TEACHING RESOURCES

 The Study School, 2006 Runner Up

Written work by 11 year olds
from this Surrey school was a product of group discussion.

Indus Seals

Through close observation of
photos, the children noted clues
to the way they may have been used, eg. the back perforation allowed a seal to be strung or worn. They had a range of ideas of the purpose of the seal inscriptions. They drew excellent inferences and understood there could be several possibilities:

“the seals were stamps… to be stamped onto items for trade to tell the people on the receiving end how good the items were, the quantity, where they came from and who made or grew the items” and “I think they were used to make an imprint on anything made in the Indus cities”.

One thought the animals on the seals had religious meaning, noticing details which corroborate this theory. “I can see two different types of animals on the seals and under the heads of them (an object) look like offerings.” (refers to a food or water trough).

Another thought seal inscriptions represented different cities. This invites further discussion. For example if that were true would we expect animals or inscriptions on seals from a particular city to be the same? (No animal motif is exclusive to any site)