An ancient cornelian bead from Pahang
This short note by I.H.N. Evans describes a large hexagonal-section spindle bead of veined and striped cornelian, measuring 7.1 cm in length, discovered by R.M.A. Maycock on a hillside at Jerantut Estate, Pahang (p. 146).
Summary
Evans documents the bead’s physical characteristics, its find context (imbedded in soil on a steep slope, approximately one foot nine inches below the surface), and its significance as a type apparently unknown in the Malay Peninsula prior to this find. He notes that while ancient cornelian beads are well attested from sites such as Kuala Selinsing, Perak, the hexagonal-section spindle form differs from the rectangular-section faceted beads previously recorded there (p. 146).
The author is cautious about dating the specimen, acknowledging that Iron Age graves were sometimes situated on hill slopes but that no faceted stone beads have been definitively assigned to the Iron Age in the Peninsula—the only three such specimens from that period are spherical (p. 147). He observes that the bead was likely bored from both ends, consistent with a technique still in use in India, and notes that the cornelian is of foreign origin, possibly Indian or Arabian (p. 147).