Artifacts
Weights and Measures
Student model of weights
The Indus people had cube shaped weights in different colors, shapes, and sizes.These were basically used to measure items when collecting taxes and trading. They weighed objects like gold and grain. Merchants also used these weights to measure heavy metals and other materials, in order to trade in exact amounts. The smallest weight was 0.856 grams. Small balance pans which were found by archeologists were probably used for weighing gold. Many people in Pakistan today still use these kinds of weights, but in different sizes.
Seals
The seals of the Indus civilization were used for both internal and external trade. There were a number of Indus seals found as far away as ancient Mesopotamia. The seals were made on ceramics and used as tags to seal bundles of trading goods. The impression might have been applied to show ownership or for security. The designs on the Indus seals represented the culture, writing, and religion. Some seals show a bear which means swastika and other animals represented different symbols. The animals were important because they were symbols of early writing. Some seals, called unicorn seals represented imaginary animals. It is clear that the seals were really important to the people of the Indus valley.
Pottery
Modern Pakistani pottery is similar to the ancient styles.
A large variety of pottery items were found at Moenjodaro.
Most of them were wheel turned and include all sizes, forms and decorations.
There were big jars down to small bowls, vases, incense burners, and elaborate
dishes on stands. There were even large troughs for feeding cattle.
The pottery was mostly painted with red, cream, or black designs. The surface paint was either smooth or dull. There were also plain unpainted types of pottery like cups, saucers, goblets, dishes, water jars and large storage jars for grain. Though the plain pottery seems to be what they had the most of, painted items were also popular. Pottery painted with black or brown tints often has geometrical designs along with plants, animals, birds and human forms.
Indus Toys
Student made replicas of Indus toys.
Ancient Indus toys where mostly made of terracotta, wood, hardened clay, shells, semi-precrous stones copper/bronze, alabaster and ivory. They had carts, animals, humans, and boats. Some toys even had wheels and moveable parts, such as moveable wheels on carts, or a shell animals with a moveable heads. Indus toys also included board games and marble games. They had even invented a game similar to chess. Some of the toys tell us how things looked during ancient times in the Indus Valley. For example, we know what their carts looked like and what they wore.
Jewelery
Their jewelery was made from
gold, silver, bronze, precious stones and other precious metals. Most of the
jewelery from the Indus Civilization was found in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.
Some of the jewelery had Afghani stones, so archeologists think that the people
in this civilization had a lot of trade with the Afghanistan.
Among the ornaments, necklaces and pendants made of beads of semi-precious stones were the most common. Ornaments of faience and paste beads are also quite popular while the ones made of shells and clay are less frequent. Square disc-shaped engraved beads decorated with white designs have also been found. Beads made using a similar technique come from Iran and Mesopatamia. This also shows us that the people of the Indus Civilization had trade with their neighboring countries.
The people didn't hide their
jewelery in graves like the Egyptian, instead they hid it under floorboards.
The people of this civilization also wore their jewelery. Gold necklaces,
head wear, armlets, bangles, and finger rings were worn both by men and women,
but long beads, earings and anklets were worn exclusively by women.
Ancient bangles and girl with modern day bangles.
Sculptures
The sculptures of the Indus Valley are very interesting . They show great artwork. Some of the Terracotta figurines have long been considered toys and several styles of carts as well as wheels made of terrocotta have been found in Harappa. These were probably originally held together by wooden pieces that have not been preserved. These terrocotta carts are very similar to carts drawn by oxen or water buffalo today in South Asia.
Photos - Harappa.com
The Priest King
One of the most interesting
figures of the Indus Valley was the Dancing Girl. She was 10.8 centimeters
high and was sculpted using the lost wax method around 2,500 B.C.She was found
in 1926 in a house in the ancient city of Mohenja-Daro, Pakistan. Another
sculpture was of the Priest King. It is 17.5 cm high, and 11 cm wide. It was
found in Mohenja-Daro, in 1909. Replicas of these figures may be seen in the
Lahore Museum.
The dancing girl was a very beautiful girl. This sculpture shows us about how they dressed and how they danced. We can also see what kind of bangles and jewelery they wore. She has thick lips, and an innocent look in her eyes.
The priest king is a very well made piece of art. The hair of the preist king is nicely combed back. The flatness on the back of his head tells us that he must have been wearing a hat or some type of headdress. His clothing tells us about how rich people probably dressed in this civilization.
Indus script
Student model of Indus Script
The script of the Indus Valley is fascinating. It is engraved on seals that were then used as a stamp on clay. The script has been discovered for around 70 years, but it has not yet been deciphered. No one has been able to read what it says. There is no Rosette stone here. We should not blame the people who are trying to decipher this script for three main reasons. Number one is that the texts are very brief and short. The smallest number of symbols is 5 and the longest is 26. Compared to the Egyptian script this is very short. Number two, the language is completely different and unknown. Number three, there are no bilingual texts which means that like the Rosette stone, there are no other languages saying the same thing as the script. The script mostly consists of animals. There is sometimes an animal on the bottom and strange symbols starting with a fish with a arrow on its head. People think that it stands for the love of God. The theories are that this script is Proto-Dravidian, Indo-European, or Indian Iranian, but the strongest theory is the Proto-Dravidian one. This script is from ancient southeast India.