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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c13: 5. Bead and Seal Technology at Chanhu-Daro

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c13

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5. Bead and Seal Technology at Chanhu-Daro

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THE three ancient mounds of Chanhu-Daro are situated a little over half-a-mile south of the modern village of Jamal-Kirio near Sakrand in the Nawabshah District of Sindh. The left bank of the river Indus is now twelve miles distant, but in the third millennium BC, the river or a branch of it flowed close beside the city.

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There are altogether three mounds. Among them Mound II is the largest and mound III the smallest. These three mounds of the same date were originally one and undivided, but the present wide separation was originally caused by a cataclysmic flood which cut through the heart of the city.

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At the end of October 1935, the excavation work was started and it was continued up to March 1936. This excavation work was carried out under the guidance of E.J.H. Mackay; he was assisted by M.S. Vats, H.D. Sankalia and other officers of the Archaeological Survey of India. (MCK, v-vii)

Metals

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Mound II at Chanhu-Daro yielded a large quantity of tools and implements, both of copper and bronze. Altogether four large hoards, containing from sixteen to twenty-eight objects each, were unearthed and in addition to these, a number of smaller deposits of over six objects each were also discovered. As no analysis of them have yet been made, it is not possible to say how many of these objects are of bronze and how many of copper. Bronze was however almost as common as copper in the lowest levels of Mohenjo-Daro and there is every reason to believe that at Chanhu-Daro the same proportions will hold good. (MCK, 174)

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Most of the copper and bronze hoards unearthed at Chanhu-Daro probably originated from the quarter of the city inhabited by the metal-workers, for unfinished castings as well as ingots were discovered in some of the hoards. Although no furnace that could have been used for smelting and metal casting have yet been found, it is quite possible that this kind of work was carried on well outside the city and brought to be finished. (MCK, 175, 52) Among the copper and bronze objects, the mentionable things are copper jar cover, scale-pans and beams, bronze blade axes, saw, spearhead, daggers, small knives, rajors, arrow-heads, bronze fish-hook, copper and bronze awls, rods, bronze stave-heads and plumb-bob.

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Although the ornaments unearthed at Chanhu-Daro are comparatively few in number and consists of bracelets, pendants, rings and pins in copper and bronze only, they form nevertheless an interesting collection. (MCK, 190) Apart from these fewer ornaments, only two ingots have come to light in course of excavation at Chanhu-Daro. The metal of the first one is bronze and it is formed by pouring the molten metal into a vertical hole in the ground. The second one closely resembles certain ingots from Mohenjo-Daro. It has a flat top and a rounded base. Even small masses of lead of irregular shape were found in various parts of Mound II. It is not yet known for what purpose this metal was used. (MCK, 187-88)

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Only one iron object (iron arrowhead) has been found from Chanhu-Daro. It has no sign of a mid-rib, and has lost a part of its tang. The excavator thinks this to be of later Jhangar period on the ground that some of the pottery of that culture resembles certain Iron Age wares from Southern India, and it has come from the upper level of the mound. (MCK, 189)

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Gold and silver were not found so abundantly as in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Rather it can be said that these were very much conspicuous by their absence.

Beads

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Next to metal, the most prominent object of interest at Chanhu-Daro is bead, Different types of beads have been unearthed from Chanhu-Daro in course of excavation. Among the numerous specimens of this type of bead, many were found unfinished, broken in boring of rejected on account of bad colour and the like, thus proving that these were actually made at Chanhu-Daro and not imported. (MCK, 199)

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Agate and carnelian were the materials most generally used in the manufacture of beads during this period, carnelian being decidedly the rarer. Somewhat less common were faience, vitreous paste, steatite and products made out of it. Beads made of other materials were copper or bronze, shell, lapis-lazuli, jasper, a variety of hornblend, crystal, quartz, Amazon stone, chalcedony, limestone, onyx, fuchsite-quartzite, haematite, breccia, plasma; no amethyst bead was found. (MCK, 208) Thus, it is proven from all the beads discovered at Chanhu-Daro, that the site was undoubtedly a great bead-making centre. Most of these beads came from the quarters of the craftsmen who made them, not only for themselves but also for distant cities. (MCK, 190)

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On a broader perspective, Horace Beck placed the Indus beads under the following three headings: (I) white on red, the most common type, (II) black on a white coloured base, (III) black on a red ground. Among these only two types, i.e., I and II have come to light at Chanhu-Daro.

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The patterns of the Type I beads were made by using as paint a coat of alkali, such as carbonate of soda and then fixing it by heat. The paint is left with a glossy white surface and adheres to the stone so firmly that it is almost impossible to remove it by simple means. The technique is still carried on in Persia, on the borders of China and sporadically in Sindh. In the last province, the juice of a plant is mixed with alkali, presumably to keep it from flaking off the stone before it has been made fast by heat.

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It is uncertain what medium was used to produce the black coloured patterns on the Type II beads. The white background was formed by flooding the red carnelian with the alkali, thus creating a white opaque surface. According to Horace Beck it is also possible that a copper solution was the paint used. Thus to apply fine and even lines and firing on the beads, the greatest skill must have been required. (MCK, 200-201)

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Two unfinished beads of lapis lazuli prove that this stone was actually worked upon at Chanhu-Daro; the finished specimens are not therefore likely to be importations. The source of this mineral is thought to be Badakshan, while new provenances for Amazonite is to be found in the pegmatites near Jhajha (Monghyr dist. Bihar), the Nellore district of Madras and Ahmedabad.

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The two beads of fuchsite-quartzite are particularly interesting, because this rare mineral was never used at Mohenjo-Daro. A large cup, carved in almost pure fuchsite was found there, together with a collection of copper and bronze tools and other objects. The colour of this stone is light green and its source is most probably Mysore.

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Four wafer-shaped mother-of-pearl beads were unearthed from Chanhu-Daro. Beads of this particular substance are very rare at Mohenjo-Daro. Jade seems to be never used at Chanhu-Daro, and this statement also applies to various other stones that were used for bead at Mohenjo-Daro. A large number of nodules of carnelian and agate were discovered from Chanhu-Daro the former being as a rule easily distinguishable from the latter by the darkness of its skin.

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The carnelian beads were made from roughly flaked stone blanks averaging 0.58 inch in diameter and 0.21 inch thick. Each of these beads has been bored with a chert drill. All the holes are splintered rather than cut and would have to smoothed down and polished later. Before this was done, however, the beads were shaped by grinding. A number of these were probably stung on a thread, or more likely on a piece of copper wire, and then rolled to and fro on grit-stones of various grades, each bead being allowed sufficient play for its rounded edge to be properly formed.

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The agate beads had first been severed from the parent nodule by sawing and then by splitting. The shaping of barrel-cylinder type was carried out entirely by careful flaking. When all depressions and irregularities had been smoothed away by grinding, the object was then polished. Before this final finish took place, the bead had to be bored, a process that was carried out from both ends by means of drill. (MCK, 210-11)

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Quite significantly, broken drills were found everywhere in Mound II and though these might have served again in the boring of the shorter hardstone beads, it is obvious that the drill-makers, if indeed the bead-makers did not manufacture their own tools, must have been hard put to supply the demand. Though unfinished beads of hard stones have been found on many Sumerian sites, only one stone drill has been found in that country. This was identified by Beck among some objects from Ur. Thus Mackay comments “indeed it is not at all unlikely that bead-making in Sumer was carried on by Indian craftsmen”. (MCK 212)

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The segmented beads have appeared over such a wide area in India, that it is quite impossible to say where the type originated. Indeed such a simple form of bead need not have had a particular region of origin at all. At Chanhu-Daro as well as Mohenjo-Daro, such beads were produced by a kind of mass production. These were made in long rods which after glazing were to be divided into segments of uniform length. The rods found at Chanhu-Daro were too long and too delicate to have been used for any other purpose than to be broken into convenient lengths. (MCK, 205)

Steatite Beads

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Small blocks of steatite in light yellow, dark-grey and black were not uncommon in various parts of Mound II. Many of them bear the marks of the saw which had cut them up into shapes suitable for both beads and seals. Pieces that could not be used for any other purpose were ground into powder and then compressed into blocks, from which beads and even occasionally seals were made. This made-up steatite is always white in colour and was probably calcined before compression. It is often very different to detect, especially as objects composed of it are more often than not coated with a glaze.

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Although Hoarce Beck was not disposed to agree that reformed steatite was used by the people of the Harappa culture, F.A. Bannister of the Mineral Department of British Museum reported that steatite paste would became indistinguishable from the natural material after being subjected to a very high temperature. In ancient India, the steatite beads were sometimes heated to a temperature exceeding 1200°C, and it has been proved that (the heap of) minute beads were treated to this degree of heat. These must have been composed of a paste which could be forced through fine tubular instruments. (MCK, 209-10)

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Among all the beads found from Chanhu-Daro, the pile of minute steatite beads was an exceptional find. The manner in which these beads lay in lines on the pile proved that these were originally strung together. F.A. Bannister and G.F. Claringbull of the Mineral Department of the British Museum who examined some of these beads, reported that the beads are small hollow cylinders which vary in external diameter 1/2 (.019 inch) to 1 mm and in length from 1/2 to 1-1/2 mm. When freed from loosely adherent soil, they are pure white and very hard. Nearly every bead is furrowed along its length spirally, always in a clockwise direction. It is not uncommon to find two beads joined together with the spiral furrowing running continuously and in perfect alignment from one to the other. The physical and chemical data are conclusive, as to the material from which these beads were made. Their specific gravity is 2.85 and the refractive index of crushed fragments is 1.60. The beads can be fused only in the electric arc, and then yield glassy spheres with a lower specific gravity 2.72. Except magnesium and silicon no other element could be detected with the quartz spectograph. X-ray powder photographs show that the beads are steatite that has been completely dehydrated and heated to a temperature exceeding 1200°C. (MCK-213)

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Recently, Hegde et al. have examined the Harappan microbeads made of steatite and obtained from Zekda, located in Banaskanta district in the northern part of the Gujarat State. The raw material was aluminium containing talcose steatite available in Ambaji near Zekda. The X-ray diffraction patterns in the finished beads revealed the presence of silica in the form of cristobalite and anhydrous magnesium silicate in the form of enstatite. When talc is heated around 900°C, it loses its water of crystallisation, forms cristobalite and enstatite, and improves its hardness from one to seven on the Moh Scale.

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The Harappans used steatite, a soft stone for making seals and beads and then hardened the same. A paste of finely ground talcose steatite was squeezed through one millimeter diameter perforations having 0.5 mm diameter copper or bronze wires in centre of the perforations to produce hollow tubes which were cut into small bits and then hardened by firing at 900°C. According to Hegde et al. this was the method of production of steatite beads.

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The majority of the beads found at Chanhu-Daro were unfinished, broken in boring which proves that these were actually made at Chanhu-Daro. This inference has been corroborated by the discovery of the bead factory with furnace here. To the north-west corner of the main street of the Mound II was a remarkable building with several unusual features. The main portion of this very intirguing building is some 33 feet long by 12 feet 6 inches in width on the outside; the varying thickness of its walls shows that these had been reconstructed. (MCK, 41-42)

The Bead Factory with Furnace

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From the north-western side of room 215 a series of well-built flues, averaging 5-1/2 inches wide by 8 inch high, ran to the other end of the building. Five of these flues have survived and there may have been two or three more. That three other flues at right angles communicated with them had been revealed by the removal of bricks from here in ancient times. The flues were covered by a single course of bricks, and on this pavement there were three compartments of varying size with walls only half a brick thick and standing some 18 inches high. The thinness of the walls of the compartments above the flues together with their small size precludes the possibility of this building having been a hammam or sweat-house. Moreover, the absence of any sign of some great temperature in the flues is a strong evidence that the heat used was very moderate. There was no ash anywhere in the flues and the heat can hardly have come from room 215, where there was no trace of a furnace. The purpose of this building is an interesting problem.

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A possible clue to its use is presented by the number of beads, many unfinished, that lay scattered about on the earthen floor of room 215. Among them was a concreted mass of minute steatite beads. It had evidently been intended to glaze these and this curious arrangement might have been built for this purpose and then never used. Among the beads found in room 215 there were three copper or bronze knives, a copper pin, a seal, a flake drill, a faience gamesman, a queer shell object and some carnelian nodules. All these were found at a level of 10.4 feet. About a foot lower and in the same room was a shell feeding cup, the copper canister, a shell cone and the flint core which had been used as a rubber. Two large shells appear to indicate that shell-working was also practised in this workshop. On the floor of the passage 286 was a brown steatite seal, which from its colour was apparently unfinished. (MCK, 42-43)

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The courtyard 297 on the north-eastern side of this building may one day supply the clue to the source of the heat conducted, or intended to be conducted, through the flues; for it appears to have communicated with the interior of the building by an opening just under 2 feet wide that was blocked up at some later date. In this courtyard some most interesting and illuminating finds were made. In the middle of its wide entrance, a large pottery jar was found. A large pan in the north-east contained a number of copper and bronze tools, an ingot of bronze, and bangles and razors all of them products of the metal-worker's craft. A very miscellaneous assortment of most interesting material lay spread over the floor of the court at the average level of 10.4 feet and it looks as if the occupants of this unique building had had to leave the place hurriedly and had never returned. These objects include a seal and an unfinished carved shell ball. A copper chisel also came here from the same level. (MCK, 43)

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That bead-making was carried on in the immediate neighbourhood is suggested by the findings of a saw and the stone drills that were lying closed by. This saw, an interesting tool, is without teeth, handle or even rivet holes for a handle to be attached. The absence of a toothed edge suggests that it was used exclusively for stone working, possibly to slice nodules of agate or carnelian; some agate bars which were to be converted into beads actually bear saw-marks. To assist its action, an abrasive of some kind, such as powdered quartz or emery would also be necessary. Fragments of soft stone such as alabaster, limestone, and steatite found in the Indus cities show that a workman was rarely able to cut straight through even a soft piece of stone but attacked it from various angles until he was able to break it in the centre of the cuts. (MCK, 49, 179)

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Thus, it is clear that bead-making was an important source of revenue. The north-eastern side yielded many specimens and the raw materials for bead-making were also unearthed; in several cases nodules of agate showed signs of having been treated with heat. There were also lumps of amethyst, crystal and carnelian. The principal focus of bead-making seems to have been the southern quarter of the city, though this craft was also practised elsewhere. (MCK, 52)

Seals and Weights

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That seal-amulets were manufactured as well as used at Chanhu-Daro is evident from the number of the unfinished specimens found at that site. Unfortunately, owing to the use of a substance that appears to have been powdered steatite compressed into block form, a few of the seals were in very bad condition; salt attacks this composition more readily than the natural stone.

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The unfinished specimens are of particular interest. Examination shows that the engraving of the animals and signs commenced before the backs were completed. This engraving of course was the most difficult part of making the amulet; its shaping and the perforation of the boss-like handle were comparatively easy. Yet, mishaps frequently occurred, particularly in the preliminary rough shaping of the handles. As a saw was invariably used for this purpose with teeth of a rudimentary type, it is not at all suprising that these accidents were frequent even in working a homogeneous stone like steatite. (MCK, 145)

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The faces of the unfinished seal amulets were thickly coated with dark red ochre, and as this colour appears on no other part of these two seals, its presence on the obverse pf each can hardly be accidental. (MCK, 146)

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With one exception, all the seal-amulets from Chanhu-Daro were cut from steatite or from the artificial substance made from it which has already been mentioned. Three seals which are black were once covered with a glossy-white coating like that often present on the seals from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The substance of eleven seals was dark or light grey, though these had been whitened outside by the same process as that used with the black seals. Of the two yellow seals, one had remains of this same white coating, whereas the other, being unfinished was in its natural state. Two out of three brown steatite seals also had a white slip, the third left untreated. One seal was made of dark grey stone with a gritty feel, a most unusual material. The white slip on similar seal amulets has been examined by Horace Beck, and is stated by him to be an alkali fused by heat. It gave a smooth glossy finish to the seals which greatly enhanced their appearance, and it has withstood the ravages of time excellently. Some of the steatite beads were treated in the same manner. (MCK, 148)

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Through the excavation at Chanhu-Daro it has also been proved that this industry of making seals was very much practised here. From the Mound-II these evidences have been revealed. Here in one of the trenches, eight unfinished seals of the Harappan period were found, which suggests that the northern quarter of the city was engaged in this craft; in a privy of the Mound II, three unfinished seals were found in a building which according to the excavator is a seal-maker's house. (MCK, 50, 52)

Weights

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The very interesting series of weights unearthed at Chanhu-Daro leaves no doubt that these objects were actually manufactured on the site, or that weight-making was one of the crafts practised there in conjunction with bead-making. Many unfinished samples have been found in bead factories along with some exceptionally well-made specimens. (MCK, 226)

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Some 132 stone objects have been found which are noted as probably weights. Many of the specimens are chipped or broken, others appear to be unfinished, some appear to have been damaged by fire. The weights have much the same characteristics as shown by those found at Mohenjo-Daro, the most probable or median standard weight being 13.625 gm. The majority are of chert and more or less cubical in shape. There seems to be a larger proportion of mis-shapen weights, a condition to be expected at the place of manufacture. (MCK, 236)

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A group of ten weights have been identified by Harry Berman of the Department of Mineralogy at Harvard University as agate, chalcedony, jasper, and calcite. The majority are beautifully veined and banded stones, opaque or semi-transparent. All were carefully squared and polished and occasionally the edges were bevelled. The five spherical weights with flat base and top were made of limestone, granite, and agate. Most of the pebble weights are granite, others are of limestone. (MCK, 242)

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The usual weights are much the same as those found at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. A.S. Hemmy showed that most of the weights from Chanhu-Daro fall in the series 1 (the smallest weight viz., 0.856 gram), 2, 4, 8, 16 (the standard weight viz., 13.625 gm), 32, 64, 160, 320, 640 and 1600. The ratio 16 (ṣoḍaśī) has been unique in the Harappan as well as the Vedic civilization (Praśna Upaniṣad, Jātaka, 414 etc.).

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Most of the cube weights came from the Harappa II level of Mound II at Chanhu-Daro and 22 came from one house and its immediate neighbourhood. This house was the bead-makers' shop that had a room with flues running under the brick floor. It is already distinguished for the unusual feature described earlier, and also for the abundance of interesting objects found in its rooms and court. Besides bronze beads and stone beads of etched carnelian, lapis lazuli and steatite, there were quantities of unfinished beads of carnelian and steatite found there, as well as the raw materials for the stone cutter and also stone polisher and copper and bronze-maker's tools. This was the establishment of a maker of fine jewellery of stone and metal.

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In the small outer room of this house, 14 weights and scale-pans of copper were discovered and additional weights were found in the furnace room. Across the street there was a room where few smaller weights were found. Ridgeway thinks that these smaller weights were used to weigh the precious metals and stones used in the jeweller's craft and trade. (MCK, 243)

Clay

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The clays used by the Chanhu-Daro potters resemble those employed at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. One is an alluvial material, tempered with mica, sand and lime, which becomes pink or light red in colour, when burnt. Mica is more often than not found naturally associated with sand in Sindh, but the lime was purposely added to the clay by the potter and occurs in appreciable quantities. In some cases the lime particles have swelled and made cavities in the surface of a jar. Some time a clay that burnt to a grey colour was used, although something may have been added to the raw material to produce this effect. The grey ware found at Chanhu-Daro is frequently gritty to the touch and is often over-loaded with lime and sand. The great majority of the Chanhu-Daro ware are wheel-made but a considerable numbers of hand-made pieces were also unearthed. Some of these are of careful workmanship. (MCK, 66-67)

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Apart from the potteries, the other things made from this clay are different terracotta and play objects. Among the play objects, the most mentionable are toy carts, wheels, animal figures on wheels, but with moveable head, whistles, rattles, marbles, gamesman, dice, cones, etc.

Stone Objects

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Many examples of two different types of mace-heads were unearthed at Chanhu-Daro. The material most commonly used is a hard, cherty limestone, which is grey, light yellow or cream in colour. Sometimes a purplish-grey sandstone and a hard, greenish-black stone were also employed. (MCK, 224)

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The whetstone which has been found from Chanhu-Daro is an exceptionally well-finished hone, made of a fine grained slate, grey-green in colour. The sides and base of this stone are remarkably plane.

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The stones which were used for saddle-querns are made of a hard, grey-brown porous rock of igneous origin, and their undersides are invariably rounded and roughly trimmed. (MCK, 226-27)

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Few recognizable fragments of stone vessels have been recovered at Chanhu-Daro. These are made of light grey sandstone, dark grey sandstone fragment and dark grey steatite. These are well made, but surface finish is not particularly good. (MCK, 139)

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A certain number of balls of flinty limestone are white, cream or light grey in colour, some beautifully made and others far from round. It would seem that the natural nodules commonly found in limestone formations were used for making them, being rubbed down to the requisite shape. More rarely marbles were made of a softer limestone, light yellow in colour, others were of harder stones, but many of these were not particularly well-finished and do not come up to the standard of the finely made articles found at Mohenjo-Daro. (MCK, 168)

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Like the evidences for manufacture of beads and seals, evidences for the manufacture of stones have also came into light in course of excavation from Chanhu-Daro. One portion of Mound I yielded interesting objects which had evidently been thrown out of dismantled buildings by quarries. The number of mace-heads found, some of which are unfinished, show that stone-working was one of the crafts that were practised here. Some evidence has also come from Mound II where bead-makers and seal-makers used to live. (MCK, 63)

Other Minerals/Metals

Haematite

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Haematite was used for different purposes. First of all it was used for making paints. For the decoration of Chanhu-Daro potteries earth colours only were employed: red ochre for making the various shades of red and manganiferous haematite for the blacks and purples. The browns may have been prepared from another kind of haematite or by mixing the colours together. (MCK 107) Apart from this, there were also haematite seals and beads at Chanhu-Daro. (MCK, 144, 209) The heavy deposit found in the base of a storage jar from Chanhu-Daro was analysed. Microscopic examination and chemical analysis showed this sample to consist mainly of calcite (crystalline calcium carbonate) with a small proportion of sharp angular sand composed of grains of quartz, hornblende and haematite. The whole was stained brownish by some non-oxide material disseminated through the material. (MCK, 251) The material could have been some eye powder.

Red Ochre

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Red ochre was generally used for making the various shades of red on the pottery. Thus from Chanhu-Daro a good number of potteries have been found with red slip on their body. Thus from this it may be surmised that this red ochre was quite prevalent among the potters of Chanhu-Daro.

Lime

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The use of lime was not well practised at Chanhu-Daro. It was sometimes used to convert agates or defective carnelians into uniform red variety of carnelian by heating them in a crucible with either unslaked lime or iron filings. (MCK, 214)

Vitreous Paste

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Unlike as in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, vitreous paste was not so much well prevalent at Chanhu-Daro. Only in two cases we find its use; one in the case of bead and the other in bangles. Three samples of beads which have been unearthed from Chanhu-Daro are of a type that was particularly favoured by the people of Harappa culture: made in faience or the more enduring vitreous paste. Similarly few faience bangles were made in moulds and formed of a soft light grey paste coated with a thick glaze. Another hard core specimen is made of a paste which has a certain amount of glaze and was converted by firing into a hard vitreous substance not unlike glass in appearance and of a uniform tint throughout. (MCK, 206, 191)

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Small masses of lead of irregular shape were found in various parts of Mound II at Chanhu-Daro; but it is not yet known for what purpose this metal was used. Eye powders which were found from two cosmetic jars did not contain either lead or antimony compounds. The lead masses could have been used as net sinkers.

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Kiln/Furnaces

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An exhaustive discussion has already been made while commenting on beads. In course of that discussion it was stated that at the Mound II of Chanhu-Daro, although no trace of furnace has come into light, yet a series of well-built flues has been revealed. There was no ash anywhere in the flues, and the excavators were not sure about the possible sources of heat to these flues, since there was no trace of a furnace nearby. The purpose of this building (where the flues have been found) posed a riddle but a possible clue to its use is presented by the number of beads, many unfinished, that lay scattered about on the earthen floor. There is no doubt that the building served the purpose of a bead factory. (MCK, 41-44)

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Apart from these flues, no furnace which could have been used for smelting and metal casting have yet been found: so the excavators think that it is quite possible that this kind of work was carried on well outside the city and brought in to be finished. (MCK, 52)

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Not only this, according to the excavator no kiln that could have been used for pottery has as yet come to light at Chanhu-Daro; probably these were placed well outside the city. (MCK, 52, 104)

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Unlike most of the other Harappan sites, Chanhu-Daro got one special feature, i.e., the facilities for the manufacture of bead. Excavation has clearly proved that the bead-making industry flourished at Chanhu-Daro.

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Not only bead, to some extent seals and weights were also manufactured there. It seems that the workers manufactured three different types of objects at a time, which prove their versatility. The artisans were specialists in making of steatite beads. They used this steatite not only for the manufacture of beads but also for seals. This particular industry (bead-making and seal-making) was so much developed at Chanhu-Daro that they would sell it to the other Harappan sites and even to the Mesopotamian countries. Different Chanhu-Daro beads have been found from different Harappan sites. No typical furnace, crucible or any slag has been found from Chanhu-Daro but many potteries and some metal ingots have been found. It is quite possible that the high temperature work was carried on well outside the city and the semi-finished objects brought in for finishing.

References

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Chanhu-daro Excavation by E.J.H. Mackay (MCK) Bharatiya Publishing House, 1976. K.T.M. Hegde, R.V. Karnath and S.P. Sychanthavong, “On the Composition and Technology of Harappan Microbeads”, In Harappan Civilization, edited by G.L. Possehl, Oxford & IBH, Delhi, 1982, pp. 239-44.

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for pottery has yet come to light at Chanhu-daro, probably these were glazed elsewhere (MCK, 108).

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Unlike most of the other Harappan sites, Chanhu-daro was a manufacturing centre. So far as the evidence goes, it was allowed to develop its own industries, and the bead-making industry was the most important of these.

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The bead-making industry was extensive and varied, and the tools and techniques were highly developed. The raw materials were imported from various sources, and the finished products were exported to the main Harappan centres and even to the Mesopotamian cities. Beads of different materials have been found from different parts of Chanhu-daro, and it is quite possible that there were varied workshops for different materials and that the workers lived in the vicinity of their workshops.

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Chanhu-daro Excavation by E. J. H. Mackay (1943). M. T. M. Moghe, V. R. Trivedi and S. B. Deo, "Excavations at the Chalcolithic site of Navdatoli", *Journal of the M. S. University of Baroda*, Vol. VII, No. 1, 1958, pp. 13-16.

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