The Indus Civilization c10.14

c10.14

Marbles were played in the Indus valley, but some of the specimens found seem too good to have been used by children, being extraordinarily well made of hard stones, such as jasper and agate. It is not certain whether the marbles were used by themselves as a game or whether little gateways figured in it, as they sometimes did in very early days in Egypt; but up to the present no other apparatus has been found with them. Certain balls of shell carved in relief with a circle design may also have been used in a game, and it is evident that they were greatly valued by their owners, for in one instance a specimen was found with a hoard of jewellery buried in a metal jar beneath the pavement of a house.