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Standard in front of the bull (ibex, urus) with one curved horn

m1656Am018A

	Carved Ivory Standard in the middle [From Richard H. Meadow and Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Harappa Excavations 1993: the city wall and inscribed materials, in: South Asian Archaeology ; Fig. 40.11, p. 467. Harappa 1990 and 1993: representations of 'standard'; 40.11a: H90-1687/3103-1: faience token; 40.11bH93-2092/5029-1: carved ivory standard fragment (split in half, made on a lathe and was probably cylindrical in shape; note the incisions with a circle motif while a broken spot on the lower portion indicates where the stand shaft would have been (found in the area of the 'Mughal Sarai' located to the south of Mound E across the Old Lahore-Multan Road); 40.11c H93-2051/3808-2:faience token
	Styles of the bowl (or bottom portion of the standard); cf. Rissman 1989: 162
	Styles of depiction of 'flow' and lip treatment on the bowl (or bottom portion of the standard); cf. Rissman 1989: 162
	Tablet in bas-relief, Mohenjodaro m490: insignia carried in procession: standard, unicorn, ?pennant +?
	Styles and structure of the standard and the top portion (cage?); cf. Mahadevan 1984: 185; Rissman 1989: 162 The top portion resembles a drill-lathe and a drill-head (gimlet). The wavy lines inscribed are a stylised depiction of 'turning motion' of the lathe. The style depicted as G is related to the practice of inserting the upper pivot of the drill-head into a coconut-shell; see below.
	Phtanite drill-heads from the surface of MNSE area, Moenjodaro (Massimo Vidale, 1987, p. 147)
	Reconstruction of a drill based on analogical comparisons with the drills used nowadays at Nagara, Gujarat, India: Upper pivot in copper is centered with the drill-head and inserted into a coconut shell. Wooden haft is used with a bow-string to churn. The phtanite drill-head is secured in the haft-hole with a thin coiling thread. The tip of the drill's working end shows the characteristic feature of the shallow hemispherical depression: a 'dotted circle'. (After Massimo Vidale, 1987, p. 148).
	Macro-photo of two very used drill-heads, showing the little depression at the tip of the working end; closeup of the distal ends of four drill-heads showing depth and shape of depression. cf. Piperno, Marcello, 1973.

Piperno, Marcello, Micro-drilling at Shahr-i Sokhta; the making and use of the lithic drill-heads, in: Hammond, Norman Ed., South Asian Archaeology, 1973, Pl. 9.2 and 9.3  "granite drill heads used to perforate beads, prepare stone seals... use of the "bow drill" or the "pump drill" which revolved the point of the drill in an alternating rotary motion...the level of technical performance reached in this micro-drilling work was peculiar to a class of highly-specialized craftsmen who must have enjoyed a considerable social and economic position in the life of Shahr-i Sokhta." (p.128) [ca. 2700-2300 B.C.]

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