Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c11.s9: Steatite Beads
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c11.s9
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Steatite Beads
v1.c11.s9.1
Among all the beads those were found from Mohenjo-Daro, steatite occupies the most prominent place. Almost three-quarters of the beads were either cut out of steatite or moulded from a paste made of the ground-up stone. The latter is very common and unless optical means are employed it is very difficult to distinguish them from the natural stone. Mackay does not believe that beads made of this steatite paste were shaped in a mould, because not a single mould for bead-making has been found from there. Mackay comments, that the steatite paste was probably made up into blocks from which the beads were curved in the same way as they would have been from the natural stone. Or it may be that a great pressure would make powdered steatite stay together, although no binding substance is found.
v1.c11.s9.2
Any how, whether it is made out of natural stone or by powdered steatite, the uaual colour is white, although, sometimes very rarely, steatite beads of a darker colour: black, dark, grey or yellow are found. Mackay is of the opinion that it is probable that the great majority of these white steatite beads were once glazed; and though the colour of this glaze has more frequently than not faded or entirely disappeared, the traces that remain, show that originally the beads were either blue or green, the blue being the cerulean-blue derived from copper so well-known among the faience and other beads of Egypt and elsewhere. The green glazes probably had a trace of iron in them. In some cases, the glaze has entirely disappeared from the bead, and in others its substance is well preserved though the colour is not. It is sometimes difficult to say whether the steatite had been artificially whitened by calcining before the beads were cut or the beads were burnt after being made and prior to glazing, which would have been enough to convert a grey steatite for instance into white. A few of these steatite beads had a white polished surface like that of most of the steatite seals, which were probably never glazed. Beads of either steatite or powdered steatite are as common in the lower as in the upper levels. (MCK, 495-96)