Primary Source

Indus Valley Wheeled Ram Toy

Photo of hand-modeled terracotta toy

Annotation

The hand-modeled, terracotta, wheeled figurine of a bird with a ram's head was excavated from an archaeological site in the Indus Valley called Mohenjo-daro, a city that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. Museum curators added the wooden axle attaching the wheels to the body as the original had not been preserved. Excavations from sites in the Indus Valley included many figurines made from terracotta, some of which were clearly for entertainment, including whistles shaped like birds, small animals with moveable heads, and toy carts. Such figurines are about 2.5 inches (ca. 5 cm) in length.

Credits

Object located in the National Museum in New Delhi, photographed by Gryffindor. Available online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mohenjodaro_toy_001.jpg (accessed January 1, 2010). Annotated by Susan Douglass.

How to Cite This Source

"Indus Valley Wheeled Ram Toy," in World History Commons, https://worldhistorycommons.org/indus-valley-wheeled-ram-toy [accessed March 28, 2024]