Glass Beads in Ancient India and Furnace-Wound Beads at Purdalpur: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach

Abstract

Today glass beads are a major product of India from at least three different locations, using altogether different techniques. Each production process leaves behind debitage unique to its individual manufacturing process. Archaeologically, it is imperative to identify and record the production techniques of glass bead manufacture and to identify the various specific waste products rather than merely speaking of beads and production centers on the basis of statistics. There have been a number of studies on Indo-Pacific bead production, but few on other methods. An ancient and important technique of bead manufacture, used even today, is the "furnace-winding" technique. Beads produced by this technique have been found in large numbers at various archaeological sites. This paper discusses the details of beads and bead waste produced by the furnace-winding technique and the specific criteria of production. It also uses the results of a detailed ethnographic analysis at a manufacturing village, Purdalpur, to understand the production and dispersal mechanisms. An understanding of these mechanisms allows us to formulate certain criteria that can be used to draw better inferences about archaeological sites in which bead debitage has been found.

The Trading of Ancient Glass Beads: New Analytical Data From South Asian and East African Soda–alumina Glass Beads*

“…In this vast area, the earliest evidence of glass comes from the northern part of India and dates from the end of the second millennium to the beginning of the first millennium bce (Engle 1976;Francis 1984;Kanungo 2004a). Due to their beauty, affordability, transportability and durability, glass beads rapidly became popular as items of adornment and ceremonialism.…”

“…Different kinds of beads were made and exchanged, but the small and monochrome type manufactured by the drawn or wound techniques is the most common at archaeological sites. Drawn glass tubes were cut at regular sizes and the edges polished to produce large quantities of beads, with techniques still in use nowadays (Stern 1987;Francis 1991;Kanungo 2004a). The more timeconsuming technique to produce wound beads consisted in wrapping a lump of molten glass around a mandrel (Kanungo 2004b).…”

“…Drawn glass tubes were cut at regular sizes and the edges polished to produce large quantities of beads, with techniques still in use nowadays (Stern 1987;Francis 1991;Kanungo 2004a). The more timeconsuming technique to produce wound beads consisted in wrapping a lump of molten glass around a mandrel (Kanungo 2004b). Van Der Sleen (1973) christened drawn and wound glass beads 'trade wind beads' because their movement across the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf relied on monsoon winds for navigation.…”

15. Trends in Economic History Writing of Early South Asia

“… Ray 1994b;Ray and Salles 1996;Ray 2003; Ray and Mishra 2018.  With reference to the movement from the east coast of materials including (but not limited to) glass, flora and fauna, pottery, minerals, and metal, see Kanungo 2004;Fuller et al 2011;Murphy et al 2018;Tripati 2011;Tripati, Patnaik, and Pradhan 2017;Ray and Mishra 2018. sites on the Bengal coast as local distribution centers. He points out that the ports could be considered as centers in the sense of a Polaniyan 'port of trade,' which were centers of distribution in a frontier zone.…”

The Radiocarbon Chronology of Kopia, an Early Glass Manufacturing Centre in India

“…Of the over 210 sites in India that have provided evidence of glass in different cultural horizons, 37 are claimed to be glass‐making/working sites (Kanungo 2004a, 88–91; Kanungo 2004b, 123). However, based on current interpretations of the available data, the dating of most sites is open to question because the association between the glass finds and the dated organic materials is not always reliable.…”