This is a necklace I completed a few days ago, that was planned some ten years ago, exploiting Tairona carnelian beads from the Naomi Lindstrom Collection. It's a shame Naomi didn't live long enough to see the necklace realized.
The technique (as with most of my designs) combines crown-knotting, wrapping, and macramé. The combination of techniques allows me to place a round braid (crowning) between beads, to form a flexible separation; and wrapping—which is what actually holds many of the beads in-place (since they mostly have biconical perforations with enlarged apertures).
The beads I like to think of as being shaped "like anchors" are said to represent frogs. Others look phallic or like flies. The oblate carnelian beads are also Tairona.
Jamey