Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s3.t3.2

v1.c16.s3.t3.2

Excavation here has mainly revealed four periods of occupation, among which Period I is Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age, II is Early Historic Period, III is Roman Contact and IV is Early Muslim-Mughal-Maratha period. Now among these four phases, Period I is our point of interest which is dated 1500- Varieties of beads were found but the yield of beads at Nasik was not much. In all 160 beads were found in various phases of excavation. Out of these 53.1 per cent are made of terracotta. Next to it came crystal and then jasper. Other material and their numbers are agate-1, amethyst-1, blood stone-2, bone-8, carnelian-6, crystal-15, glass-7, gold 1, jasper-9, lapis lazuli-2, opal-3, quartz-8, shell-5, soapstone 1 and terracotta-85. The absence of unfinished beads or core lumps of different materials shows that Nasik was not a bead industry site at any time.