Animal absent in terracottas of Indus Valley civilization was?

- November 27, 2021

Previous Year Paper GK Questions and Answers:terracottas in Indus Valley

Pre-Historic Period-Question 24

Daily Online General Knowledge Quiz:Previous year paper gk questions with answers and explanation in English on Indian History of Pre-Historic Period.

24.Which of the following domesticated animals was absent in the terracottas of the Indus Valley civilization?
A. Sheep
B.Cow
C. Pig
D.Buffalo

Cow

Note: The scriptures of Indus Valley civilization were prominently made up of stone, metal and terracotta. Terracotta models provide us the information that the Harappan people domesticated animals like Oxen, Pigs, Goats, Buffaloes, and Sheep.

Dogs and cats were kept as pets. The humped bull was considered a great asset, but cow has not been mentioned anywhere on the terracotta models.

🔑Key Points

✔Various sculptures, seals, bronze vessels, pottery, gold jewellery, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite have been found at excavation sites.

✔The terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs.

✔The animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the mature period has not been clearly identified.

✔Part bull, part zebra, with a majestic horn, it has been a source of speculation. There is insufficient evidence to substantiate claims that the image had religious or cultic significance.

✔The terracotta images made by the Indus Valley people when compared to the stone and bronze statues, the terracotta representations of human form are crude in the Indus Valley.

✔They are more realistic in Gujarat sites and Kalibangan. The most important among the Indus figures are those representing the mother goddess.

✔In terracotta, can also find a few figurines of bearded males with coiled hair, their posture rigidly upright, legs slightly apart, and the arms parallel to the sides of the body. The repetition of this figure in exactly the same position would suggest that he was a deity.

✔A terracotta mask of a horned deity has also been found. Toy carts with wheels, whistles, rattles, birds and animals, gamesmen and discs were also rendered in terracotta.

*This Question is a part of previous year paper gk questions on Pre-Historic Period of India.