gems, beads, agate, carnelian, lapidary arts, cutting, early lapidary, Persia, Iran, Bronze Age

The techniques used to manufacture the ubiquitous bead occupy a significant place in the development of lapidary technology Fashioned from rough stone whose hard­ness ranged predominantly from 1 to 7 on the Mohs scale, beads are believed to have been made by chipping, splitting, sawing, facetting, rounding and polishing into a variety of sizes and shapes. The process also included the drilling of a hole for mounting and it is not uncommon to find holes less than 0.5 mm. in diameter. While modern lapidary techniques have sig­nificantly improved the rate of bead pro­duction, there still remain workshops making beads in a style and manner held constant over the centuries.