Question

Metals known to Indus Valley Civilisation were:
A. Gold, copper, silver, bronze but not iron
B. Silver iron bronze but not gold
C. Iron copper gold but not silver
D. Zinc, silver, iron but not gold

Answer 1

HintIndus Valley Civilisation, also known as Harappan Civilisation or Bronze Age civilisation, is one of the oldest civilisations in the world.
Several crucibles of copper slag are discovered here, which marks the beginning of metallurgy.

Complete answer:
Indus Valley Civilisation, also known as Harappan Civilisation or Bronze Age civilisation, is one of the oldest civilisations in the world. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1750 BC. ‘Harappa’ was the first Indus site to be discovered in 1921 by Dayaram Sahni. In 1922, ‘Mohenjodaro’, the largest site of the civilization was excavated by Rakhal Das Banerjee. Both these sites, Harappa and Mohenjodaro are now located in Pakistan in the Sahiwal and Larkana districts respectively.

Metals such as copper, lead, gold, bronze and silver were used by the metallurgists of Indus Valley. Several crucibles of copper slag are discovered here, which marks the beginning of metallurgy.

In this era, Gold and silver were employed as ornaments.

Evidence also shows the utilisation of lead alloy with copper and bronze in Indus valley (2500 B.C.). Indus Valley Civilisation also got the credit for the development of various alloys in the south-Asian countries. They used to make alloys such as bronze, Tin and arsenic bronze by smelting copper with other metals. Bronze was extensively used in making sculptures

One of the finest examples of Bronze Sculptures found during the excavation of Indus valley is the “Dancing girl”. The dancing girl is a masterpiece in terms of fluidity in the lines and the curves. It symbolizes a woman in a dancing posture made of Bronze.

Iron was not known to the Harappan people. Since the civilization existed during the Bronze Age, it had made many metallurgical advances in copper and bronze but not in Iron.

Therefore the correct answer is A

Note
Balochistan and Afghanistan are believed to be the main sources of copper exploited by the Harappans, in the region west of Indus. The mountain range of Oman is the other potential region with which the Harappan civilization, especially the coastal region had close trade relations.
The Aravalli Range, the region east of Indus is the third resource zone. The copper of this belt is rich in arsenic-containing about 4% to 8% in the ore. Majority of copper objects made by Harappa and Mohenjodaro have high levels of arsenic. This suggests that the region was one of the important sources of copper ore that was tapped by the metalworkers of the Harappan Civilization.