Workshop Report

History, Science & Technology of stone beads Sandhya Misra*1, Alok Kumar Kanungo1 and Krishna G. Misra2 Indian Institute...

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History, Science & Technology of stone beads Sandhya Misra*1, Alok Kumar Kanungo1 and Krishna G. Misra2 Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad-Gujarat-382424 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53-University Road, Lucknow-226007

* [email protected] Since the dawn of human civilization there is observable change in social and economic development of the society. Thus, study pertaining to the bead manufacture and changing styles of beaded ornaments is an important method for investigating such changes. Realizing this, the Archaeological Sciences Centre (ASC), Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducted a Short Term Course cum Workshop on History, Science and Technology of Stone Beads during 10-14 August 2015. The basic objective of this course was to train manpower in studying and analysing stone beads in diverse contexts ranging from class rooms, to while being in the field, in laboratories and by working with craftsmen. For this course seven international and ten Indian experts who have excelled in their fields and today are role models to emulate were invited for the selected eighty participants (out of 250 applications received). The experts and participants were from ten countries namely USA, UK, France, Japan, Thailand, Iran, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India and represented about 30 universities, research institutes, museums, state departments as well as delegates from bead-making industries. To make the workshop more holistic and interactive not only the class room lectures but also a live demonstration of bead making throughout the course in addition to a field visit to Lothal and Khambhat was organised. Additionally to make the participants to get a peep into the ongoing projects in the ASC a exhibitions of archaeological finds viz., geological samples, pottery and carnelian debitage retrieved during the first excavations (done by Alok Kumar Kanungo) from Saurath Harappan and Medieval site of Bhagatrav and 11 posters were displayed. The programme started with welcome address and the Introduction to the Workshop by Alok Kumar Kanungo. This was followed by welcome address by Prof. S.P. Mehrotra, Dean R&D, IIT Gandhinagar and remarks from Dr. M. Mahadevaiah, Regional Director, ASI, West Zone. The inaugural address was delivered by Prof. S.K. Jain, Director, IIT Gandhinagar. Whole programme was divided into two pre and post lunch sessions having at least two lectures in each session. On first day of the workshop (10th August) first sessions started with a Plenary Lecture by Prof. J.M. Kenoyer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, where he gave the broad overview of the origin and development of stone bead technologies in prehistory. This was followed by a thought provoking historiography presentation Prof. Kishore K. Basa, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar where he reviewed shifts in the study of beads alongside the major artifactual trends and debates on beads in south Asia. The theme of the post lunch session was on the challenge of understanding what literary references to beads and bead-making can contribute to this principally archaeological field of study. During this session Dr. R.S. Bisht (former Jt. Director General, ASI and presently a visiting professor in IIT Gandhinagar) gave an overview of terms and terminology and Vedic references for the stone beads in Rig Veda, Atharva Veda and other later Vedic texts. This was followed by a lecture by Dr. V. Selvakumar, Tamil University, Thanjavur. He gave significant references made in ancient literatures in Tamil such as pathirrupattu, manimekalai etc. Moving ahead in the programme Prof. K. Bhan, MS University of Baroda presented the results of a long-term ethnoarchaeological project mapping the organization, division of tasks and specialized roles and supply and production chains of contemporary bead making in Khambhat. Later on, Prof. Massimo Vidale, University of Padova, Italy summarized several recent advances which constrain and complicate the origin of bead technologies in south Asia pointing to evidence of the bead manufacturing complex of the Iranian Chalcolithic in the early 5th Millennium BC. The second day (11th August) lectures by Dr. Bérénice Bellina of the National Centre for Scientific Research; Dr. Bunchar Pongpanich, Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives-BIA, Bangkok, 1

Thailand France concentrated on advances in archaeological investigations of bead-technology by deploying modern scientific methods including SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), INAA (Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis), ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and on the social significance of results these methods might generate. The lectures were presented with detailed explanations of the constraints and possibilities afforded by each method and unequivocally. Ahead in the programme Dr. Vikrant Jain, IIT Gandhinagar, brought new dimensions to the course with a review of ‘the rock cycle’ for archaeologists introducing them to phenomenon such as physical and chemical weathering, as well as the measures of susceptibility to and extent of weathering of different kinds of rock formations and minerals over a long period of time and space. The next paper was presented (in absentia) by Dr. Randall Law, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA on Provenience Study. In the post lunch session lecture by Dr. Laure Dussubieux, The Field Museum, Chicago presented in detail, alongside case-studies, the opportunities, difficulties and necessary precautions which need to be taken when attempting to use PIXE, INAA or ICP-MS techniques in the analysis of stone beads, particularly in trying to establish their provenience. Prof. J.M. Kenoyer’s spoke next on the Use of SEM in understanding the Stone Bead Technology. On third day (12th August) lectures by Prof. J.M. Kenoyer, Prof. K. Bhan, Prof. Ajit Prasad, V.N. Prabhakar, IIT Gandhinagar, Dr. Bhuvan Vikrama, ASI, Agra Circle, Prof. K. Rajan, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry were dedicated towards the assessment of the Harappa stone bead assemblages, the traditional knowledge systems which underlay them, their technological development and regional variability therein and its direct social and economic significance. All of the papers presented synthesis based on years of carefully collected data and all contributed to the engagement with specialized analysis and investigative techniques discussed previously in the workshop. On the fourth day (13 August) all the resource persons and the participants had a guided field trip to the famous Harappan port site of Lothal and to the medieval port town of Khambhat. It was an invaluable experience for the participants to discussthe finds at the Lothal museum and be able to discuss the site itself with the guided talk and discussions in the presence of so many Harappan experts amongst the delegates. Nothing could have been more enriching than touring the bead manufacturing village of Khambhat with the three academic giants Profs. Kenoyer, Vidale and Bhan who re-oriented the field of stone bead research On the last day of the workshop (14th August) the first lecture was delivered by Prof. Manabu Koiso, Kobe Yamate University, Japan where he spoke about the dying tradition of stone beads and emergence of glass beads and their socio-religious impacts. This was followed by a lecture by Dr. Bunchar Pongpanich on Contemporary Stone Bead Making in South-East Asia with Special References to Myanmar and Thailand: Imitating the Ancient Finds by. The last lecture of the short term course cum workshop on stone beads was on the Palaeotechnology of Amber Beads in Europe in the Bronze Age by Prof Massimo Vidale. Prof. Vidale introduced to the audience a raw material type, Amber, which has been extensively studied in Europe but which is rarely considered in south Asia where its presence in the Himalayan belt and use is documented ethnographically. The short term course cum workshop came to an end with a Valedictory function where the Guest of Honour, Dr. S.K. Manjul, Director, Institute of Archaeology, ASI, New Delhi applauded the efforts made by the organizers and visibly justified the collaboration of the ASI. This was followed by the release of the book by Alok Kumar Kanungo on Mapping Indo-Pacific Beads vis-à-vis Papanaidupet by Prof. S.K. Jain. Book bears a foreword by Prof. S.K. Jain and is published jointly by Aryan Books International, New Delhi and the International Commission on Glass, Spain. The dignitaries dais Prof. S.K. Jain, Prof. S.P. Mehrotra, Prof. Girish K. Sharma, Prof. R.S. Bisht and Dr. S.K. Manjul distributed the certificates to the participants. The programme got closed with the vote of thanks by Dr. Alok Kumar Kanungo, where he thanked each and every hand and brain for making the short term course cum workshop a great success.

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