Shell Jewelry Manufacturing Site Excavated in India

AHMEDABAD, INDIA—The Times of India reports that traces of the industrial production of conch shell bangles and beads have been unearthed in western India’s state of Gujarat. Abhijit Ambekar of the Archaeological Survey of India and his colleagues suggest people living in the region recovered Turbinella pyrum shells from the Gulf of Kutch and fashioned them into intricately carved bangles and beads, inlays, and rings as early as the first or second century A.D. The industry is thought to have peaked in the fifth century, and continued into the medieval period. The finished jewelry is thought to have been traded to the east and the south, where similar bangles have been found. The excavation also recovered a stone tablet engraved with a conch motif dating to about the fifth century A.D. To read about another recent discovery, go to "India's Anonymous Artists."