On the Trade Routes, Part 1, with Carnelian

03.03.2011 · Posted in Janet Walker

Translucent Carnelian

In ancient times, Carnelian, a wonderful orange/golden/yellow agate was traded from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in Northern India, now the Punjab, through the Indus Plain and into Europe and North Africa in the form of beads. We’re talking 4000 BC here! It is a beautiful stone once considered the gem of royalty.

Carnelian is Quartz agate, a Silica Chalcedony mineral that varies from transparent to translucent to opaque as agates do. Sometimes Carnelian is found as a beautiful orangey color but it has been discovered that its color can be changed or made deeper when it has been heated. So what would be considered to be a low grade stone can be baked and new glorious colors are revealed.

Translucent Carnelian Beads

Now whoever discovered this, it’s my surmising, was using the agate as a cooking stone and the heat from the cooking fire changed the agate to a beautiful orange color. Our home and garden is located on an old midden in the Pacific Northwest and I’m finding carnelian agates all the time in my yard, garden, and on the beach, evidence of cooking stones and fires.

Hand Faceted Banded Carnelian Agates

Archaeologists have found large piles of agate chips in Harappa in Northern India where bead making was a huge industry that financed an entire empire. They traded with Mesopotamia who in turn traded with Syria, who in turn traded with the Romans and other Europeans.

The Egyptians and the Phoenicians both made scarabs out of Carnelian. The Assyrians carved cylinder seals from Carnelian and the early Greeks and Etruscans loved it as a gemstone. Romans used it for their signet/seal rings because wax doesn’t want to stick to it. Carnelian was a valued stone that also went west to Europe and east to China. Carnelian was traded in all four directions. The Carnelian industry has been going on for thousands of years. Hold that thought!

Article and photos by Janet Walker