Stone Bead Making
Another important craft activity carried out at the site was stone bead production. The majority of the evidence of this craft comes from the southern half of the settlement outside the fortification wall. Though at present we are not able to claim to have discovered the workshop, but we are hopeful that further excavations at the site may yield fruitful evidence. This craft at the site is represented by large number of stone beads, also found in various stages of their production. The assemblage associated with stone bead production also include tapered cylindrical drills made on chert, jasper and chalcedony and constricted cylindrical drills made on a rare form of metamorphic rock that is referred to as "Ernestite" for drilling soft and hard stones respectively.
However, one of the important discoveries associated with this industry is the recovery of stockpiles of raw material, neatly kept in two clay-lined bins that containing large amounts variegated and molted jasper. Both these bins were recovered from a trench close to the interior eastern periphery of the fortification wall. A preliminary observation of these bins indicated that the materials were segregated on the bases of size and the type of raw material. One of the bins contains larger chunks of green - red - white variegated jasper, a broken stone dish and a few complete good quality T. pyrum shell.
While the other bin contains small chunks of black and white molted jasper that seems to have been extensively used at the site in the manufacture of beads. The absence of manufacturing waste of the green-red-white - variegated jasper from the site perhaps indicate that this material was not meant to be used at the site but was carefully stockpiled to be shipped to some where else for the manufacture of beads. This area was perhaps a stockpiling area of a merchant dealing with the supply of raw material to the craftsmen of the settlement as well as to other Harappan bead making workshops. We have already started looking for the resource areas of these stones, however it appears that this material was brought to the settlement that was approximately 70 kilometers southwest in Saurashtra.
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