Decorated Carnelian Beads from the Indus Civilization Site of Dholavira (Great Rann of Kachchha, Gujarat)
A detailed review of the carnelian beads found in Dholavira, among the most striking of all ancient Indus manufactured goods.
Articles on beads and bead making, one of the most distinctive and well-developed crafts in ancient Indus culture.
Indus Stone Beads in the Ghaggar Plain with a Focus on the Evidence from Farmana and Mitathal
The first in-depth look at stone beads from Indus sites besides Harappa, in this case two just south of Rakigarhi. Stone beads include those made of steatite (the vast majority, about 91%), carnelian (8%), as well as jasper, agate, lapis luzuli, limestone and more. Steatite and carnelian beads are found at levels corresponding to all time periods.
Early Evidence of Bead- Making at Mehrgarh, Pakistan: A Tribute to the Scientific Curiosity of Catherine and Jean- François Jarrige
Jean-Francois Jarrige (1940-2014) and his wife Catherine (b. 1942) were two of the most important archaeologists in the South Asian region, whose excavations at Mehrgarh, the site in Balochistan which predates the ancient Indus civilization by thousands of years, helped determine how far back the development of various traditions found in that and other regional civilizations actually reached.
INAA of agate sources and artifacts from the Indus, Helmand, and Thailand Regions
"Geologically speaking," write the authors, "agate is not a particularly uncommon rock . . .. However, good agate – i.e, that which ancient lapidaries would have found suitable for beadmaking – is not widely available. Nodules of the size and quality required to make Harappan-style long-barrel carnelian beads are, in fact, extremely rare" (p. 177).
Ethnoarchaeological Excavations of the Bead Making Workshops of Khambat
Archaeologists interested in ancient craft production, both those aided by ancient historical sources and those bound to the interpretation of material residues, are currently involved in major critical efforts to improve the quality of their interpretation of the archaeological record.
Etched (carnelian) beads from northeast and southeast Arabia
The authors look at the evidence of approximately 70 etched/bleached carnelian beads found from sites along the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf (in Bahrain, Oman and the UAE) and hypothesize that these beads were imported from workshops on the Indian subcontinent, whether through direct or
Stone Beads of the Indus Tradition: New Perspectives on Harappan Bead Typology, Technology and Documentation
The beauty of this paper is that it sets out very clearly the procedure needed to document bead types, the careful measurement and classification steps to start understanding a specific bead tradition.
Some Important Aspects of Technology and Craft Production in the Indus Civilization with Specific Reference to Gujarat
It is really nice in a paper to be able to speak both of what is happening now, at the cutting-edge of bead and shell-making Indus craftsmanship and continuing discoveries, and be able to relate each tradition back to its earliest appearance in the subcontinent and elsewhere.