Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I am really looking forward to learning with you today all about the earliest civilizations, the Indus and the Shang.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain what archaeologists have learned from studying some of the art of the Indus Valley civilization.

Before we start, I'd like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are art, skill, precious, carnelian.

I'm going to say those again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Art, skill, precious, carnelian.

Good job.

Now, let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Let's take a look at each of the definitions for our keywords.

Art is the creation of things to be beautiful using lots of skill.

Being able to do something very well from training or practise is called skill.

When something is of great worth or value, it is said to be precious.

Carnelian is a brownish red mineral that is often used to make jewellery.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

Art made from clay.

Art made from other materials.

In the first learning cycle, we'll explore art made from clay.

Archaeologists have found lots of beautifully decorated objects and art in the Indus Valley.

This shows us that they were very skilled, which means they were very good at art because of training or practise.

The people of the Indus Valley civilization decorated objects that were used every day, such as clay, jugs, plates, and bowls.

You can have a look there that photo of painted clay objects.

Those objects are similar to the ones that the Indus Valley civilization would've created.

You can see that there is a plate there and a jug, and how they have been decorated so beautifully.

We have previously looked at some other beautifully decorated clay items. We've looked at clay seals.

Can you remember what these clay objects were used for? Hmm, well, these small five-centimeter squares were probably used to show who owned items that were being bought or sold.

The seals have images of animals and some form of writing carved into them.

Take a look at that photo of a clay seal there.

You see the animal at the bottom, and that type of writing at the top, which historians have still not been able to decipher.

The people of the Indus Valley used things they could see around them as inspiration for art, such as animals like the zebu, which looks the same today as on the clay seals, and the zebu statues that have been found.

So you can see there in the middle, that is a photo of a zebu, and we have on the other side a clay seal and then a zebu statue.

So you can see how they've used that animal for inspiration for their art.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which decorated clay objects have been found in the Indus Valley? Seals, jars, statues.

Pause the video here and have a little think.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said seals, jars, and statues, you are absolutely right.

All of those decorated clay objects have been found in the Indus Valley.

The people of the Indus Valley also decorated seals with things they had never seen before, such as imaginary animals.

This must have been difficult to do on such small pieces of clay and shows how much skill they had.

What do you think this imaginary animal looks like? Hmm, pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

What do you think this imaginary animal looks like? Press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? What kind of imaginary animal is that? It looks a little bit like a frog to me, but I'm not sure.

The clay seals often had holes on the back of them.

This could have been to hang them on a string to make them easy to carry around and show us that these tiny pieces of clay were made with even more skill.

So can you see there where the hole for the string is? So maybe it's carry around, maybe it's to create a necklace, or to hang on something.

Have a look here.

There's a photo of an Indus Valley clay seal, and the impression it left behind.

So on the left is the clay seal and on the right is the stamp that would be used to make it.

Let's pause for a moment here and check our understanding.

Which clay objects show that the people of the Indus Valley could make art with great skill? Clay seal, brick walls, a plate.

Pause the video here, have a moment to think, maybe discuss it with your partner.

And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that the clay seal and the plate showed that the objects of the people that the Indus Valley.

If you said that the clay seal and the plate showed that the Indus can make art with great skill, then you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to tell your learning partner how historians know that the people who lived in the Indus Valley civilization could make art with great skill.

You could use these images to help you the photo of a painted plate and the photo of a clay seal.

So pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to have a discussion with your partner and tell them how historians know that the people who lived in the Indus Valley civilization could make art with great skill.

And remember to use those images to help you.

Press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer could include archaeologists have found lots of objects with beautiful art in the Indus Valley.

For example, lots of painted pottery and carved animals on clay seals.

These have been made with great skill.

Well done for completing that learning task.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to explore art made from other materials.

The people of the Indus Valley civilization didn't only make decorated clay objects.

What do you think these everyday objects were used for? Have a look at that photo there of decorated metal objects.

What do you think they were used for? Hmm, pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? Well, these were used as a hairpin and a mirror.

They used lots of other materials like metals, rocks, and precious stones, and even the tops of metal hairpins were carefully decorated.

A head of a statue with closed eyes has been found in the Indus Valley too.

Which parts of the statue do you think would've taken great skill to make? Hmm.

This statue gives us more proof of how much skill the people of the Indus Valley civilization had because we can see that this carved statue from just one piece of rock has lots of little details.

Have a look there at the ears, and at the beard, and also the patterns on his robe.

So from just one huge block of stone, the Indus Valley people were able to carve this magnificent statue and create lots of different patterns within it.

Let's take a moment here.

Can you change Izzy's statement to make it correct? Izzy says, "The people of the Indus Valley civilization only made decorated clay objects." Hmm, how can we change Izzy's statement to make it correct? Pause the video here.

Give yourself a moment to have a go at that, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So we can help change Izzy's statement to make it correct by saying, the people of the Indus Valley civilization did not only make decorated clay objects.

They also made decorated objects from metal and stone.

So well done if you were able to change that statement.

Archaeologists have also found lots of beautiful items made from precious metals such as gold.

What can you see on this gold cup? Take a look.

Have a really close look at that image.

What can you see? Hmm.

I can see some kind of animal, can you? Looks a little bit like a lion perhaps.

Did you think that too? Hmm.

These also included beautiful cups, jewellery, buttons, and beads.

The Indus Valley people made beads from precious stones such as carnelian, and they also combined gold and precious stones into beautiful jewellery.

So you can see there a photo of carnelian.

That is that brown red type mineral that they used to create jewellery.

It would take great skill to make precious metals and stones into beads for jewellery.

You can have a look there, that photo, that carnelian beads in a necklace, and then the photo of precious stones and metals in jewellery, how detailed and intricate those things are.

I'm sure it would've taken a long time and a lot of skill to create.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Select the objects found in the Indus Valley that were made with great skill.

Gold jewellery, carnelian beads, books, stone statues.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these objects were found in the Indus Valley that were made with great skill? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said gold jewellery, carnelian beads, and stone statues, all of those objects were found in the Indus Valley, and that were made with great skill, well done.

Art from the Indus Valley civilization has not only been found in the Indus Valley.

Items such as carnelian beads and lots of clay seals have been found close to Babylon in the area where the people of the ancient Sumerian civilization lived at the same time as the people of the Indus Valley civilization.

What do you think this tells us about the Indus Valley people? Hmm, what do you think? Have a moment to discuss that with your partner.

Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to continue.

So what do you think it tells us about the Indus Valley people? Well, it shows us that the Indus Valley people probably travelled there and traded with the ancient Mesopotamians.

So they travelled to different places in the world, and we know that because of the objects that we found.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Can you complete the sentences below? Carnelian beads from the Indus Valley were found near.

This means the Indus Valley people probably travelled so they could.

Hmm, so how do we complete these sentences? Have a go.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Shall we have a look at some answers? So Carnelian beads from the Indus Valley were found near Babylon.

This means the Indus Valley people probably travelled so they could buy and sell things with people from other ancient civilizations.

They probably traded with them.

So travelled so far and traded these different items, buying and selling.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to firstly decide if the sentences below are true or false, and then I'd like you to correct the false statements.

So here are the statements.

Lots of art has been found in the Indus Valley.

No gold jewellery has been found in the Indus Valley.

Carnelian beads from the Indus Valley were found near Babylon.

The people of the Indus Valley did not have any skill.

Clay seals showed animals and some writing.

So first of all, go through each of those statements and decide if they are true or false.

And then whichever ones you think are false, I'd like you to correct those sentences.

Pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to do this, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at which ones are true and false? So lots of art has been found in the Indus Valley.

That's true.

No gold jewellery has been found in the Indus Valley.

That's false.

Carnelian beads from the Indus Valley were found near Babylon.

That's true.

The people of the Indus Valley did not have any skill.

That's false.

Clay seals showed animals and some writing.

That's true.

So well done if you were able to spot which ones of these were true or false.

Now looking at these two false statements, how do we correct them? Well, gold jewellery has been found in the Indus Valley, and the people of the Indus Valley had lots of skill.

So well done if you were able to change those from no gold jewellery to gold jewellery was found, and the people having no skill to actually having lots of skill.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about art in the Indus Valley civilization.

We've certainly learned a lot.

Archaeologists have found lots of beautifully decorated objects and art in the Indus Valley made with great skill.

Objects made from clay include jars, statues, and seals, which had beautiful pictures of different animals and even imaginary animals.

The people of the Indus Valley also made art from other materials like stone, precious metals, and stones like carnelian.

Some of this jewellery has been found in Mesopotamia where the ancient Sumerians lived, showing that the Indus people must have traded there.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.