A recreation of an ancient Indus trader using weights to weigh goods (left, by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer), cubical weights in graduated sizes from Allahdino (top right) and Harappa (bottom right). >
The first Indus women surfaced in the Illustrated London News on September 20, 1924. John Marshall was announcing the discovery of a civilization in India far earlier than Western archaeologists had surmised and these Harappan figurines were earlier than any others. Similar figurines from more recent discoveries at Harappa are also shown below, with captions. These are typical of female figurines from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Why do you think there might be so many more female than male figurines? See also Embodying Indus Life: Terra Cotta Figurines of Harappa. >
Can potential place-names in Indus inscriptions be isolated? Dr. Asko Parpola, in by far best single book on the subject, Decipering the Indus Script, after discussing how place names survive in people's names in Dravidian-speaking South India today, where "the name of the ancestral village often forms the first element of a person's proper name," continues by saying that "a similar survival of Harappan place-names in the Greater Indus Valley is not at all unlikely (§ 9.4). >
Among the tragedies of partition was the literal breaking apart of one of the finest necklaces from Mohenjo-daro, with half going to India and half to Pakistan. The piece on the left is from Pakistan's share, 6 of 10 of a light-green jade beads, 3 of 4 of the seven pendants of agate-jasper. There is not even a color photograph of the complete necklace. An effort by archaeologists hoping to have the two pieces put back together and exhibited by rotation in India and Pakistan has led nowhere: India-Pakistan Link to Mohenjodaro Necklace See also The Case of the Split Necklace #2 … >
"The Harappan chimaera was composed of body parts derived from different animals, as well as humans and other fantastic beings of the Indus imagination." Dennys Frenez and Massimo Vidale's article Harappan Chimaeras as ‘Symbolic Hypertexts’. Some Thoughts on Plato, Chimaera and the Indus Civilization is a truly fascinating paper on composite Indus creatures. See also The Chimaera Revisited. >
Cuneiform scripts on Sumerian and Akkadian cylinder seals and clay tablets mention Meluhha traders, who are generally assumed to belong to the Indus Valley region. Linguists have looked at the etymology of the Meluhha toponym, focusing on its purported Dravidian linkages. >
John Marshall writes about one of the greatest of Indus finds, "the jewelry illustrated ... was found in the silver vessel illustrated on the right of the plate, which was unearthed by Mr. Dikshit in a long trench that he dug to connect up sections B and C in the DK Area ... As the walling in this Block is of the Late Period and the depth of the find was only 3 feet below the surface, this hoard of jewelry can definitely be dated to that Period. The large necklace is made up of barrel-shaped beads of a translucent, light-green jade, measuring 0.9 inch long by 0.45 inch in diameter in the midd… >
A cubical die with 1 to 6 dots was found in rubble during excavations at Harappa. Many such dice were also found at Mohenjo-daro. John Marshall writes: "That dicing was a common game at Mohenjo-daro is proved by the number of pieces that have been found. In all cases they are made of pottery and are usually cubical, ranging in size from 1.2 by 1.2 by 1.2 inches to 1.5 by 1.5 by 15 inches. . .. The dice of Mohenjo-daro are not marked in the same way as to-day, i.e. so that the sum of the points on any two opposite sides amounts to seven. Instead of that, 1 is opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and 5 op… >
The phantasm by Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Image 1) , a diagram of the structure by John Marshall (Image 2), photographs by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer and Richard H (Image 3 and 4). The basic function of this structure on Mound F - there is also one in Mohenjo-daro - remains unknown. Still, there has been important work carried out in Harappa that chips away at myths like "the granary." See also Mystery at Mound F #2 and Mystery at Mound F #3. >
"Bone and ivory counters with circles and lines, carved in ways that do not correspond to dice, may have been used for predicting the future," writes Mark Kenoyer about these objects in Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization (p. 120). The counter on the right has a duck ornament at one end, the counter on the left has a double duck ornament on the end. The larger one may be a stylized figurine with triple circle motifs incised on both faces. What do you think these objects were used for? >
