In the Ancient Indus, pottery was more than just pots. In this post, you will find the YouTube video exploring the Ancient Indus artifact that caught more than just attention, and a full video transcript (with relevant sources and links).

YouTube Video

YouTube Video Transcript

Here, you will find the complete transcript of the video in the previous section with hyperlinked references/citations.

Intro

These enigmatic ceramic artifacts from the Ancient Indus puzzled researchers when they were first found. But now it gives us information about how people in the past dealt with a problem that many of us still face.

Hi! I’m Dr. Smiti Nathan, and I’m an archaeologist. In this video, we’re going to explore this artifact and how researchers pieced together what it was.

What Is It?

Let’s go to the site of Mohenjo-Daro, located in the modern-day province of Sindh in Pakistan. During excavations in the 1930s, archaeologists discovered two clay objects that stood out from the usual pottery and figurines.

These two wheel-thrown vessels were flattened at the base for stability, and one even featured a cream-colored slip on the surface. It seems that after these objects were fired in a kiln, ancient artisans carefully drilled the objects with small holes at the front and top. [A later publication indicates that one rat trap was 16cm in length and the other was 24cm in length]

To figure out what these mysterious objects were, archaeologists looked for similar artifacts from other ancient cultures. At the sites of Mundigak and Bampur, which are in a neighboring region, an array of similar objects have been unearthed. In fact, the Mundigak objects are thought to be several centuries older than the ones at Mohenjo-Daro, which are dated to the height of the Urban period (2600-1900 BC).  We also have an example from 12th dynasty site of Kahun in Egypt (2000-1800 BCE). Having other artifacts to compare the Mohenjo-Daro objects to, helped researchers feel confident in their interpretation of these two artifacts.

It turns out, these clay objects were rat traps!

Scholars think these holes may have been used to rig pegs and strings, which would hold a piece of bait in place. So when a rat, rodent, or other animal entered the vessel and grabbed the bait, the string would be pulled, thus, triggering the trap to be closed with them inside.

Outro

The idea of these rat traps and its design points to exchanges between the people of the Indus and elsewhere. Ancient Indus communities actually interacted with people far from their homes, including communities that lived in Afghanistan, Central Asia, southern Iraq, eastern Iran, and the eastern Arabian coast.

It seems that pest control in urban sites was an issue for some people in Mohenjo-Daro, as well as Mundigak, Bampur, and elsewhere. Our video on house cats also discusses other strategies for pest control. But if you want more information about these rat traps, we have a video on Surprising Pottery from the Ancient World. Those are both linked below.

This video is part of our Artifact of the Day series, where we take a quick look at one intriguing object from the past. If you’re interested in watching another artifact of the day video, check out the video here.

Credits

Brooke Norton: Series Lead, Co-Producer, Researcher, Scriptwriter

Noor Hanania: Lead Video Editor, Peer Reviewer, Logo Designer

Anya Gruber: Peer Reviewer

Sneh P. Patel: Peer Reviewer

Smiti Nathan: Director, Co-Producer, Support Video Editor, Researcher, Scriptwriter

Patreon Supporters

Thank you to our paid Patreon members for supporting the creation of this video:

Nancy Fulton, James D., Giancarlo Annese, Thomas Martin, Stuart A. Griffin, Tagg, Ann Brookens, Diana Madden, Cole Guinn

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