toy figure; figure (communication artefact)

Clay model of a humped bull (Bos indicus), in light red terracotta, with traces of a dark red slip. The face is much damaged, and the horns have also been lost, but the legs and prominent hump are intact. This is a child’s plaything.

A model of a humped bull (Bos indicus), in light red terracotta, with traces of a dark red slip, the face much damaged, horns lost too, but the legs and prominent hump are intact. This is a child’s plaything, no other real use can be ascribed to it and it is one of many hundreds of thousands of bull figurines found in sites in South Asia from the neolithic onwards. Marked on the underside with ‘SD23’ (probably Sar Dheri, Charsadda District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). Early Historic Period, late centuries BCE. Archaeological context: presumably unstratified and from a surface collection. Given by Col D H Gordon (1952/3).

Collection Information

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