The Indus Civilization c7.35

c7.35

The statues, as we have seen, prove that long hair was worn by men and women alike, often gathered up in a knot, or bun, at the back of the head and partly secured from falling by a fillet which passed round the forehead. One of the male heads distinctly shows, in addition, a hair-pin in the bun; and the fact that numerous hair-pins of various makes have been found indicates that they were popular. What must have been a very fine specimen, of bronze, 4·4 inches long, is surmounted by two heads of black buck placed back to back, each head having the characteristic spiral horns. Another bronze pin has a coiled head, and in this respect resembles pins found in Sumer, Egypt, the Caucasus, and Central Europe, while other perfect, or nearly perfect, pins are of ivory or bone, sparsely ornamented. Various pin-heads have been unearthed whose stems appear to have been made of wood which has perished. One such head, a little over half an inch high, represents a charming group of three monkeys in a ring with their arms round each other’s shoulders; and another very similar group, in the same soft steatite, shows two monkeys huddled together as if for warmth. Other pin-heads of glaze represent the seed-vessels of the lotus, while numerous examples occur of pin-heads decorated with various ornamental patterns.