The Indus Civilization c7.12

c7.12

Methods of trimming the beard were almost as varied. A short beard with a shaven upper lip is shown on two figures (Pl. H), and a stiff, flat beard projecting outwards on others (Pl. I, 2). Another clay figurine has the end of the beard coiled inwards, in direct contrast to the false beards worn in ancient Egypt; and in yet another case the beard consists merely of a slight tuft left beneath the chin, the rest of the face being shaved. Most of, if not all, the male figurines, however, represent deities, but the evidence afforded by the statues goes to show that the ordinary man always wore a short beard, sometimes even a cropped one. Beards were never as long as they were in Sumer; possibly because long, full beards were not desirable in the more humid climate of India.