Malay Peninsula Beads Makers Par Excellence

Was reading the book "Between the Bay of Bengal and the Java Sea", and it mentioned Kuala Selinsing (northwest of Taiping). I started paying extra attention, as Mom was from Taiping. Apparently, it used to be a minor port. From at least the early 1st millennium CE to around the 8th–10th century CE, it was home to a settlement of seafarers. In the first few centuries of the first millennium, it managed to attract glass bead manufacturing to its shores + became an important collection centre in the regional trade network. Based on similarities in manufacturing technique, it was speculated that the bead-making technique came from Arikamedu (Southern India), the technique having first originated around 4,500 years ago in the Indus Valley.

Muzium Negara Malaysia's permanent exhibitions

Kuala Selinsing manufactured beads were made of shells, stones (precious + semi-precious), glass + even fishbones. The raw materials for making stone beads were mostly imported, while the glass for the glass beads was manufactured in Kuala Selinsing itself. The craft dah pupus of course. 

Orang Tepen baru tau.  🤓

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