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Silver In Ancient India
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In
the majority of Neolithic India, as in most parts of the world
at that time, people fashioned jewelry out of seeds, feathers,
berries, flowers, bones and shells. But in the north of India,
in the Indus valley cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappan, men
and women were already wearing jewelry made of gold, silver,
copper and set with precious and semi-precious gemstones.
The Indus valley civilization, preceding the Vedic, existed
from 3000 B.C. to 1500 B.C., and was built in and amongst
the fertile lands of what is known today as Pakistan. The
Neolithic Indus valley people like others, domesticated animals
and harvested crops of cotton, sesame and barley. Contrary to the belief that India only possessed an agricultural
economy in this period, evidence has been
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found at the Indus cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappan, showing
the people as having been sophisticated urbanites whose cities
were bastions to art and culture. |
The
brick cities, acting as focal points for a kind of centralized
state, towered high above the Indus plains and were established
along important trade routes that connected the ‘Far East’
with the ‘Near East’. They were visible for large
distances, a landmark to the prosperity of their rulers, inhabited
by generations of merchant classes, skilled artisans, farmers
and sea-faring adventurers engaged in extensive trading.
Proof of the Indus people’s impact on
Neolithic trade was found when archaeologists excavating Mohenjo-daro
and Harappan found engraved seals written in cuneiform, the
world’s first written language whose origins lay in Mesopotamia
in the Near |
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East. The seals, describing the contents of sacks, were used to close
bundles of merchandise, as cord marks on the reverse side testify.
Other similar seals were found in ports on the Persian Gulf
near modern Bahrain, and amongst Mesopotamian sites at the city
of Ur. |
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The
seals originating from the Indus sites described cargos of textiles,
and luxury goods such as semi precious gemstones, ivory, carnelian beads, pearls, mother of pearl and jade sent to Persia and Mesopotamia
in exchange for gold, silver, tin, copper, lapis lazuli and
turquoise. Bitumen from Mesopotamia, where it occurs naturally,
was also imported and used as the binding glue in mother of
pearl inlay in precious items of jewelry and ornamentation.
These products and their seals found in various Indus archeological
sites bare testament to the presence of foreign traders living
amongst the Indus people. |
The Indus civilizations were ethnically diverse incorporating
many cultures and creeds. Many terracotta, bronze and stone
figurines found at the Indus sites display a variety of different
styles of clothing, headdresses and ornamentation indicating
a multi-ethnic civilization. Some of the figurines were adorned
with multiple chokers and necklaces, which appear to represent
beaded ornaments of gold, silver, and semi-precious gems. The
complex casting techniques used in the production of the metallic
figures, made by the ‘Cire Perdue’ meaning ‘Lost-wax’,
also points towards a culture of knowledgeable and sophisticated
metallurgists. |
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Further
excavations of Mohenjo-daro’s lower levels revealed the
living quarters of metal workers specializing in the production
of copper and bronze implements and weapons. Flat axes, spears,
knives, arrowheads, chisels, saws and razors were caste in smelting
furnaces then simply hammered into shape. Silver, reserved for
smaller precious objects, was smelted and molded into small
vases, vessels, seals, pendants, and brooches. Other crafts
in the city included the manufacturing of beads made in a variety
of different shells, ivory and semi precious gem types such
as alabaster, lapis lazuli and turquoise from Persia, amethyst from Maharashtra, and jade from Central Asia. However, by |
the third century B.C.,
after the reign of Buddhist emperor Ashoka, India was mining
its own extensive gemstone resources, and had become the world’s
leading exporter of precious and semi-precious gemstones. |
By 2000 B.C. the Indus valley civilizations were disappearing
due to internal decline. The eventual demise of the Indus Valley
Civilization came about in 1500 B.C with Aryan invaders from
the north firstly destroying the outlying villages and then
overrunning the cities of Harappan and Mohenjo-daro. The Indus
civilization with their highly advanced knowledge of process
metallurgy, gem cutting and jewelry production were eventually
pushed further south into India where they created a legacy
of fine arts for which India today is known the world over.
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