Making the Exotic from the Familiar: The Source and Production of Carnelian Beads during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Mongolia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Directions in Mongolian Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Mongolia, communities across the region adopted mobile pastoralism and horse-riding technology. In conjunction with these changes in subsistence and mobility patterns, innovative funerary practices emerged that incorporated monumental construction and new mortuary offerings. Included in these grave goods were forms of body adornment that utilized carnelian beads. Since the first discoveries of these semiprecious stone beads, archaeologists have speculated about the origin of the carnelian and assumed that these artifacts were exotic trade goods linking Mongolia to regions as far as the Indus Valley in Southeast Asia. This project presents the results of LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) analysis of carnelian beads from the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. These analyses provide the first data on the source of carnelian beads and their related production technology. The results inform our understanding of craft production and exchange patterns during this period in Mongolian archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• New Directions in Mongolian Archaeology

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32257