The button
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
Was the button invented in the Indus Valley?
Indian contribution, later developed elsewhereTechnology & engineering
Indian claim
Shell and stone 'buttons', carved and pierced with holes, have been found at Indus sites including Mohenjo-daro; Ian McNeil's Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology (1990) calls a curved shell piece from Mohenjo-daro the earliest known button.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Pierced shell buttons from Mohenjo-daro and button-like objects from the Kot Diji phase (c. 2800–2600 BCE) are in museum collections.
Commonly credited to
Buttons used as fasteners with buttonholes appear in Europe (Germany) in the 13th century and spread from there.
Evidence for the other claim
- The Indus buttons were mostly ornaments sewn on clothing, not fasteners.
- Button-like ornaments are also found in early Bronze Age sites in Turkey and China.
- The buttonhole, which makes buttons practical fasteners, is documented in medieval Europe.
What historians and scientists say
The earliest known buttons come from the Indus Valley, used as ornaments. Their use as fasteners with buttonholes was developed in medieval Europe.