.
Fragments of a steatite bead necklace recovered from the floor of a house dating to the Ravi Phase (circa 3100 BCE, see 9). The beads have been fired and glazed.