Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c14.s6: Terracotta
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c14.s6
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Terracotta
v1.c14.s6.1
Terracotta objects throw valuable light on the occupations, artistic achievements and religious beliefs of the people. This is also true of Lothal which has yielded more than three thousand terracotta objects. The terracotta objects from Lothal can be divided into six broad categories, i.e., human and animal figures, personal ornaments, tools and weapons, household objects, toys, gaming pieces and miscellaneous objects. The objects included in the last category are sling ball, triangular terracotta cakes and other miscellaneous objects of indeterminate use. Earthenware, terracotta seals, sealings and beads are noteworthy among them. Lothal folk used buffish alluvial clay mixed with mica, and sand as degraissant for making terracotta which withstood high temperature. (Rao, 475-76)
v1.c14.s6.2
The most interesting terracotta objects which have been found from Lothal are muffles, crucibles, and moulds for melting and casting metals. The crucibles are of two types — one being a shallow bowl in which the ingot was melted and the other a channel for pouring molten metal. In the latter case the open end could be closed by placing a lump of wet clay. The crucibles have thick walls rendered coarse by the use of sand in the mixture. Two out of three crucibles have come from the copper-smith's workshops. A compartmented rectangular vessel containing traces of metal must have been used as a muffle. Its thin walls suggest that it was not subject to high temperature. Perhaps molten metal was poured into it to obtain small tubes. Other muffles are shallow and thin bars could be had by pouring molten metal into them. (Rao, 497)