The Indus Civilization c4.17

c4.17

Before leaving this subject, it must be mentioned that the only extant inscriptions of the Indus Valley people are the very brief ones found on the seals and other amulets. The script appears very much the same on all these objects, irrespective of whether they were unearthed at high or low levels of the two cities, which seems to indicate little intellectual advance on the part of the people after their arrival in India—a state of affairs caused, perhaps, by the influence of an enervating climate. A different and more cursive style of writing may, of course, have been used for ordinary occasions, though there is at present no evidence to prove this. The complete absence of any long documents suggests that the writing materials in general use were of leather, wood, or even, possibly, leaves, all of which have long since perished in the damp and salty soil.