The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables c4.s9.1

c4.s9.1

Space forbids discussing the material and production of the Indus seals and inscriptions in any detail here; for this the reader is once again referred to the excavation reports. It can only be noted that the great majority of the Indus seals are made of steatite, generally whitish in colour. The seals were first sawed and cut into their forms and then polished; the subject was outlined with a sharp point and then engraved with a drill. Finally the seal was coated with an alkali and heated. It seems that the alkali coating was applied mainly to dark steatite in order to make it white. Heating hardens the steatite, which is a very soft stone, and thus protects it against wear. The various stages of this process can been seen from different examples, the unfinished ones being particularly instructive.⁸⁵