Ancient Indus Museums



15 museums around the world where ancient Indus Civilization artifacts are live. We welcome updates.

India

  • Archaeological Museum Lothal (Gujarat)
    Three galleries with 800 objects from the site including reconstructions, beads, terracotta ornaments, replicas of seal and sealings, shell and ivory objects, copper and bronze objects, tools, animal and human figurines.
  • National Museum (New Delhi)
    The museum's Indus Valley Civilisation Gallery is the best collection in India, including seals, jewelry, and figurines like the dancing girl found at Mohenjo-daro. The museum store also sells Indus replicas.

Pakistan

  • Harappa Museum (Punjab)
    A small but good museum, perfect after a walk around the mounds. Some of the major finds on display include seals, games, weights, pottery and figurines of all sorts.
  • Mohenjo-Daro Museum (Sindh)
    Giant murals and recreations greet the visitor, as well as many fabulous seals and a copy of the dancing girl figurine found a short walk away, the original of which is in India. Isobel Shaw notes in her Pakistan guide, "that the potters in the village nearby are still making identical ware." What is museum, and what is not.

USA

  • Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Massachusetts)
    On display are a few clay figurines, weights, seals and beads from the first US expedition to the Indus Valley at Chanhudaro, just south of Mohenjo-daro, Sindh during the 1930s.

UK

  • The British Museum (London)
    The British Museum re-opened its Hotung gallery in 2017, with a superb dedicated cabinet display of all its large hitherto unseen Indus collection. This includes a long carnelian bead with a unique cuneiform inscription, which the Curator, Daniela De Simone 'excavated' in the depth of the museum store. Full interview with the curator and photo's here.

France

  • Musee du Louvre
    A handful of Indus-related objects found in Mesopotamian cities are in the Richelieu wing, Near Eastern Antiquities section.
  • Musee Guimet
    Rare objects from Amri (Sindh), Mundigak (Afghanistan), and the Indus Valley civilization at the national museum for Asian Arts.