SEAL - Class XI Fine Arts

SEAL 

 

Seals are the most interesting finds of the Indus Valley Civilization. More than 2000 seals have been excavated from the sites of Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, and Lothal. The carving done on these seals is in the intaglio technique. 

In this technique, pictures are made by cutting a pattern into the surface of the hard substance of hard substance like a stone. The seals are generally 2-3 cm square or rectangular in shape, about 1.4 cm in thickness. The seals are carved with the picture of the human figures and different types of animal figures whose heads and bodies are shown in profiles such as rhinoceros, bull, elephant, etc. 

Most of them have a legend in pictographic scripts (a mode of writing in expressive pictures) which has not been deciphered yet. These seals give us information about the artistic skill, religious belief, dresses, ornaments, and scripts of the people of the Indus Valley Civilization.