History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c16.9

v1.c16.9

Archaeological excavations have brought to light glass objects mainly beads, bangles, seals and ornamental pieces from sites including Atranjikhera, Hastinapur, Ropar, Alamgirpur, Ahicchatra, Sravasti, Kausambi, Rajghat, Kopia, Ujjain, Maski, Maheshwar, Prakash, Brahmagiri, Kondapur, Amravati, Nevasa, Tripuri Nasik, Patliputra, Candravalli, Sisupalgarh, Candraketugarh, Arikamedu, Nalanda, Bellary, Kolhapur etc (Fig 1). The earliest objects are confined to beads and bangles of brown, black and dark green colour. The limited chemical analysis show that these are low in silica. Soda is the predominant alkali, though potash is also present. Iron is the main colouring agent. Use of chromium as colourant is reported from Atranjikhera. Annealing is supposed to have been done. In general the objects are confined to beads and bangles. A piece of a glass container is reported from Atranjikhera, district Etah,(U.P.) datable around 1000 B.C. Atranjikhera evidence is an exception (Agarwal 1983).