Mapping the Indo-Pacific Beads vis-à-vis Papanaidupet. Alok Kumar Kanungo. New Delhi and Madrid: Aryan Books International and International Commission on Glass, 2016. xii + 92 pp., €24. ISBN 978-81-7305-547-8.

Babalola, Abidemi Babatunde

Mapping the Indo-Pacific Beads vis-à-vis Papanaidupet. Alok Kumar Kanungo. New Delhi and Madrid: Aryan Books International and International Commission on Glass, 2016. xii + 92 pp., €24. ISBN 978-81-7305-547-8.

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06e_57.1Book_review_Babaloloa.pdf (65.96 KB)

Date

2018

Authors

Babalola, Abidemi Babatunde

Abstract

Alok Kumar Kanungo’s Mapping the Indo-Pacific Beads vis-à-vis Papanaidupet discusses the production of a particular kind of glass bead purported to have originated in South India over two and a half millennia ago. This Indo-Pacific glass bead is claimed to have spread across vast areas of southern and southeastern Asia as well as the eastern sub-region of the African continent. Borne from nearly two decades of Kanungo’s archaeological and ethnographic research on glass and glass beads in India and surrounding regions, this book maps the spread of the Indo-Pacific (IP) beads in Southeast Asia, documents the process of production of the beads at the extant glass bead making factories at Papanaidupet, and describes the social, economic, and ritual use of the beads across Southeast Asia. Contributing to our knowledge of the importance of India in the history of glass, the author details complexities associated with the archaeological study of glass. These difficulties include (1) reconstructing techniques of glass bead production, (2) identifying debris representing different stages in the production chain, and (3) understanding the social collaboration embedded in each step of the production to ensure a successful final product.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10125/72082

Collections

Asian Perspectives, 2018 - Volume 57, Number 1 (Spring)

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