Archaeology Seminar Series: Report of the Fifth Lecture
Indus Bead Making Technology: Its Historical Implications
By
Dr. Akinori Useugi, Japan
Around eighty B.A. and M.A. students attended the fifth lecture in the Archaeology Seminar Series that started in 2012. Dr. Uesugi presented a paper on Indus Bead Making Technologies: Its Historical Implications at the T.B.Ninan Hall, U.C.College on 28 September 2017.
He began with the evidences of bead making in the pre-urban phase of Indus civilization, the common types of beads discovered, and the evidences for bead trade during Mature Indus and how beads travelled to other civilizations. The value and the uses ascribed to the Indus beads by other civilizations, especially Mesopotamia was explained. The social, commercial and religious importance of beads was also outlined. Moving onto the main topic, Dr. Uesugi began with the type of materials like soft stones, bones, ivory, shell, that were preferred by the Indus people in making beads.
He then explained the different drilling methods and tools which were used in bead making. Cylindrical stone drills were most common. Most tricky was perforation of the long beads (ranging up to 10 cm) which made it a highly-prized artifact during the Bronze Age. The stone drills were made of Ernestite, a kind of metamorphic stone. The possibility of drilling long beads with pecking drills, short tapered drills, and copper tubular drills have been ruled out after examining SEM of the silicone images of the bead holes. These techniques existed to make short beads.
Dr. Uesugi further explained the possibility of the development of diamond drills during the later period in north India. Use of both single drill as well as double diamond tipped drill points to innovation and suggests a continuity from the Indus tradition. But due to the lack of enough archaeological evidences, it is yet to be accepted.
Dr. Akinori Useugi also explained the form and function of beads excavated from sites across the Indian Ocean that has been examined by him. The similarities between contemporary traditional bead making technology at Khambat in Gujarat and the Bronze Age bead making technology in the Greater Indus region was discussed in the concluding part of the presentation.
While summing up, he explored the future prospects of detailed studies in bead making that could throw light upon various aspects regarding the Indus civilization.
Midhun.R.Nair
I Sem, M.A.History
