Beads Trade in Peninsula Malaysia - Malay Civilization - Universiti ...

European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 10, Number 4 (2009)
Beads Trade in Peninsula Malaysia: Based on Archaeological
Evidences
Zuliskandar Ramli
Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM, Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: ziskandar@ukm.my
Tel: +603-89213694; Fax: +603-89254698
Nik Hassan Shuhaimi
Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM, Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
Nik Abdul Rahman
Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM, Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract
Beadsmaking industries are the oldest handcraft industries in the world. The oldest beads
were made from seeds, sea shells, animal bones and animal claws. Century’s later clay,
resin, wax, stone, glass and metal were used to produce the bead as the human knowledge
in science and technology had grows tremendously. In Peninsula Malaysia, thousand of
glass and stone beads were firstly reported by Evans during his excavation at Kuala
Selinsing, Perak. In Pulau Kelumpang, several type of stone found here were made from
carnelian, agate, beryl, sodalite, moldavite, plasma, jasper, aventurine and quartz cat eye.
The origin of the stone beads that had been unearth from Pulau Kelumpang archaeological
sites were not local but had been brought from elsewhere. The stone beads found in Pulau
Kelumpang were probably introduced either as raw materials or as finished products and
could have been originated from India, Middle East and perhaps China. Beryl, plasma,
aventurine and sodalite had been mined for centuries in India, particularly from Mysore,
Coimbatore, Rajasthan and Kashmir. Similarly the Middle East countries, particularly Iran
and Iraq are well known for producing sodalite and aventurine. The Chinese for ages used
plasma and aventurine as jade substitutes. H.D Collings also found several glass beads
when he excavated metal age burial at Slim River, Perak. In the middle of 1930’s, G.B
Gardner made an impressive collection of a wide range of types of glass beads in Johor
Lama and Kota Tinggi and then sent them to Horace Beck to identify the origin of the
beads. The beads found in Kota Tinggi can be characterized as a Roman beads and South
East Asia type with parallels at Pengkalan Bujang and Kuala Selinsing. The discovery of
thousand of beads made from glass, stone, clay, wood and metal at Kampung Sungai Mas,
Kota Kuala Muda, Kedah and Pengkalan Bujang, Kedah showed that Bujang Valley from
5 th to 13 th Century functioned as an entreport in South East Asia region. Scientific analysis
on monochrome glass beads from Kampung Sungai Mas suggested that Sungai Mas was
among the Indo Pacific glass beadsmaking centre in the world. Several beads also found in
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Angin Cave at Jerantut, Pahang showed that the beads were used as trading item between
the coastal and inland people. The discoveries of beads have shown that the international
trades in Peninsula Malaysia have begun since 500 B.C. and the traders came from India,
Persia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China.
Keywords: Beads, Indo Pacific glass beads, Sungai Mas, Pulau Kelumpang
1. Introduction
Beads are universal objects and found in most countries of the world. Beads are the most widely
travelled of all prehistoric artefacts as many were produced thousands of miles from their place of
discovery. Since prehistoric times, they have been prominent items in both regional and international
trade.
Bead-making is one of the most world oldest crafts. The first beads were made from seeds,
shell, animal teeth, claws and bone. Later clay, stone, wax, resin, glass and metal were used. Stones
used for making beads included agate, chalcedony, beryl, jasper, quartz, carnelian, amethyst, crystal,
jade and granite. The oldest carnelian beads from the Royal Graves of Ur in Mesopotamia date to 2500
BC. In India, carnelian beads were produced on a large scale from about 1500 BC. Beads play a
significant role in researching the formation of early human cultures. They were extremely valued
objects, not only during a person’s lifetime, but even after death as beads had been found as part of the
grave offerings in some early burials.
The function of beads covered all aspects of Malaysian life, such as birth, marriage, customs,
religion and economic. In the archaeological context, beads are evidence that early societies possessed
sophisticated social, culture, economic and trading systems. The utilization of beads as a form of
currency by early Malaysian societies also showed that they participated in a well-functioning
economic system. In addition, the wearing of special, highly valued beads by particular people in the
community clearly shows that there was a form of social hierarchy in existence in Malaysia from
prehistoric times.
2. Interpreting Glass Analysis
A lots of beads found in Peninsula Malaysia can be categories as an Indo Pacific Beads or generally
known as monochrome glass bead. These beads are made from glass and composed of many different
elements. Glassmaking was traditionally an art, not a science, and early glassmakers did not have an
ability to purify their ingredients completely. Some elements in glass are important in tracing the origin
of the raw materials, but others are not considered significant. The constituents of glass may group into
six categories:
1) Glass Formers. All glass considered here is silica-based. The silica contents vary from less than
55 percent to nearly 75 percent. The difference depends on the amount of other ingredients; it is
rarely crucial to understanding glass samples. The other important glass former is lead, which
by virtue of its high specific gravity can register up to 90 percent of weight of ingredients. No
Indo-Pacific beads were made of lead glass. However, the lack of lead in some of these glasses
is important.
2) Alkalies. Silica melts at a very high temperature, too high for any ancient furnace to reach. A
flux, employed to lower the melting point of silica, needed to be added to the batch. Lead can
serve as a flux, but more often alkalies were used, principally sodium (as soda) and potassium
(as potash). They were derived from soil deposits, evaporated seawater or saline lakes, or the
ashes of plants. Plants ash is usually a mixture of these two alkalies. In fact, most alkalies in
ancient glasses are mixed to some degree. The ratio of alkalies in glass is often an important
clue to their association and their sources.
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3) Secondary ingredients. Calcium, aluminium, iron, manganese and magnesium are usually
present in older glass in concentration from 1.0 to 10 percent; their higher concentration is rare.
Lime (calcium) is necessary to stabilize glass, though ancient glassmakers may not have
realized this (Turner, 1956). Manganese and iron may be added as colorants; otherwise, along
with aluminium and magnesium, they are impurities introduced with sand, the alkalies,
colorants, or the crucibles (especially in the case of aluminium).
4) Colorants. Metal salts are added to the batch to impart various hues. Upon firing they convert to
oxides. All but the purest modern glasses have some color. Iron and copper, both common by
the time glass was invented, can impart a wide spectrum of colours, depending on their
amounts and how the glass is worked. Manganese and cobalt are powerful colorants that have
been known for a long time.
5) Opacifiers. Arsenic, antimony and tin have been used as opacifiers, as have salt, bone, and
fluorides. The elements in these ingredients are also commonly found in trace amounts.
Purposeful addition is not usually assumed until a concentration of 1.0 percent or so is reached.
6) Trace elements. Tiny amounts of other elements enter the glass batch inadvertently. Titanium,
vanadium, gold, silver and others are nearly always present in amount of 0.1 percent, 0.01
percent, or even less. Combinations of trace elements may provide a “fingerprint” to help
identify particular glasses, but the validity of that expectation has not yet been demonstrated.
There is still not enough analysis revealing such “fingerprints” to be useful in comparing them.
Differences in trace elements may be attributed to any of the primary or secondary constituents
of glass, and the sources of these ingredients may vary widely, even at on glasshouse.
Early glass beads made in Southeast Asia were probably manufactured from glass scrap
imported from Middle East or the Mediterranean. ‘Roman style’ glass beads, particular eye beads, may
have been imported after the fall of Roman Empire but before the twelfth century and certainly before
Europeans arrived in South East Asia.
Figure 1: Location of beads found in Peninsula Malaysia
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3. Beads Found in Archaeological Sites
In Peninsula Malaysia, most discoveries of ancient beads were results from archaeological excavation
and by the local people that found the beads by coincidences especially in Bujang Valley, Kedah. The
oldest beads yet discovered in Peninsula Malaysia, which date to about 2500 years ago, were found
inside a granite cist grave in the Bernam Valley of south Perak. Beads dating from the Dongson
cultural period (600 BC-400AD) had been found in Johor at Johor Lama and Makam Kota near Kota
Tinggi and at Kampung Pencu near Muar; at Pantai Batu Buruk, Terengganu and at Kampung Sungai
Lang, Selangor. Large finds of beads have also been unearth in Perak at Kuala Selinsing (200BC-10 th
century AD), the Bujang Valley of Kedah (5 th -14 th century AD) and at Takuapa and Patani in southern
Thailand (8 th – 9 th century A.D). The types of beads discovered in Peninsular Malaysia are similar to
those discovered in Sarawak and other Southeast Asian sites.
3.1. Bujang Valley, Kedah
The Bujang Valley extends from Gunung Jerai in the north, to the Sungai Muda in the south and the
Strait of Melaka in the west. Its principal rivers are the Merbok and the Muda, while Gunung Jerai, at
1217 metres, is the highest land form in the area. Settlements were located on ridges and natural levees
along the rivers, and on the foothill slopes, while the main temples were built on elevated land.
The discovery of prehistoric sites at Guar Kepah provides evidence that the kingdom evolved
from local settlements. Presumably, these merged together under a strong leader who established a
landfall port for traders from India and China. Buddhist inscription found in the valley were proof of
Indian contacts from the 5 th to the 6 th century A.D. As a result of increased trade in the Strait of
Melaka, the Bujang Valley developed into a collecting centre for the products of the Malay Peninsula,
and by the 7 th century it had evolved into an entrepot (Nik Hassan Shuhaimi & Othman Mohd Yatim
1990).
A lot of beads that have been found in Bujang Valley can be classified as monochrome glass
beads or well known as Indo Pacific beads. Almost 90% of beads discovered from archaeological
excavation are the monochrome glass beads. In 1961, the archaeologist Alastair Lamb discovered
small fragments of glass scrap which could have been used as raw materials for making beads in the
Bujang Valley. He also found the similar materials at Kuala Selinsing, Perak, leading him to speculate
that beads could have been made on site (Lamb 1961).
Based on this evidence, and the finding of glass scrap at other Southeast Asia sites, academic
opinion now leans towards a theory of local production, although the exact source of the materials and
the location of the workshop are still unknown. It is assumed that the raw glass materials were
originally brought on vessels from Middle East, and were probably off-loaded at the west coast ports of
the Malay Peninsula. These landfalls, such as Takuapa, Bujang Valley and Kuala Selinsing, were the
first ports of call in Southeast Asia, and have yielded the largest find of beads. They also could be
made from discarded broken glass vessels, but this neither does nor explains the presence of the raw
glass materials found. Compositional analysis on glass beads in Sungai Mas has been taken carried out
and it showed that the Sungai Mas monochrome glass beads produced by local people and not been
brought from India. Bujang Valley became beads making centre in South East Asia and independently
produced their own monochrome glass beads in 8 th century AD (Zuliskandar & Kamaruddin 2008). In
the beginning, the beads probably came from India or Thailand.
Among the most popular beads found at Malaysian and Southeast Asia archaeological sites are
those known as mutisalah. These are made from opaque, dark red glass, sometimes mistaken for
carnelian, terracotta or coral. This type of beads have been discovered at South Indian megalithic sites
dating about 200 B.C, and at the ancient trade centre of Arikamedu, where there is evidence of largescale
manufacture. The beads were made at a number of locales until at least the sixteenth century.
These kinds of beads were usually found in Bujang Valley and also in Pulau Kelumpang, Perak.
There are also polychrome glass beads found in Bujang Valley and originated from India and
Middle Eastern. Alongside the glass beads, several stone beads made from carnelian, quartz, agate,
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crystal and amethyst. Other type of material that had been found in Bujang Valley is made from gold,
wood and terracotta. A lot of stone beads found in Bujang Valley are made from carnelian, agate and
quartz. Several site in Bujang Valley such as Sungai Mas and Pengkalan Bujang have unearth several
type of stone beads from the site. The stone beads are originated from India and Middle Eastern and
probably from Myanmar. In India, carnelian beads were produced on a large scale from about 1500 BC
at the place called Ratanpur near Cambay.
Polychrome glass beads also found in various shape and colour in Bujang Valley. Several types
of polychrome glass beads that can be identified are called ‘eye beads’, Takua Pa Eye Beads, Oval Eye
Spot Bead and Bird Beads. These beads are originated from Middle Eastern, India and local
production.
3.2. Kelumpang Island, Perak
Photo 1: Various types of beads found in Bujang Valley
Archaeological excavation in Kelumpang Island was firstly done by Evan in 1932. Evans named the
sites as Tanjung Rawa, Kuala Selinsing, Perak. These sites are known as Pulau Buluh (Bamboo Island)
or Pulau Kulit Kerang (Shell Island) to a few crab catchers, charcoal woodcutters and fisherman who
frequent Kuala Selinsing and Kuala Kelumpang. This settlement was in use by the maritime people
between 200BC and about 1400 AD. The people were seafarers according to the presence of the bones
of deep sea fish in the sites. Contact with an inland rice-growing people also took place, as evidenced
of many rice husks. A final observation is that the first settlers on Kelumpang Island were a metalusing
people who were at the same stage of cultural development as the makers of the cist graves in
Changkat Menteri and other sites in Perak. The people in Kelumpang Island also were traders in beads
in semi-precious stones and glass.
Thousand of glass and stone beads were firstly reported by Evans during his excavation at
Kuala Selinsing, Perak (Evans 1928a, 1928b, 1929, 1930, 1932). Several type of stone beads that have
been found in Kuala Selinsing are made from carnelian, agate, beryl, sodalite, moldavite, plasma,
jasper, aventurine and quartz cat eye. The origin of the stone beads unearth from Pulau Kelumpang
archaeological sites were not local but have been brought from elsewhere. The stone beads found in
Pulau Kelumpang were probably introduced either as raw material or as finished products and could
originate from India, Middle East and perhaps China. Beryl, plasma, aventurine and sodalite had been
mined for centuries in India, particularly from Mysore, Coimbatore, Rajasthan and Kashmir. Similarly
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the Middle East countries, particularly Iran and Iraq are well known for producing sodalite and
aventurine. The Chinese for ages used plasma and aventurine as jade substitutes. Many of the stone
beads are to be found which unfinished of faulty bored. These indicated that the stone beads had been
manufactured locally. The raw materials are bought elsewhere but the beads are made by the local
people.
A lots of beads found in Pulau Kelumpang are made from glass and can be categorized as a
monochrome glass beads or Indo Pacific beads. Many of the beads have been found during the survey
and from archaeological excavation. Polychrome glass beads found here are originally came from India
and Middle Eastern. A few of this polychrome glass beads were found in Pulau Kelumpang. Evans has
suggested that the monochrome glass beads were made locally and some of the beads were brought
from India. The beads that were made locally were those of a deep blue translucent glass, of which
rough pieces are fairly common. No materials have yet been found, it’s likely that the common dark
red and orange opaque beads were not made in the Peninsula Malaysia.
3.3. Johor Lama and Kota Tinggi
Photo 2: Collection of beads from Pulau Kelumpang, Matang Perak
Site in Johor Lama and Kota Tinggi have yielded large numbers of glass beads, of which some are of
the characteristic South East Asian types, which parallels at Pengkalan Bujang and Kuala Selinsing and
some rather more exotic and can be classified as a Roman Beads (Gardner, 1937). These last divided
into two categories. First, “Roman” types, that is to say type from the Mediterranean of a date, on
typological of uncertain validity, before say, 300 A.D. second, a wide variety of glass beads of a late
nature, either showing refined techniques such as mould-blowing and mould-casting or being clever
imitations in glass of other materials. At Kota Tinggi and Johor Lama, a collection of glass beads
which imitate amber, jade, carnelian, banded agate and human molar teeth. These clearly represent a
rather sophisticated attempt to exploit the possibilities of the South East Asian bead market (Lamb
1966).
The Kota Tinggi and Johor Lama assemblages have fascinating implications. Associated with
the ceramic found site, the Johor sites are dated about 1450 A.D. The sites are later than Pengkalan
Bujang and Kuala Selinsing and in the period of the apogee of Malacca Sultanate, there is sudden
flowering of the beads trade. Perhaps Middle Eastern merchants, who hitherto had merely provided the
raw materials, now were beginning to export copies of South East Asian bead type made in Middle
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East. By the 16 th century European glass centres like Venice were joining in (such is the indication of a
Venetian blown glass beads from Johor Lama).
3.4. Iron-Age Sites in Southern Perak and Selangor (Bernam Valley)
In 1936, excavation has been done by H. D Collings in Slim, Batang Padang District, Perak. This site
is known as a cist grave or slab grave and dated range from 500 B.C to 7 th century A.D. There were
iron implements found in the graves include spearheads and socketed tools typical of other Iron Age
sites in Peninsular Malaysia. It is believed that the graves were reserved for elite as iron implements
were reasonably rare and were probably only owned by people of high status. No human remains were
found in the graves, although they were certainly funerary monuments. Associated finds of beads and
shards show that the Bernam Valley was one of the most important early settlement centres in
Peninsular Malaysia. However, detailed knowledge of the Iron Age communities is still lacking.
Various origins have been posited for this Iron Age culture, including India, Indochina and Indonesia,
or it could have been of local origin. Current academic opinion is that the settlement in Bernam Valley
was involved with trade via the Trans peninsular route which led to the tin ore areas of Perak, the gold
mining regions of Pahang and the iron ore outcrops on the east coast.
Beads found in the cist grave consisted of a large carnelian and large crystal stone bead. There
are also monochrome glass beads found in the grave which in red, bright blue and purple colour. There
are hundred of monochrome glass beads found in Bernam Valley, all somewhat irregular in size and
shape (Collings 1937). The stone and monochrome glass beads found in the cist grave at Bernam
Valley were probably from India but local traders from the coast are the people who involved in
trading in Bernam Valley. Bernam Valley was a place where ancient traders looked for tin and forest
goods. It’s not possible that beads trade took place here.
3.5. Bronze Age Site in Peninsula Malaysia
The Bronze Age site in Peninsula Malaysia located at Kampung Pencu, Muar, Kampung Sungai Lang
and Kelang, Selangor and Pantai Batu Buruk, Terengganu. The earliest site is dated 200 B.C and the
findings were bronze bell and Dongson Drum associated with beads. The finding indicated that trading
had took place and the used of bronze products and beads were used as trading items.
Photo 2: A selection of ‘Roman’ glass beads from Kota Tinggi, Johor. On the left are balck and white zone
beads. On the right are a chevron bead and a cane bead. These “Roman” beads occur in the Johor
sites in association with beads of manifestly more recent date. In the context of the Johor sites it
seems reasoble to believe that these “Roman” beads did not reach the Maly Peninsula until 15 th
century at the earliest (Lamb 1966)
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Photo 3: Group of glass beads from Kota Tinggi, Johor. The two beads on the left are shaped like human
molar teeth. The fourth bead from the left in intended to imitate a green jade. The hexagonal bead is
of a red moulded glass and clearly meant to resemble carnelian. Third from the right is a glass
imitation of amber. All beads collected by R. Tirot in 1963 (Lamb 1966)
Photo 4: A long glass bead imitating very cleverly banded agate. This specimen was found at Kota Tinggi in
about 1952. (Lamb 1966)
Photo 5: Beads of carnelian, rock crystal and glass beads found in slab grave in Slim River, Perak (Collings
1937).
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4. Conclusion
The existences of various types and colour of beads in pre-history and proto-history archaeological
sites in Peninsula Malaysia showed that Peninsula Malaysia had involved in beads trading since 500
B.C. Local trader have involved in international trading with trader from India, Middle Eastern and
other places in South East Asia such as Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar. Merchants from India,
Middle Eastern and Indo-China are looking for local commodity such as gold, tin and forest goods and
used beads as a barter trade item. Many of Indian merchants involved in beads trading in Peninsula
Malaysia because they are looking for gold, species and forest goods and also we can deny the role
played by merchants from Funan and Southern Thailand because they are looking for tin to produced
bronze products. The finding of Dongson drum and bronze bell associated with beads at Kampung
Pencu, Muar, Kampung Sungai Lang are the proof of trade with Indo-China merchants. In 8 th century
at least Sungai Mas and Pulau Kelumpang had become the beads centres of monochrome glass beads.
This two beads centre then distribute their beads to all South East Asia continent. Sungai Mas act as an
entreport while Pulau Kelumpang acted as a feeder port.
References
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of the Raffles Museum Series B 1(2)
[2] Evans, Ivor H.N., 1928a. “On ancient Remains from Kuala Selinsing, Perak”, Journal of the
Federated Malay Museums 12(5).
[3] Evans, Ivor H.N., 1928b. “Further Notes on ancient Remains from Kuala Selinsing, Perak”,
Journal of the Federated Malay Museums 12(5).
[4] Evans, Ivor H.N., 1929. “A Further Notes on the Kuala Selinsing Settlement”, Journal of the
Federated Malay Museums 12 (7).
[5] Evans, Ivor H.N., 1930. “Notes on recent Finds at Kuala Selinsing, Perak”, Journal of the
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Federated Malay Museums 15 (3).
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