world valley

Indus Valley Art

2009-12-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

Male head probably broken from a seated sculpture. Finely braided or wavy combed hair tied into a double bun on the back of the head and a plain fillet or headband with two hanging ribbons falling down the back (40).

The upper lip is shaved and a closely cropped and combed beard lines the pronounced lower jaw. The stylized almond shaped eyes are framed by long eyebrows. The wide mouth is very similar to that on the "Priest-King" sculpture. Stylized ears are made of a double curve with a central knob.

Material: sandstone
Dimensions: 13.5 cm height
Mohenjo-daro, DK-B 1057
Mohenjo-daro Museum, MM 431
Dales 1985: pl. IIb; Ardeleanu-Jansen 1984: 139-157

Three sided molded tablet. One side shows a flat bottomed boat with a central hut that has leafy fronds at the top of two poles. Two birds sit on the deck and a large double rudder extends from the rear of the boat. On the second side is a snout nosed gharial with a fish in its mouth. The third side has eight symbols of the Indus script.

Material: terra cotta
Dimensions: 4.6 cm length, 1.2 x 1.5 cm width Mohenjo-daro, MD 602
Islamabad Museum, NMP 1384
Dales 1965a: 147, 1968: 39

This figure of two oxen pulling a woman in a cart was found at the archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro in what is now Pakistan. The Indus Valley civilization thrived in the area of Pakistan and western India between about 2500 and 1700 bc. Small ceramic figures depicting aspects of agricultural life were characteristic of Indus Valley art.Encarta EncyclopediaArt Resource, NY/Scala
© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

indus valley culture

2009-12-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

These are images from the Harappan culture which existed in the Indus River Valley and which reached its peak around 2600 BC, shortly after the development of urban societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Internet 2005. 01. 31

Plano convex molded tablet showing a female deity battling two tigers and standing above an elephant. A single Indus script depicting a spoked wheel is above the head of the deity.

On the reverse (89), an individual is spearing a water buffalo with one foot pressing the head down and one arm holding the tip of a horn. A gharial [crocodile] is depicted above the sacrifice scene and a figure seated in yogic position, wearing a horned headdress, looks on. The horned headdress has a branch with three prongs or leaves emerging from the center.

Material: terra cotta
Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width
Harappa, Lot 4651-01
Harappa Museum, H95-2486
Meadow and Kenoyer 1997

Large square unicorn seal (25.) with perforated boss on the back (26). The unicorn is the most common motif on Indus seals and appears to represent a mythical animal that Greek and Roman sources trace back to the Indian subcontinent.

A relatively long inscription of eight symbols runs along the top of the seal. The elongated body and slender arching neck is typical of unicorn figurines, as are the tail with bushy end and the bovine hooves. This figure has a triple incised line depicting a pipal leaf shaped blanket or halter, while most unicorn figures have only a double incised line. The arching horn is depicted as if spiraling or ribbed, and the jowl is incised with multiple folds.

A collar or additional folds encircle the throat. In front of the unicorn is a ritual offering stand with droplets of water or sacred liquid along the bottom of the bowl. The top portion of the stand depicts a square grid or sieve, that actually may have been a circular cylinder.

Material: white fired glazed steatite
Dimensions: 5.08 x 5.08 cm
Mohenjo-daro, HR 743
National Museum, Karachi, NMP 50.192

indus valley

2009-12-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

Indus Valley Civilization In the Indus Valley Area Now Known As Pakistan, an Advanced Bronze Age Culture Rose up About 2500 bc and Lasted for 1000 Years. Scholars Do Not Know How It Began or Whether Its People Were Related to Those Who Now Occupy Southwest Asia. Nomadic Tribes Called Aryans Invaded the Indus River Valley, Probably From © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation..

modern harappa

A view of modern Harappa city which is built on top of a large portion of the ancient mound. Many of the streets and houses of the modern town are built directly above earlier streets and houses of ancient Harappa

Working Platforms, Harappa

To the south of the "granary" or "great hall" at Harappa is an area with numerous circular working platforms that were built inside small rooms or courtyards. These circular working platforms may have been used for husking grain. One of these circular platforms had what may have been a large wooden mortar placed in the center.

granary Harappa

The so-called "granary" of Harappa is found on Mound F. It is a brick structure that was built on a massive brick foundation over 45 meters north south and 45 meters east-west. Two rows of six rooms that appear to be foundations are arranged along a central passageway that is about 7 meters wide and partly paved with baked bricks. Each room measures 15.2 by 6.1 meters and has three sleeper walls with air space between them. A wooden superstructure supported in some places by large columns would have been built on top of the brick foundations, with stairs leading up from the central passage area. Small triangular opening may have served as air ducts to allow the flow of fresh air beneath the hollow floors.

Almost every house unit at Mohenjo-daro was equipped with a private bathing area with drains to take the dirty water out into a larger drain that emptied into a sewage drain. Many of these bathing areas had water tight floors to keep moisture from seeping into the other rooms nearby or below.

A large public well and public bathing platforms were found in the southern part of Mound AB at Harappa. These public bathing areas may also have been used for washing clothes as is common in many traditional cities in Pakistan and India today.

Great Bath," Mohenjo-daro

The "great bath" is without doubt the earliest public water tank in the ancient world. The tank itself measures approximately 12 meters north-south and 7 meters wide, with a maximum depth of 2.4 meters. Two wide staircases lead down into the tank from the north and south and small sockets at the edges of the stairs are thought to have held wooden planks or treads. At the foot of the stairs is a small ledge with a brick edging that extends the entire width of the pool. People coming down the stairs could move along this ledge without actually stepping into the pool itself.

The floor of the tank is water tight due to finely fitted bricks laid on edge with gypsum plaster and the side walls were constructed in a similar manner. To make the tank even more water tight, a thick layer of bitumen (natural tar) was laid along the sides of the tank and presumably also beneath the floor. Brick colonnades were discovered on the eastern, northern and southern edges. The preserved columns have stepped edges that may have held wooden screens or window frames. Two large doors lead into the complex from the south and other access was from the north and east. A series of rooms are located along the eastern edge of the building and in one room is a well that may have supplied some of the water needed to fill the tank. Rainwater also may have been collected for this purposes, but no inlet drains have been found.

Most scholars agree that this tank would have been used for special religious functions where water was used to purify and renew the well being of the bathers.

euphrates-tigris valley

2009-12-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

Euphrates River, Syria

The rivers in Syria, southwestern Asia, are essential to the country’s agricultural communities. Here, Syria’s longest river, the Euphrates, runs through Karkemish. The river, because of its size, supplies much of the water needed to irrigate the country’s large land tracts.Encarta Encyclopedia

nile valley arts

2009-12-04T09:56:00.001-08:00

Egyptian Goddess Selket

Gold leaf covers this statue of the goddess Selket, found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun of Egypt. Selket, the goddess who heals bites and stings, is portrayed as a beautiful woman with a scorpion on her head. Gold leaf is made by hammering solid gold metal until it is very thin.Encarta Encyclopedia © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation

Section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead

In ancient Egypt, the Book of the Dead was a text containing prayers, spells, and hymns, the knowledge of which was to be used by the dead to guide and protect the soul on the hazardous journey through the afterlife. Beginning in the 18th Dynasty, the Book of the Dead was inscribed on papyrus. This section of one such book, from the early 19th Dynasty, shows the final judgment of the deceased (in this case Hu-Nefer, the royal scribe) before Osiris, god of the dead. Hieroglyphs and illustrations portray the ritual of weighing the deceased’s heart to determine whether he can be awarded eternal life.Encarta Encyclopedia

Ancient Agricultural Practices

Relief art on the walls of the tomb of Nefer Sakkara shows Egyptian workers harvesting crops and tending livestock with rudimentary tools.Encarta Encyclopedia

Egyptian Mummy from the Roman Period

2009-12-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

Egyptian Mummy from the Roman Period

A gilded plaster and pasteboard mask covers the mummified remains of a young man who was entombed some 2,000 years ago in a vast burial ground near Egypt’s Baharîya Oasis. The hairstyle, with its tight rows of curls, shows the influence of Roman traditions, while other icons on the mask are clearly Egyptian. This mummy belongs to a large trove discovered in 1999. Encarta Encyclopedia REUTERS / HO

Egyptian Mummy

2009-12-04T09:51:00.001-08:00

Egyptian Mummy

The ancient Egyptians used pyramids as the final resting places for their monarchs. Before entombing the deceased, the Egyptians mummified the body, performing certain rituals and wrapping the body in linen. This image shows an example of a mummy.Encarta Encyclopedia

Howard Carter

British archaeologist Howard Carter, left, and an unidentified assistant examine an Egyptian mummy inside an ornate sarcophagus. Carter’s major discoveries include the tombs of Thutmose IV, Queen Hatshepsut, and Tutankhamun.Encarta Encyclopedia

Anubis and the Mummy

The ancient Egyptians believed that their god of the dead, Anubis, was the inventor of embalming. This piece of art shows the jackal-headed Anubis preparing a mummy. It dates from 1314-1200 bc.Encarta Encyclopedia

In ancient Egypt kings

2009-12-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

Death Mask of Tutankhamun

The death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun is made of gold inlaid with colored glass and semiprecious stone. The mask comes from the innermost mummy case in the pharaoh’s tomb, and stands 54 cm (21 in) high.Encarta Encyclopedia

Sculpture of Khafre

This seated stone figure of Egyptian king Khafre, from the 2500s bc, was carved from a solid block of diorite, the hardest stone available at the time of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. The piece stands 165 cm (66 in) high and is an idealized representation of the king, with strong geometric lines and dramatic proportions© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

Nefertiti

This painted limestone bust of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti dates from about 1350 bc (Staatliche Museen, Berlin). Wife of Akhenaton, Nefertiti supported and assisted her husband in implementing new religious ceremonies during the mid-14th century bc.

Thutmose IV and Mother

Carved from a single rectangular stone block, this idealized, geometric sculpture represents the ancient Egyptian king Thutmose IV and his mother. This statue is in the Cairo Museum in Egypt. Encarta Encyclopedia © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

Prince Rahotep and His Wife Nofret

In ancient Egypt, many sculptures were placed in tombs, where they represented the deceased and received offerings from the living. The limestone statue here, Prince Rahotep and His Wife Nofret, dates from the 4th Dynasty (2575-2467 bc) and was found in Rahotep’s tomb in Maydüm. It now resides in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. © 1993-2003 MicrosoftCorporation

nile valley tempels

2009-12-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

Abū Simbel Temple

In about 1250 bc Ramses II, pharaoh of Egypt, built two sandstone temples at Abū Simbel in southern Egypt. This picture of the entrance doorway to the site’s main temple shows four seated statues of Ramses II.Encarta Encyclopedia © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

Temple at Luxor

The ancient Egyptian temple at Luxor on the east bank of the Nile River was built to honor the gods. It was begun in the 1200s bc and was added on to by each succeeding dynasty. The use of colossal statues and obelisks was standard for all Egyptian temples at that time. This temple was connected to the temple at Al Karnak © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

Temple of Isis, Memphis

This ancient temple at Memphis, Egypt, was dedicated to the worship of Isis, the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility and motherhood. Encarta Encyclopedia

nile valley

2009-12-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

About 3100 BC King Menes Unified Upper and Lower Egypt and Established His Capital at Memphis, Near Present-day Cairo. About 2600 BC The Old Kingdom Was Notable for the Construction of Pyramids. The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza Was Built Around This Time. About 1400 BC The Egyptian Empire Reached Its Height During the Reign of Thutmose III. Egypt Controlled the Middle East From Syria to Ethiopia. 332 BC Alexander the Great Conquered Egypt and Founded Alexandria. 31 BC A Roman Fleet Decisively Defeated Egyptian Forces Under Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Egypt Became a Roman Province the Next Year. AD 642 Arabs Conquered Egypt and Introduced Islam and the Arabic Language Into the Country
© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

Nile Delta

This satellite image of the Nile Delta shows the Nile River (dark section) spilling out from the Egyptian desert. Light-colored sandbars fringe the top of the delta as it flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The shape of this delta is classified as arcuate, meaning fan-shaped.Encarta

Suez Canal

Egypt’s Suez Canal, which is 195 km (121 mi) long, connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez, an arm of the Red Sea. It runs north to south across the Isthmus of Suez in northeastern Egypt. Encarta

Egyptian Archaeological Dig

For centuries people have sought to learn about ancient Egyptian civilization by reclaiming structures and relics from the desert. This dig, near the Great Pyramid at Giza, uncovered a cemetery for many of the workers who built the pyramid.Encarta EncyclopediaLiaison Agency© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

Ancient Egyptian Housing

Most people in ancient Egypt lived in mud-brick houses. The activities of everyday life occurred in and around the houses. Click on the red markers to see examples of these activities: cooking in outdoor domed ovens, repairing a wall with mud bricks and plaster, performing daily chores under thatched rooftop awnings, and playing children’s games.Encarta Encyclopedia © 1993-2003