An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c8.s2.2

v1.c8.s2.2

The earliest seals found in India are the ones from the Indus sites [4.9], and it is well-known that the discovery of a few such seals at Mesopotamian sites provided the Indus civilization with a firm chronology. The Indus people preferred stamp seals in contrast to ancient Mesopotamians who generally used cylinder seals. Seal dies of the Harappa period far outnumber seal impressions, while in the historical period the case is just the reverse. With a few exceptions the Indus seals are either rectangular or square, while those of the historical period exhibit a variety of shapes—pyramidal, cylindrical, square, rectangular, discoid, pedestal-shaped, button-shaped, ring-shaped, etc. The Indus seal dies are mostly of steatite, faïence [16.6] being the next common material. Seals of the historical period are of clay, stone, copper, bronze, silver, bone, ivory, etc.; gold seals are extremely rare and faïence ones are unknown. Stone, bone, shell and ivory seals were manufactured by cutting a piece of the material to the required size and giving it a finish, engraving letters and devices in reverse and sometimes boring a hole running horizontally in its back side for the insertion of a string for convenient handling. Metal seals were generally cast.