Indo-Pacific beads explained

Indo-Pacific beads are a type of mainly tube drawn glass beads which originated in the Indian subcontinent but are manufactured widely in Southeast Asia. These are usually 6mm in diameter, undecorated and come in various colours for example green, yellow, black, opaque red, etc.

Production technique

Glass beads are made using three methods, winding, drawing or moulding.

Drawn beads

This method of production involves creating a hollow cavity inside the molten glass by blowing air bubble inside using a 3mm tube. The round shape of the glass is then drawn into a tube and cooled, in India this is called Ladah method. One meter long tube is then broken off which is then broken into smaller bead lengths.

Distribution

Indo Pacific beads traded widely from East Asia ^{[1] [2]} to Africa.^[3] They reached Europe in early medieval period.^[4] They may have been the single most widely traded item in history.^{[5] [6]}

History

Scholars place the manufacturing of the Indo Pacific beads in South India and Southeast Asia between 500 and 200 BCE.^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}

References

1. Katsuhiko. Oga. Gupta. Sunil. 2000-01-01. The Far East, Southeast and South Asia: Indo-Pacific Beads from Yayoi Tombs as Indicators of Early Maritime Exchange. South Asian Studies. 16. 1. 73–88. 10.1080/02666030.2000.9628581. 191984538 . 0266-6030.
2. Gupta. Sunil. 1999–2000. From Eastern Indian Ocean to the Yellow sea interaction sphere: Indo-Pacific beads in Yayoi Japan. Purātattva. 30. 93–97.
3. Wood. Marilee. Interconnections: glass beads and trade in southern and eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean - 7th to 16th centuries AD. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 2012 . en. 47. 2. 248. 10.1080/0067270X.2012.680307 . 162211326 . 0067-270X.
4. Pion. Constantin. Gratuze. Bernard. 2016-06-01. Indo-Pacific glass beads from the Indian subcontinent in Early Merovingian graves (5th–6th century AD). Archaeological Research in Asia. Asia's Maritime Bead Trade. en. 6. 51–64. 10.1016/j.ara.2016.02.005. 2352-2267.
5. Kanungo, A.K. 2004. Glass Beads in Ancient India and Furnace-Wound Beads at Purdalpur: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach. Asian Perspectives 43(1):123–150.
6. Francis. Peter. 1990. Glass Beads in Asia Part Two. Indo-Pacific Beads. Asian Perspectives. 29. 1. 1–23. 42928207 . 0066-8435.
7. Wood. Marilee. Dussubieux. Laure. Robertshaw. Peter. 2012-06-01. The glass of chibuene, mozambique: New insights into early indian ocean trade. South African Archaeological Bulletin. 67. 5974.
8. Wood. Marilee. Panighello. Serena. Orsega. Emilio F.. Robertshaw. Peter. van Elteren. Johannes T.. Crowther. Alison. Horton. Mark. Boivin. Nicole. 2017. Zanzibar and Indian Ocean trade in the first millennium CE: the glass bead evidence. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. en. 9. 5. 879901. 10.1007/s12520-015-0310-z. 1866-9557. free. 49586474. 11858/00-001M-0000-0029-7CD9-0. free.
9. Wood. Marilee. 2012. Interconnections: glass beads and trade in southern and eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean - 7th to 16th centuries AD. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. en. 47. 2. 248. 10.1080/0067270X.2012.680307. 0067-270X. 162211326.
10. Solheim. Wilhelm G.. FRANCIS. PETER. 2003. Review of ASIA'S MARITIME BEAD TRADE, 300 B.C. TO THE PRESENT, PETER FRANCIS, JR. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 76. 2 (285). 129–132. 41493507 . 0126-7353.
11. Web site: Saju. M. T.. November 17, 2020. 'Indians made glass blown beads 2,500 years ago'. 2021-03-06. The Times of India. en.
12. Carter. Alison Kyra. 2016-06-01. The Production and Exchange of Glass and Stone Beads in Southeast Asia from 500 BCE to the early second millennium CE: An assessment of the work of Peter Francis in light of recent research. Archaeological Research in Asia. Asia's Maritime Bead Trade. en. 6. 16–29. 10.1016/j.ara.2016.02.004. 2352-2267.