Lapis Lazuli' Beadmaking in Afghanistan .and Pakistan
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• !Zw Jonathan Mark Kenoyer ~ z oa: o.... ecent ob.servations of artisans stones to avoid unnecessary R in Peshaw~lr, Pakistan suggest waste (Piperno, 1973; Tosi, 1989). that some techniques for making This results in rough blocklets beads ~lOd other ormllllents from that GlO be modified for specific lapis lazuli have not changed sig bead shapes, and then roughly ni ficantly over the millennia. ground or chipped prior to drill Beads dating from approximately ing. Most prehistoric lapis lazuli 6;00 B.G have been discovered in beads appear to have been drilled Neolithic burials at Mehrgarh, Pa with tiny chert drills (Piperno, kistan (j~lrrige, 1984; 1985; Leche 1973); some of the tiniest drill vallier and Quivron, 1985; Samzun, holes are less than one millimeter 1984 ms; Vidale, 1991 in pr~ss). in diameter. While no tiny bits Other early sites include:Rehman have been recovered, it is not un Dheri (Durrani, 1984; 1986), Mun likely that some will be found. dig~lk (Casal, 1961), Shahr-i-sokhta Actual drills with lapis lazuli dust (Tosi, 1970; Tosi and Piperno, adhering to the surf~lcehave been 1973), TepeHissar (Bulgarelli, recovered, but most of these drills 1979), and numerous ones in Cen are relatively large (Tosi, 1989). tral Asia (Herrmann, 1968). All The lack of tiny chert drills these locations were within, trad which match the size of these MULLAH ASHUR, drilling. Opposite page: La':' pis lazuli crystal in matrix and large blocklet of ing regions composed of settled holes leads some scholars to sug':' raw lapis lazuli. agriculturalists and pastoral no gest that they were made by cop mads who had access to lapis per drills ~lOd abrasives (Piperno, lazuli mining areas. 1973). There has been consider Only two places along the ~Ible discussion hut no conclusive borders of the South Asian sub evidence regarding the use of continent (see von Rosen, 1988 for bronze or copper drills and abra other sources) are lapis lazuli sites: sives (Gwinnett ~lOd Gorelick, the little known mining area of 1979, 1981). Experimental research the Chagai Hills of southern with a hand-powered bow drill Baluchistan (jarrige, 1988) and indicates that the use of copper the more famous region of Badak and abrasives such as garnet or shan, northern Afghanistan corundum is much more time (Herrmann, 1%8), which date to consuming than with a chert drill. the mid-third millennium B.C. Numerous impressions of lapis la (Ligabue and Salvatori, 1988). It zuli beads found at Harappa, DRILLING with a diamond tipped syringe bit. appears that during the height of Mohenjodaroand Rehmandheri, using a bow drill. the Indus Valley Civilization, and all drill hole impressions ,re around 2000 B.C., the Harappan veal the use of a chert or jasper colony of Shortugai was estab drill, and none indicate the use of lished in northern Afghanistan abrasives, even from the early n~r the Badakshan mines (Franc Neolithic period. A pump drill fort, 1989)., may have been used for tiny flat Lapis lazuli is composed of disc beads, but it would not have many minerals, the most impor been possible-to drill long beads tant being lazurite, which gives it with one. A perforation technique a distinctive azure color(Schuman, for short (thin) agate beads is by 1977). Its coarse granular crystal pecking from both sides (Dales line structure does not flake easily and Kenoyer, 1989), but this has and when hammered will shatter not been documented for lapis irregularly (Schuman, 1977). Large lazuli beads. ~ w blocks are sawed or incised with Tiny cylindriccll shapes, . B'EAD slabs and drilled bead blanks. Photo , graphs courtesy of author. ;', ~ chert blades and then snapped a: short and long-commonto the o with wedges and/or hammer Neolithic and Chalcolithic peri- ods-were prob~ibly made by per Ashur did not learn from sheet of metal and embedding a forating ~l flat piece of lapis lazuli other headmakers, but began diamond chip in the tip. The sy and then stringing a large number making lapis lazuli beads after ringe ~lllows for a sturdier and on a cord and grinding them to observing a china cup repairman finer drill hit. Different sizes of gether to m~lke tiny cylindric.lI use diamond tipped drills to per syringes are used by Ashur de sh~lpes. This time consuming tech forate hroken china cups and tea pending on the type ofhead he nique results in delicate and heau pots. After purchasing all the ing produced: the smallest db tiful beads. The extremely small repairman's diamond tipped meter syringe (0.7 millimeter) is short bicone beads illustrated be drills, he initially gathered an used to make tiny cylindrical low required the use of a dop stick, cient blocks of lapis taken from beads that are replicas or early ~tnd each bead individually ground old mounds in the desert. Now ~l lll.~)lithi<: and chakolithic heads. and polished. Other larger beads more reliable supply of frcsh ma The syringe tip is cut oil were made in a variety of tabular terials from the Rldakshan re then ground on hoth edges to and geometric shapes as well as in gion makes up his stock. make a tip with two prongs, and various ~lnimal or bird sh~lpes A lapis lazuli block is cut by the syringe hole slightly enlarged (Ligabue and Salvatori,1988). Ashur into thin slabs, with thick with a sewing needle. Diamond A recent ethnographic ac nesses varying according to the chips are crushed and a small count of contemporary beadmak desired length of the finished chip selected and inserted into ing in Afghanistan (Wright, 1982) bead. A similar process of reduc~ the syringe hole. The projecting provides a general overview of. tion has been documented for prongs arc crimped over the edge stone beadmaking in Kabul but steatite bead manufacture during of the diamond chip to hold it does not give specific details about the Harappan period (Vidale, 1991 securely. The diamond bit must manufacturing stages and tools. in press). By using a wire cutter be slightly larger than the syringe In the summer of 1991 in Pesh or pliers, small angular chips or shaft otherwise the drill will jam awar, I recorded the work of head roughouts are broken from when perforating the head blank. Mullah Ashur, a Turkoman, origi each slab, and then trimmed into Before drilliilg, the syringe is fit nally from the village of Faraka circular-shaped disc bead blanks ted onto a specially prepared drill· bad, District Daulatabad, Province before being drilled. shaft ~tnd the bit seasoned by Balkh, Afghanistan. His parents Bead blanks are perforated drilling into a piece of emery to had migrated to Balkh from the by drills m~lde from modern sy smooth ~l way any pi~ces of metal Bukhara region, and he moved to ringe needles with a tiny di~l and to eliminate projecting edges Peshawar in 1986 to avoid being mond chip inserted into the tips. of the diamond chip. drafted by the ComQlunist regime According to Wright, in Kabul Diamond bit preparation in Kabul. drills were made by rolling a thin and setting is quite different than
E ~ ~. UJ z:i a: o SINGLE diamond tipped drills made from LAPIS lazuli and carnelian beads from CHERT drill, Harappa, Pakistan (ca. 2000 hypodermic syringes; 1.9-2.8cm length. Harappa (ca. 2000 B.C.); ca. 0.5 cm D. B.C.); metric scale.
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.e LAPIS lazuli beads made by Mullah Ashur.
< in Khambhat, where a single dia making them last longer. lise of two sizes of drills in bead mond bit drill, known as a tek1'li, The final perforation size of perforation in Kabul. A large ill is lIsed only for the initial de beads made in Khambhat is much drill is first lIsed to make a de pression. The perforation itself is larger than those made by single pression on the surface of the made with a double diamond bit diamond bit drills used in Afghan bead and then a smaller tipped al drill called a sayed; (Kenoyer, istan. By comparing the drill hole drill perforates the be~ld approxi- . s 1986; Kenoyer, Vidale and Bhan, impressions, it is possible to dif mately two-thirds of the way 1991). Another important differ ferentiate from a single and a through. The undrilled side is ence is that the diamond chips double diamond drill hole on the marked with a dot at the point n used in Khambhat are first basis of the perforation diameter where the perforation should be rounded by chipping or bruting as well as the patterns of the drill gin and then the same process is the rough edges with another ing striae. repeated. Drilling from both sides larger diamond chip, .and an Lapis bead blanks are. drilled is necessary to avoid chipping nealed by wrapping them in with a.traditional bow drill. For when the drill breaks through some cotton twine moistened fiat disc shaped blanks, the bead the outer surface of the bead. with water and a paste of chalce blank is placed in water in a shal The' technique of driIling with dony powder (from earlier drill low flat bottomed pan to keep it the flat disc bead blanks placed in ing), with the twine then burned and the drill bit cool and avoid a pan of water helps protect the on a piece of charcoal. After an heat fracture. Small disc beads drill from bursting through the nealing, the tiny diamond chips are drilled from one side only. opposite side and may be one. are removed from the ashes and When drilling long beads, Mullah reason why flat beads are usually crimped into the tip of the iron Ashur uses pliers to hold the bead drilled from one side only. drill. The rounding of the dia upright. Long beads are drilled On the basis of ten samples, mond chip removes any projec the drilling rate is approximately N from both .sides and it is difficult ~ tions that might pull the dia to connect the drill holes pre one millimeter in 6.532 seconds. fi mond out .of its setting. The cisely, but Ashur is able to guide Recent experiments with chert ~ ~ function of the annealing pro the drill bit in the right direction drills average one millimeter ev- w ~ cess is not clear, but it is possible regardless of the shaky vise hold ery 600 seconds. By using a c(z a:' 100 that heating relieves stress planes ing the beads. 0 in poor quality diamond chips, Wright (982) refers to the Continued on p. 86 ,...(")
~ ' .... LAPIS LAZULI from p. 73 M:t<.liS