Using Art as Evidence: response to ch 2 documents

Using art as evidence: What can we learn about Indus Valley civilization from these visual sources? How does our level of understanding of this civilization differ from that of Egypt and Mesopotamia, where plentiful written records are available?

These visual sources are very open for interpretation about the Indus Valley people, especially compared to the written records of Egypt and Mesopotamia. We can only speculate as to what it all means and not one interpretation can be definitively right. I like the idea of the stamps in Source 2.1 being connected to status, it seems likely that the use of animals was a universally understood hierarchy indicating who the letter is from. The use of animals may tell us that the Indus Vally societies remained in touch with their natural side and their gatherer-hunter ancestors. It may tell us of a deeper appreciation for wildlife and greater importance placed on them than the Egyptian and Mesopotamians might have. Source 2.2 appears to be a man of status given his head wrap and arm band as well as the intricate design work in his clothes. He appears to be looking down on or at someone, indicating some regalness or high importance. This is strange given the lack of evidence of social and political hierarchy, aside from the speculation of the small group of elites. It is much harder to understand the ways of the Indus Valley people, especially considering that in order to understand the Mesopotamians and Egyptians there was much written evidence to support theories. The understanding of the  lifestyle of these peoples is based strictly on interpretation based off of artifacts such as these.

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