A pair of greenstone and carnelian necklaces

Trapped in the house during the dark lock down days of Covid pandemic I raked up this pair of striking necklaces to reminisce happier times. They were sold to me some 20 years ago as Pyu dynasty but maybe later. Similar  strands of carnelian and green cylinders are shown in Elizabeth Moore's paper Carnelians in Myanmar Prehistoric to early Chinese Beads which make me hopeful that these go as far back as Pyu dynasty (around 2nd century BC - 11th century AD)

The beads are a mix of elongated green beads and carnelians interspersed with carnelian buttons and beads. There is also a centrepiece of an etched carnelian pendant on left necklace.

2 striking strands of carnelian and greenstone

Slim and slender green beads some are glass and some
 stone,  hard to tell apart

Equally striking are these elongated carnelian beads

Like the green beads these carnelian cylinders are
slim and slender and well made.

Carnelian buttons

There is also one button made of glass

Glass not carnelian

The etched carnelian pendant also makes a nice centrepiece

Close up of centrepiece pendant

Miniature Cong-shape Bead

 Combining my love for ancient beads and ancient jade is this miniature cong-form jade bead

Cong-form jade Bead

This mottled ivory color piece was purchased in Ningbo  some years back. Ningbo  is one of the heritage sites of Liangzhu Culture  3300-2300 BC and many liangzhu  artifacts including cong-shape beads have been recovered from the site . I know this is a slim connection but the  cong Bead really looks Good 😎.

Square on the outside and round inside measures
2,5cm x 2cm

It is in the form of a miniature squared hollow cylinder and measures 2.5cm x 2cm. All four side of this  bead is divided with line grooves into 4 plain squares with no decorations. The grooves display toolmarks which  maybe a sign of age. Unlike large Liangzhu congs this one does not have the trademark Liangzhu eye decorations, perhaps due to its smaller size.

However one special feature of this cong bead is its strange perforation which is hollowed out from top to bottom and meets in the center displaying a neat triangle shaped wedge.

Peering down the unusual perforation

I have not seen such a perf in a bead before and find it a bit perplexing. Also not sure whether such a perf is a plus or minus factor in its being authentic Liangzhu period.

Cong form Liangzhu bead with strange perforation

3 Lotus Beads

 Long time no post 😊

N here are 3 lotus beads I purchased in Yangon long long ago before the virus before the coup when the world was a much safer place.

3 lotus beads

Lotus I read somewhere is a symbol of hope and hopefully too these beads made from agate and amethyst come from Pyu  period (around 2nd century BC to 11th century AD)

one agate and 2 amethyst

These lotus shaped biscuits made by Siti are not unlike my beads and complement my lotus beads 😚

Lotus shaped biscuits