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Name: Dancing girl
What it is: An old bronze statue
Where is it from: Mohenjo-daro, an archaeological site in Pakistan
When it is made: 2500 BC
What it tells us about the past:
Despite its small size, this 10.5-centimeter-high bronze statue of a girl says a lot about the ancient culture that created it.
Archaeologists discovered the artifact in 1926 during archaeological excavations in a region of Pakistan once inhabited by the Indus Valley Civilizationa Bronze Age culture known for its art, particularly metalworking, according to the Indian Ministry of Culture.
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To create the statue, an artisan is said to have used a technique known as lost-wax casting, in which they pour hot wax into a mold to create a model. The wax is then melted, creating a cavity for the metal to join. The model was then covered in clay and heated in a kiln. Once the mold cooled, the clay was chipped away, revealing a bronze statue of a girl, her hand placed confidently on her hip and her head tilted slightly back. The girl wears her hair in a bun and is naked except for a necklace and double stacks of bracelets that she wears on each arm.
“She’s about fifteen years old, I think, not older, but she’s standing there with bracelets up to her arm and nothing else on,” the British archaeologist said. Mortimer Wheeler said in 1973. “A girl who is completely confident in herself and the world at the moment. There is nothing like her, I think, in the world.”
The statue can be seen in the National Museum in New Delhi.
