The Indus Civilization c11.6

c11.6

Another interesting piece of evidence is a fragment of a vessel of light-green steatite (Pl. O, 2) found in a low stratum at Mohenjo-daro. This has carved on it an unusual mat-pattern, which also occurs on Sumerian vessels unearthed at Tell Asmar, Kish, and, further east, at Susa in Persia (Pl. O, 1), and as the stone and its colour also correspond, it seems certain that the Indus Valley specimen is an importation from either Sumer or Elam. It has been possible to assign a fairly definite date to the examples discovered at Tell Asmar, which belong to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period—about 3000-2550 B.C.; and those specimens recovered at Kish and Susa have been assigned to about 2800 B.C.