White flamed talc beads dating to the 7th-5th centuries BC and reddish opaque glass beads dating to the 1 st-4th centuries AD were found in burials at the Khyung Lung site in Zanda County,Tibet.By analyzing the manufacture and raw materials of the two kinds of beads,this study found that the glass beads are chemically similar to samples from the Bara site in the Peshawar area,and that the steatite beads may have shown connections with those counterparts from the Western Himalayan mountains.These findings reflect that the ancient occupants of the Khyung Lung site in various periods may have had a close material exchange with the northern part of the subcontinent,integrating luxury goods at low altitude or near high mountains into local life through river valleys such as the Xiangquanhe river.By summarizing and studying the glass beads of the same period in Western Tibet,southern Xinjiang and Hexi Corridor,it is found that as of the second half of the 1000 BC,South Asian style glass beads began to appear frequently in the Ngari Region and southern Xinjiang,alongside the expansion of the transportation radius of South Asian beads.This study of beads thus indicates that new breakthroughs were made in the frequency of communities migration and circulation ranges of exchanged goods between Western Tibet,Xinjiang,and the Central Plains.
Western TibetGlass beadsTalc beadsProvenance studies
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NSTL
万方数据
