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People

Posts relating to people, gender, artistic representations, and common types in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.

Men of Harappa A

  • Most male figurines from Harappa sit with knees bent and arms at the sides of the legs or around the knees. Some of these figurines have facial features and even genitalia, and a few have stylized legs joined into a single projection.

Although there are fewer male than female figurines to be found at Indus sites, these terracotta males from Harappa give some sense of the principles underlying their representations. Shari Clark writes: "After many decades of research, the Indus Civilization is still something of an enigma -- an ancient civilization with a writing system that still awaits convincing decipherment, monumental architecture whose function still eludes us, no monumental art, a puzzling decline, and little evidence of the identity of its direct descendants. In a civilization extending over an area so vast, we expe… >

The Harappan Kiln and Pottery-making Experience in Wisconsin 2016

A nice piece on students on replicating Harappan techniques in Wisconsin in 2016 with Mark Kenoyer shows how much we have to learn about the complexity of ancient manufacturing. >

The Only Known Meluhan Personal Names: Samar and Nanaza

Tucked into the fascinating book Babylonia, the Gulf Region and the Indus: Archaeological and Textual Evidence for Contact in the Third and Early Second Millennia BC (Mesopotamian Civilizations, 2017) is a tidbit that brings to light what are possibly the only two ancient Meluhan names we know of. >

Trident Hand Seals

  • Seal fragment of a man with double bun and three fingered hand or trident. Trench 39 North, upper levels, Harappa Phase.

Complete fragment of seal with the trident hand, from Richard Meadow: H98-3505/8347-105 Steatite seal, intaglio. White fired steatite with a white core. Red speckling on interior below glaze level, slightly speckled on surface. Grinding marks visible on surface. Fragment of writing and top of animal motif remain - 2 or 3 signs are partially visible and 1 sign is complete (~”N”). The man with a double-bun hair style may be holding a trident or simply raising his hand. The animal motif is probably a tiger because of the multiple strokes. Anthropomorphic sign and animal direction facing to le… >

Glimpses of Dholavira #1

  • Photograph by Sunil Shanbag

Dholavira is located on Khadir Beyt, an island in the Great Rann of Kutch in Gujarat State, India. It was excavated between 1990 and 2005 by R.S. Bisht (the field research reports still await publication). In the same size range as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, it has some of the best preserved stone architecture from the ancient Indus period. The city flourished between 2650 and 2100 BCE and seems to have been abandoned about 1900 BCE. It is thought to have controlled the movement of goods between the resource areas of Gujarat and core areas of the Indus plains. Included is an image showing an a… >

What controversies surround the Indus Valley Civilisation?

A wide-ranging interview with one of our ancient Indus scholars, author and archaeologist Shereen Ratnagar. >

Who Were the Meluhha?

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. >

Beads: The Priest King

"The central ornament worn on the forehead of the famous 'priest-king' sculpture from Mohenjo-daro appears to represent an eye bead, possibly made of gold with steatite inlay in the center." J.M. Kenoyer >

Women of Harappa B

  • The multiple-strand belt on some of the female figurines is often accompanied by a plain short "skirt". The applied decorations on the belt may represent beads or other decorations. Approximate dimensions (W x H x D): 3.8 x 7.3 x 2.0 cm. (Photograph by Richard H. Meadow)

At the peak of the Indus Civilization (Period 3, 2600-1900 BCE), the most common dress for female figurines was the belt and/or short skirt usually situated at the same point on the hips as the figurine’s hands, shown in these two terra cotta figurines found at Harappa. See also Women of Harappa A and Men of Harappa. >

Crocodiles: The Magar Much and The Gharial

  • Pilgrims in the 21st century

There are two crocodilians found in the Indus river system: One is the mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) also known as 'magar much', and the other is the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus). >

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