Trade and Values of Carnelian Ornaments in South Asia - Study on Social System supporting Tradition

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25570013
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: Kobe Shukugawa Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: KOISO MANABU 神戸夙川学院大学, 観光学部, 教授 (40454780)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): 村山 和之 和光大学, 表現学部, 講師 (80453968) ; 遠藤 仁 総合地球環境学研究所, 研究員 (80551548) ; 渡邊 三津子 奈良女子大学, 共生科学研究センター, 協力研究員 (10423245) ; 小磯 千尋 大阪大学, 言語文化研究科, 准教授 (00624206)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 紅玉髄製ビーズ / 工芸品 / 装身具 / ナガランド / 南アジア / 交易 / 社会システム / 信仰

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project on carnelian ornaments in South Asia originate from a study on carnelian beads of the Indus Civilization, which led us to carnelian mines at Ratanpur (Dt. Bharuch, Gujarat), the major manufacturing centre of Khambhat (Dt.Anand, Gujarat) and then to one of the major destination of carnelian trade, Nagaland located 2500km away.
The aim of the project is to investigate (or to describe) current state of trade activity of carnelian - i.e. mining, manufacturing into ornaments, selling, purchase and use as well as values or symbolism bestowed on this semi-precious stone. However, the tradition is slowly dying out and hopefully the recording of contemporary status would also be the contribution of the project.

Free Research Field

南アジア地域研究