Diamonds from India to Rome and beyond

Abstract

The technological history of diamonds as tools in the ancient world is even more obscure than their use as gemstones. Our experimental evidence for the use of diamonds in Arikamedu is southeast India, ca. 250 B.C.–A.D. 300, is the earliest thus far reported. Wheeler found a bead workship in Arikamedu, as well as strong evidence for trade with Rome. The Romans are very likely to have learned to use diamond splinters as drills in Arikamedu. Pliny states that diamond splinters "are much sought after by engravers of gems" (HN 37.15.61). Further literary evidence, both Sanskrit and Roman, adds weight to our finding. Additional references, although meager, help trace the continued use of diamonds as engraving tools after the fall of Rome through the Sassanian and Islamic periods. Evidence is lacking for the European Middle Ages, but documentation for Europe re-emerges in Europe in the 15th century A.C. Diamonds are still used in the modern industrial world, in modern crafts, as well as in the remote beadmaking village of Cambay, India. Here a diamond-hafted bow drill is still currently in use for drilling beads. Beads from Cambay, in fact, provided the initial clues in interpreting our subsequent experimental evidence.