The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c15.7

c15.7

The turquoise used rarely for beads at Mohenjo-daro was probably derived from Khorāssān in north-eastern Persia, a province still famous for this stone. Jade, also used for beads, is of rare occurrence in the natural state and must apparently have come from the Pāmīrs and eastern Turkestan or from Tibet or northern Burma; it probably indicates traffic with central Asia. Mention may be added of a remarkable jade-like cup, 4½ in. high, from Mohenjo-daro. Its material has been identified as fuchsite, and the nearest likely source, so far as is known, is Mysore State in south India. On the other hand, the green felspar amazonite used for a bead at Mohenjo-daro does not, as formerly alleged, come from the Nilgiris of south India or from Kashmir but from the Hirapur plateau north of Ahmadabad, less than 400 miles from the Indus.¹