List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.

Bead making was an important activity for the people of Harappan civilisation. The most important site for this activity was Chanhudaro. Chanhudaro was a small discovered site of about 7 hectares. The significance of this site is that it is generally known for its craft production activities. Some of the prevalent activities in this site were bead making, shell cutting, seal making, metal cutting, etc.

Some of the important features of bead making are:

1. There was the use of a variety of materials for making beads. Some common stones used for this purpose are carnelian, crystal, quartz, and steatite.
2. The use of metals like copper, bronze and gold and shell, terracotta and faience was also prevalent in bead making.
3. The beads were of different shapes like cylindrical, spherical and barrel shaped segmented.
4. The decoration of the beads were done by incising or painting and some had designs etched on them.