If you found a cowrie shell in a necklace, you might imagine it came from somewhere near the sea.

But what if that necklace belonged to a community living high in the hills of Northeast India?

Or imagine an ornament made with boar tusks, cane, conch shell and carnelian. Elsewhere, in Odisha’s Niyamgiri hills, brass anklets and neckbands once moved between communities in exchange for ragi, maize, turmeric and vegetables.

Look closely at traditional jewellery across India’s tribal communities and these unexpected combinations appear again and again.

Shells, tusks, beads, bone, feathers and metals become necklaces, anklets, hairpins and arm ornaments. But the materials are only the beginning of the story. They can tell us where things travelled from, who made them, what people exchanged for them and what an ornament could mean to the person wearing it.

Here are some fascinating examples.

1. A necklace made with boar tusks

Among the Sumi Nagas, the Aminihu is difficult to overlook.

Traditionally, the necklace brings together pairs of boar tusks bound with cane, beneath a large conch-shell button and a carnelian bead.

To us, that combination may seem unusual. Historically, however, such materials could carry meanings beyond their appearance.

Anthropologist Alok Kumar Kanungo, who has documented ornaments among several Naga communities, records the Aminihu’s historical association with warrior status and particular achievements.

Other Naga ornaments bring together equally varied materials. The Angami Tsubo, for example, has been made using carnelian and glass beads with ivory or bone spacers.

One necklace could therefore hold materials from an animal, stones and objects acquired through exchange, all........

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