Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c10.s4.7

v1.c10.s4.7

Shell bangles, rings, beads and pendants have been found widely in the Pre-Harappan sites in India and the Middle East. Most of the objects were prepared from either the Indian variety of *śaṅkha* (Turbinella pyrum Linn.) or another related genus (Fasciolaria trapezium Linn.) Hornell (1918) and Mackey (in Marshall, 1931, II: 564-66) have described how the walls or the hollow tubular piece could be sawed for producing bangles and the inner columella for making beads and inlays. Chisel or burin, saw and drill were used to produce diverse objects. The 4500 BC beads found at Tal-i-Iblis in Kirman (Caldwell: 1967; 408) and the 3500 BC ‘pig’ and ‘snake’ pendants found at Tepe Yahya Period VB could have been exported from India. The use of sea-shell belt in Baluchistan is dramatically attested in the seventh millennium BC establishment at Mehargarh I. Shell has been used there in all the successive periods and in almost all other Pre-Harappan sites. The remarkable work of Dales (1977 and 1979) has shown shell beads in Balakot (located near the sea-coast) Period I and working floors in Period II — covered with large quantities of shell bangles in all stages of manufacture. The Pre-Harappan sites in the northern Baluchistan show the use of ivory (in seals) as in Rehman Dheri and faience specimens as in Sarai Khola. The appearance of faience suggests early discovery of surface deposits of saltpetre (NaNO₃) or *sajji maṭṭi* (Na₂SO₄/Na₂CO₃) whose contents of sodium salt might have been useful in its reactivity with sand or quartz in a furnace and production of glass-like objects. Red ochre was successfully used at Mehargarh and Mundigak as pigments and making red and black potteries.