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Dear Lao-yeh, Stefany has cited Beck's most important and encompassing work—his Classification of 1928 (illegally reprinted, but at least available, by Shumway in 1981). However, the work I referred to is his significant paper on "etched" carnelians and agates: Beck, Horace C., “Etched Carnelian Beads,” The Antiquaries Journal, Vol. XIII, No. 4, pp. 384 - 398, 1933. Oxford University Press, London. (I can only cite this in-full because it's in the bibliography of my zi bead article, that is available online at my Zi Group—so I was able to open it. URL below.) I recommend reading the article I composed, posted here, on Pyu beads. On the 5th and 6th pages you can read about decorated stone beads, including with network patterns. It's under ARTICLES. By the way, it's true I wrote "Beck's third period," but this is a mistake! I ought to have said "the Middle Period" (which is his second period—they being Early, Middle, and Late). Sorry for any confusion. The connection between Indian agates, "Pyu" beads, and Tibetan zi beads with net patterns lies with India. The zi beads either came from there, or were made by someone who learned from the Indians. Likewise, the Burmese folks learned these skills from India—as part of the "Indianization" of SE Asia, that grandly affected Burma, Siam (Thailand), Cambodia, and Indonesia, and changed these countries profoundly, including their statecraft, architecture, religions, and crafts. When SE Asian people are characterized as "Tibeto-Burmese," this is a reference to their language group—and this is a very big group in SE asia (!). There is not necessarily much in the way of racial nor cultural similarity implied by this designation. For instance, we should not think that the Pyu "migrated from Tibet to Burma," nor anything as simple as that. Nevertheless, what we call "Pyu" beads, that eventually became "pumtek" beads in modern times, share MANY cultural affinities with zi beads, in terms of the ideas and stories told about them. Although I was the first American bead researcher to see, acquire, and write about "Pyu" beads, in recent years I have come to a different understanding. I no longer use the name "Pyu" exclusively for these beads. Burma was inhabited by the Mon before and after the Pyu kingdom was dominant—and I think it is possible and it is just as sensible (or perhaps MORE sensible) to think of these beads as "Mon beads." These are the two early papers I wrote about them: Allen, Jamey D., “Pumtek: An Introductory Report upon an Unusual Class of Decorated Stone Beads,” The Bead Forum, No. 9, pp. 6 - 13, 1986. Society of Bead Researchers, Ottawa. Allen, Jamey D., “Ancient Beads from Burma,” The Bead Museum Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 3, 1990. The Bead Museum, Prescott, AZ. I hope this is helpful. I can send you xeroxes of the above papers, though they are short articles. The piece posted here is just as good, really..., and one day I will compose Part II. Jamey
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