Lehs101 Harappa

8/9/2019 Lehs101 Harappa

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Br icks, Beads and BonesT h e H arappan C ivilisatio n

THEME

ONE

The Harappan seal (Fig.1.1) is possibly the mostdistinctive artefact of the Harappan or Indus valleycivilisation. Made of a stone called steatite, sealslike this one often contain animal motifs and signsfrom a script that remains undeciphered. Yet we

know a great deal about the lives of the people wholived in the region from what they left behind –their houses, pots, ornaments, tools and seals – inother words, from archaeological evidence. Let ussee what we know about the Harappan civilisation,

and how we know about it. We will explore how archaeological material is interpreted and how interpretations sometimes change. Of course, thereare some aspects of the civilisation that are as yetunknown and may even remain so.

Terms, places, times

T h e In d u s valley civilisatio n is also ca lled th e H arap p an cu ltu re.

A rch ae o lo gists u se th e term “cu ltu re” fo r a g ro u p o f o b jec ts,

d istinctive in style, th at are u sually fo un d to geth er w ith in a spe cific

geo graph ical area an d p erio d o f tim e. In th e case o f th e H arapp an

cu lture, these d istinctive objects in clude seals, beads, w eigh ts, stone

blad es (F ig. 1.2) and ev en b ake d b ricks. T h ese ob jects w ere fo u n d

fro m area s as far ap art as A fgh an istan , Ja m m u , B alu ch istan

(Pa kistan ) and G u jarat (M ap 1).

N am ed after H arap p a, th e first site w h ere th is un iq u e cu ltu re

w as discove red (p . 6), the civilisation is d ated betw ee n c. 260 0 an d

1900 B C E. T h ere w ere ea rlier an d later cu ltu res, o ften ca lled E arly

H arapp an and Late H arapp an, in the sam e area. Th e H arapp an

civilisatio n is so m etim es ca lled th e M atu re H arap p an cu ltu re to

d istin gu ish it from th ese cu ltu res.

Fig. 1.1

A Harappan seal

Fig. 1.2

Beads, weights, blades


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THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY 2

Map 1

Some important Mature Harappan sites Sketch map not to scale

Manda

Harappa

Banawali

Rakhigarhi

Mitathal

Ganweriwala

Kot Diji

Chanhudaro Amri

Balakot

Mohenjodaro

Sutkagendor

Dholavira

Lothal

Nageshwar Rangpur

Kalibangan

J h e l u

m

C h e n

a b

R a v i

I n d u

sY a m u n a

G a n g a

C h a m

b a l

S a b

a r m

a t i

Arabian Sea

M a h i

N a r m a

d a

S u t l e

j

1. Beginnings There were several archaeological cultures in theregion prior to the Mature Harappan. These cultureswere associated with distinctive pottery, evidence of

agriculture and pastoralism, and some crafts.Settlements were generally small, and there werevirtually no large buildings. It appears that therewas a break between the Early Harappan and theHarappan civilisation, evident from large-scale

burning at some sites, as well as the abandonmentof certain settlements.

2. Subsistence Str ategiesIf you look at Maps 1 and 2 you will notice that theMature Harappan culture developed in some of theareas occupied by the Early Harappan cultures.

These cultures also shared certain common elements

including subsistence strategies. The Harappans atea wide range of plant and animal products, includingfish. Archaeologists have been able to reconstructdietary practices from finds of charred grains andseeds. These are studied by archaeo-botanists, who

are specialists in ancient plant remains. Grains

Early and MatureHarappan cultures

L o o k a t th ese figu res fo r th e

num ber of settlem en ts in Sind

an d C holistan (the desert area

of Pakistan bordering the T har

D esert).

SIND CHOLISTAN

Total num ber 106 239

of sites

Early H arappan 52 37

sites

M ature 65 136

H arappan sites

M ature H arappan 43 132

settlem en ts on

new sites

Early H arappan 29 33

sites abandoned

You wi l l fi nd cer ta inabbreviations, related todates, in this book.

BP stands for BeforePresent

BCE stands for BeforeCommon Era

CE stands for the CommonEra. The present year is2009 according to this

dating system.

c . stands for the Latinword circa and means“approximate.”


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found at Harappan sites includewheat, barley, lentil, chickpeaand sesame. Millets are found

from sites in Gujarat. Finds of rice are relatively rare.

Animal bones found at Harappansites include those of cattle, sheep,goat, buffalo and pig. Studies

done by archaeo-zoologists or zoo-archaeologists indicate that theseanimals were domesticated.Bones of wild species such as

boar, deer and gharial ar ealso found. We do not knowwhether the Harappans huntedthese animals themselves orobtained meat from other huntingcommunities. Bones of fish and

fowl are also found.

2.1 Agricultural technologies

While the prevalence of agriculture is indicated by finds

of grain, it is more difficult toreconstruct actual agricultural practices. Wereseeds broadcast (scattered) on ploughed lands?

Representations on seals and terracotta sculptureindicate that the bull was known, andarchaeologists extrapolate from this that oxenwere used for ploughing. Moreover, terracottamodels of the plough have been found at sites in

Cholistan and at Banawali (Haryana).Archaeologists have also found evidence of aploughed field at Kalibangan (Rajasthan),

associated with Early Harappan levels (see p. 20). The field had two sets of furrows at right angles to

each other, suggesting that two different cropswere grown together.

Archaeologists have also tried to identify thetools used for harvesting. Did the Harappans usestone blades set in wooden handles or did they use

metal tools?Most Harappan sites are located in semi-arid

lands, where irrigation was probably required foragriculture. Traces of canals have been found at

the Harappan site of Shortughai in Afghanistan, butnot in Punjab or Sind. It is possible that ancient

Discuss...Are there any similarities ordifferences in the distributionof settlements shown on Maps1 and 2?

Fig. 1.3 A terracotta bull

BRICKS, BEADS AND BONES

Map 2 Areas of Early Harappan

occupation

Sketch map not to scale

AMRI-NAL

Arabian Sea

DAMB

SADAAT

I n d u

s

KOT

DIJI

SISWAL


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Do you think these

tools could have been usedfor harvesting?

Fig. 1.5

Reservoir at Dholavira Note the masonry work.

Archaeologists use present-day analogies to try

and understand what ancient artefacts were usedfor. Mackay was comparing present-day querns

with what he found. Is this a useful strategy?

Discuss...What is the evidence used byarchaeologists to reconstruct

dietary practices?

Fig. 1.4 Copper tools

Fig. 1.6 Saddle quern

Source 1

canals silted up long ago. It is also likely that waterdrawn from wells was used for irrigation. Besides,water reservoirs found in Dholavira (Gujarat) may

have been used to store water for agriculture.

How artefacts are identified

Processing of food required grinding equipm ent as w ell as vessels

for m ixing, blending and cooking. These w ere m ade of stone, m etal

and terracotta. This is an excerpt from one of the earliest reports on

excavations at M ohenjodaro, the best-know n H arappan site:

Sadd le q uerns … are foun d in con siderable n um bers

… and they seem to h ave been the on ly m eans in u se

for grinding cereals. A s a rule, they w ere rough ly m ad e

of hard , gritty, ign eo us rock or san dstone an d m ostly

show sign s of hard usage. A s their bases are u sually

co nvex, they m ust have b een set in the earth or in

m ud to p reven t their rocking. Tw o m ain type s have

been foun d: tho se on w hich another sm aller stone w as

pushed or rolled to an d fro, an d others w ith w hich a

seco n d sto n e w as used as a po u n d er, eve n tu ally

m aking a large cavity in the n ether stone. Q uerns of

the form er type w ere probab ly used solely for grain;

the second type possibly only for pounding h erbs an d

spices for m aking curries. In fact, stones of this latter

type are dubbed “curry stones”by ou r w orkm en an d

our coo k asked for the loan of one from the m useum

for use in the kitch en .

F R O M E R N E S T M A C K A Y , F u rth er Excavatio n s at

M ohenjodaro , 1937.


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How is the Lower Town

different from the Citadel?

3. Mohenjodar oA Pl anned Urban Centr ePerhaps the most unique feature of the Harappancivilisation was the development of urban centres.Let us look at one such centre, Mohenjodaro,

more closely. Although Mohenjodaro is the mostwell-known site, the first site to be discoveredwas Harappa.

The settlement is divided into two sections, onesmaller but higher and the other much larger but

Fig. 1.7

Layout of Mohenjodaro


metres


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The plight of Harappa

A ltho ugh H arapp a w as thefirst site to be d isco vered , it

w as badly d estroyed by b rickro b b ers. A s ea rly as 18 75,

A lexand er C un ningh am , the

first D irector-G eneral of theA rch ae o lo gical S u rve y o f

India (A SI), often called thefather of Ind ian arch ae ology,

no ted tha t the a m ou nto f b rick tak en fro m th ean cien t site w as en o u gh

to la y b ricks fo r “ab o u t1 0 0 m iles”of th e railw ay

line betw een L ah o re an d

M u ltan . T h u s, m an y o f th eancient structures at the site

w ere d am age d . In co ntrast,M ohen jodaro w as far better

preserved.

lower. Archaeologists designate these as the Citadeland the Lower Town respectively. The Citadel owesits height to the fact that buildings were constructed

on mud brick platforms. It was walled, whichmeant that it was physically separated from theLower Town.

The Lower Town was also walled. Several buildingswere built on platforms, which served as foundations.

It has been calculated that if one labourer movedroughly a cubic metre of earth daily, just to put thefoundations in place it would have required fourmillion person-days, in other words, mobilising

labour on a very large scale.Consider something else. Once the platforms were

in place, all building activity within the city wasrestricted to a fixed area on the platforms. So itseems that the settlement was first planned andthen implemented accordingly. Other signs of

planning include bricks, which, whether sun-driedor baked, were of a standardised ratio, where thelength and breadth were four times and twice theheight respectively. Such bricks were used at allHarappan settlements.

3.1 Laying out drainsOne of the most distinctive features of Harappancities was the carefully planned drainage system. If you look at the plan of the Lower Town you will noticethat roads and streets were laid out along anapproximate “grid” pattern, intersecting at right

angles. It seems that streets with drains were laidout first and then houses built along them. If domestic waste water had to flow into the streetdrains, every house needed to have at least one wallalong a street.

Citadels

W hile m ost H arappan settlem en ts have a sm all high

w estern part an d a larger low er eastern section, thereare variations. A t sites such as D holavira and Lothal

(G ujarat), the entire settlem ent w as fortified, andsections w ithin the tow n w ere also sep arated by w alls.

The C itadel w ithin Lothal w as no t w alled off, but w as

Fig. 1.8 A drain in Mohenjodaro

Notice the huge opening of thedrain.


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built at a height.

3.2 Domestic architecture The Lower Town at Mohenjodaro provides examples

of residential buildings. Many were centred on acourtyard, with rooms on all sides. The courtyardwas probably the centre of activities such as cookingand weaving, particularly during hot and dryweather. What is also interesting is an apparent

concern for privacy: there are no windows in thewalls along the ground level. Besides, the mainentrance does not give a direct view of the interior

or the courtyard.Every house had its own bathroom paved with

bricks, with drains connected through the wall tothe street drains. Some houses have remains of staircases to reach a second storey or the roof. Manyhouses had wells, often in a room that could bereached from the outside and perhaps used by

passers-by. Scholars have estimated that the total

The most ancientsystem yet discovered

A b o u t th e d rain s, M ackaynoted: “It is certainly the m ost

com plete ancient system as yet

discovered.”Every house w asconnected to the street drains.

The m ain channels w ere m adeof bricks set in m ortar and w ere

covered w ith loose bricks that

cou ld be rem oved for cleaning.In som e cases, lim estone w as

u sed fo r th e co vers. H o u sedrains first em ptied into a sum p

o r cessp it in to w h ich solid

m atter settled w hile w aste w aterflow ed out into the street drains.

V ery long drainage chan nelsw ere p rovided at intervals w ith

sum p s fo r clean in g. It is a

w ond er of archaeo logy that“little heaps of m aterial, m ostly

san d , h ave freq u en tly b ee nfound lying alongside d rainage

channels, w hich show s … that

th e d eb ris w as n o t alw ayscarted aw ay w hen the drain

w as cleared”.

F RO M ER N E ST M A C K A Y,Early Indus

C ivilisation , 1948.

D rainage system s w ere not

u n iq u e to th e larger cities,

b u t w ere fo u n d in sm aller

settlem ents as w ell. A t Lothal

for exam ple, w hile houses w erebuilt of m ud bricks, drains w ere

m ade o f burnt bricks.

Fig. 1.9

This is an isometric drawing of a

large house in Mohenjodaro.There was a well in room no 6.

Where is the courtyard? Where are the two

staircases? What is the entrance to the house like?


Source 2


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number of wells inMohenjodaro was about700.

3.3 The CitadelIt is on the Citadel that we

find evidence of structuresthat were probably used forspecial public purposes.

These include the warehouse– a massive structure of

which the lower brick

portions remain, while theupper portions, probablyof wood, decayed longago – and the Great Bath.

The Great Bath was alarge rectangular tank in acourtyard surrounded by acorridor on all four sides.

There were two fl ights of

steps on the north andsouth leading into the tank,which was made watertightby setting bricks on edge

and using a mortar of gypsum. There were roomson three sides, in one of which was a large well.Water from the tank flowed

into a huge drain. Across alane to the north lay asmaller building witheight bathrooms, four oneach side of a corridor,

with drains from eachbathroom connecting to adrain that ran along thecorridor. The uniqueness of the structure, as well as

the context in which it was found (theCitadel, with several distinctive buildings),has led scholars to suggest that it was meant forsome kind of a special ritual bath.

Fig. 1.10

Plan of the Citadel

Discuss...Which of the architectural

features of Mohenjodaroindicate planning?

Are there other structures on the Citadel apart from

the warehouse and the Great Bath?


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4. Tr acking Social Dif fer ences4.1 BurialsArchaeologists generally use certain strategies tofind out whether there were social or economicdifferences amongst people living within a particularculture. These include studying burials. You are

probably familiar with the massive pyramids of Egypt, some of which were contemporaneous withthe Harappan civilisation. Many of these pyramidswere royal burials, where enormous quantities of wealth was buried.

At burials in Harappan sites the dead weregenerally laid in pits. Sometimes, there weredifferences in the way the burial pit was made – insome instances, the hollowed-out spaces were linedwith bricks. Could these variations be an indication

of social differences? We are not sure.Some graves contain pottery and ornaments,

perhaps indicating a belief that these could be usedin the afterlife. J ewellery has been found in burialsof both men and women. In fact, in the excavations

at the cemetery in Harappa in the mid-1980s, an

ornament consisting of three shell rings, a jasper(a kind of semi-precious stone) bead and hundredsof micro beads was found near the skull of a male.

In some instances the dead were buried with coppermirrors. But on the whole, it appears that theHarappans did not believe in burying precious thingswith the dead.

4.2 Looking for “luxuries”Another strategy to identify social differences is tostudy artefacts, which archaeologists broadly

classify as utilitarian and luxuries. The first category

includes objects of daily use made fairly easily outof ordinary materials such as stone or clay. Theseinclude querns, pottery, needles, flesh-rubbers (bodyscrubbers), etc., and are usually found distributed

throughout settlements. Archaeologists assumeobjects were luxuries if they are rare or made fromcostly, non-local materials or with complicatedtechnologies. Thus, little pots of faience (a materialmade of ground sand or silica mixed with colour

and a gum and then fired) were probably consideredprecious because they were difficult to make.

The situation becomes more complicatedwhen we find what seem to be articles of daily

Fig. 1.11 A copper mirror


Fig. 1.12 A faience pot


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use, such as spindle whorls made of rare materialssuch as faience. Do we classify these as utilitarianor luxuries?

If we study the distribution of such artefacts, wefind that rare objects made of valuable materialsare generally concentrated in large settlements likeMohenjodaro and Harappa and are rarely found inthe smaller settlements. For example, miniature pots

of faience, perhaps used as perfume bottles, are foundmostly in Mohenjodaro and Harappa, and there arenone from small settlements like Kalibangan. Goldtoo was rare, and as at present, probably precious –

all the gold jewellery found at Harappan sites wasrecovered from hoards.

5. Finding Out About Cr af tPr oduction

Locate Chanhudaro on Map 1. This is a tinysettlement (less than 7 hectares) as compared toMohenjodaro (125 hectares), almost exclusivelydevoted to craft production, including bead-making,shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making and

weight-making. The variety of materials used to make beads is

remarkable: stones like carnelian (of a beautiful redcolour), jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite; metalslike copper, bronze and gold; and shell, faience and

terracotta or burnt clay. Some beads were made of two or more stones, cemented together, some of stonewith gold caps. The shapes were numerous – disc-shaped, cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped,segmented. Some were decorated by incising or

painting, and some had designs etched onto them.

Discuss...What are the modes of disposal of the dead prevalent

at present? To what extent dothese represent socialdifferences?

Hoards are objects keptcarefully by people, often inside

containers such as pots. Suchhoards can be of jewellery or

metal objects saved for reuseby metalworkers. If for some

reason the original owners do

not retrieve them, they remainwhere they are left till some

archaeologist finds them.

Fig. 1.13

A tool and beads


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Techniques for making beads differed accordingto the material. Steatite, a very soft stone, was easilyworked. Some beads were moulded out of a paste

made with steatite powder. This permitted making avariety of shapes, unlike the geometrical forms madeout of harder stones. How the steatite micro beadwas made remains a puzzle for archaeologistsstudying ancient technology.

Archaeologists’ experiments have revealed that thered colour of carnelian was obtained by firing theyellowish raw material and beads at various stagesof production. Nodules were chipped into rough

shapes, and then finely flaked into the final form.Grinding, polishing and drilling completed theprocess. Specialised drills have been found atChanhudaro, Lothal and more recently at Dholavira.

If you locate Nageshwar and Balakot on Map 1,you will notice that both settlements are near the

coast. These were specialised centres for makingshell objects – including bangles, ladles andinlay – which were taken to other settlements.Similarly, it is likely that finished products (suchas beads) from Chanhudaro and Lothal were taken

to the large urban centres such as Mohenjodaroand Harappa.

5.1 Identifying centres of production

In order to identify centresof craft production,

archaeologists usually look

for the following: raw

material such as stone

nodules, whole shells, copper

ore; tools; unfinished

objects; rejects and waste

material. In fact, waste is

one of the best indicators

of craft work. For instance,if shell or stone is cut to

make objects, then pieces

of these materials will be

discarded as waste at the

place of production.

Fig. 1.14 Pottery Some of these can be seen in the

National Museum, Delhi or in thesite museum at Lothal.

Discuss...Should the stone artefacts

illustrated in the chapter beconsidered as utilitarianobjects or as luxuries? Arethere any that may fall intoboth categories?


Fig. 1.15 A terracotta figurine


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Sometimes, larger waste pieces were used up tomake smaller objects, but minuscule bits wereusually left in the work area. These traces suggest

that apart from small, specialised centres, craftproduction was also undertaken in large cities suchas Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

6. Str ategies for Pr ocur ingMater ial s

As is obvious, a variety of materials was used forcraft production. While some such as clay were

locally available, many such as stone, timber andmetal had to be procured from outside the alluvialplain. Terracotta toy models of bullock carts suggestthat this was one important means of transportinggoods and people across land routes. Riverine routesalong the Indus and its tributaries, as well as coastal

routes were also probably used.

6.1 Materials from the subcontinent and beyond

The Har appans procured mater ial s for cr aft

production in various ways. For instance, they

established settlements such as Nageshwar andBalakot in areas where shell was available. Othersuch sites were Shortughai, in far-off Afghanistan,

near the best source of lapis lazuli, a blue stonethat was apparently very highly valued, and Lothalwhich was near sources of carnelian (from Bharuchin Gujarat), steatite (from south Rajasthan and northGujarat) and metal (from Rajasthan).

Another strategy for procuring raw materials mayhave been to send expeditions to areas such as theKhetri region of Rajasthan (for copper) and southIndia (for gold). These expeditions establishedcommunication with local communities. Occasional

finds of Harappan artefacts such as steatite microbeads in these areas are indications of such contact.

There is evidence in the Khetr i area for whatarchaeologists call the Ganeshwar-J odhpura culture,with its distinctive non-Harappan pottery and

an unusual wealth of copper objects. It is possiblethat the inhabitants of this region supplied copperto the Harappans.

Fig.1.16 Copper and bronze vessels


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6.2 Contact with distant landsRecent archaeological finds suggest that copper wasalso probably brought from Oman, on the south-

eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula. Chemicalanalyses have shown that both the Omani copperand Harappan artefacts have traces of nickel,suggesting a common origin. There are other tracesof contact as well. A distinctive type of vessel, a

large Harappan jar coated with a thick layer of blackclay has been found at Omani sites. Such thickcoatings prevent the percolation of liquids. We donot know what was carried in these vessels, but itis possible that the Harappans exchanged the

contents of these vessels for Omani copper.Mesopotamian texts datable to the third

millennium B C E refer to copper coming froma region called Magan, perhaps a name for

Oman, and interestingly enough copper found at

Fig. 1.17 A Harappan jar found in Oman


Map 3

The Harappan Civilisation and West Asia


Mediterranean

Sea

Red

Sea

MESOPOTAMIA

Arabian Sea

Uruk

Ur

DILMUN

Caspian

Sea Altyn Depe

TURAN

Shahr-i-Sokhta

Tepe Yahya

Sutkagendor

MELUHHA

Harappa

LothalMAGAN

Rasal’ Janayz


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Mesopotamian sites alsocontains traces of nickel.Other archaeological

finds suggestive of long-distance contacts includeHarappan seals, weights,dice and beads. In thiscontext, it is worth noting

that Mesopotamian textsmention contact with regions named Dilmun(probably the island of Bahrain), Magan andMeluhha, possibly the Harappan region. They

mention the products from Meluhha: carnelian,lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and varieties of wood.A Mesopotamian myth says of Meluhha: “May yourbird be the haja -bird, may its call be heard inthe royal palace.” Some archaeologists think thehaja -bird was the peacock. Did it get this name

from its call? It is likely thatcommunication with Oman,

Bahrain or Mesopotamia wasby sea. Mesopotamian textsrefer to Meluhha as a

land of seafarers. Besides,we find depictions of shipsand boats on seals.

Fig. 1.18

This is a cylinder seal, typical of Mesopotamia, but the humped bull

motif on it appears to be derived from the Indus region.

Fig. 1.19

The round “Persian Gulf” seal found in Bahrain sometimes carries

Harappan motifs. Interestingly,local “Dilmun” weights followed

the Harappan standard.

Fig. 1.20

Seal depicting a boat

Discuss...What were the possible routesfrom the Harappan region toOman, Dilmun andMesopotamia?


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7. Seal s, Scr ipt, Weights

7.1 Seals and sealingsSeals and sealings were used to facilitate long-

distance communication. Imagine a bag of goodsbeing sent from one place to another. Its mouth wastied with rope and on the knot was affixed some wet

clay on which one or more seals were pressed,leaving an impression. If the bag reached withits sealing intact, it meant that it had not beentampered with. The sealing also conveyed the identityof the sender.

7.2 An enigmatic scriptHarappan seals usually have a line of writing,probably containing the name and title of the owner.Scholars have also suggested that the motif (generally an animal) conveyed a meaning to thosewho could not read.

Most inscriptions are short, the longest containingabout 26 signs. Although the script remainsundeciphered to date, it was evidently notalphabetical (where each sign stands for a vowel ora consonant) as it has just too many signs –

somewhere between 375 and 400. It is apparent thatthe script was written from right to left as someseals show a wider spacing on the right and cramping

on the left, as if the engraver began working fromthe right and then ran out of space.

Consider the variety of objects on which writinghas been found: seals, copper tools, rims of jars,copper and terracotta tablets, jewellery, bone rods,even an ancient signboard! Remember, there mayhave been writing on perishable materials too. Could

this mean that literacy was widespread?

7.3 WeightsExchanges were regulated by a precise system of weights, usually made of a stone called chert and

generally cubical (Fig. 1.2), with no markings. The

Fig. 1.22

A sealing from Ropar

How many seals are

impressed on this piece of clay?

Fig. 1.21

Letters on an ancient signboard

Discuss...What are some of the present-day methods used for long-distance exchange of goods?

What are their advantages

and problems?



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lower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4,8, 16, 32, etc. up to 12,800), while the higherdenominations followed the decimal system. The

smaller weights were probably used for weighing jewellery and beads. Metal scale-pans have alsobeen found.

8. Ancient Author ity There are indications of complex decisions beingtaken and implemented in Harappan society. Takefor instance, the extraordinary uniformity of

Harappan artefacts as evident in pottery (Fig. 1.14),seals, weights and bricks. Notably, bricks, thoughobviously not produced in any single centre, were of a uniform ratio throughout the region, from J ammuto Gujarat. We have also seen that settlements were

strategically set up in specific locations for variousreasons. Besides, labour was mobilised for makingbricks and for the construction of massive wallsand platforms.

Who organised these activities?

8.1 Palaces and kings

If we look for a centre of power or for depictions of

people in power, archaeological records provide noimmediate answers. A large building found atMohenjodaro was labelled as a palace byarchaeologists but no spectacular finds wereassociated with it. A stone statue was labelled and

continues to be known as the “priest-king”. This isbecause archaeologists were familiar withMesopotamian history and its “priest-kings” and havefound parallels in the Indus region. But as we willsee (p.23), the ritual practices of the Harappan

civilisation are not well understood yet nor are thereany means of knowing whether those who performedthem also held political power.

Some archaeologists are of the opinion thatHarappan society had no rulers, and that everybody

enjoyed equal status. Others feel there was no singleruler but several, that Mohenjodaro had a separateruler, Harappa another, and so forth. Yet othersargue that there was a single state, given thesimilarity in artefacts, the evidence for planned

settlements, the standardised ratio of brick size, and

the establishment of settlements near sources of raw

Discuss...Could everybody in Harappan

society have been equal?

Fig. 1.23 A “priest-king”


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material. As of now, the last theory seems the mostplausible, as it is unlikely that entire communitiescould have collectively made and implemented such

complex decisions.

9. The End of the Civil isation There is evidence that by c . 1800 BCE most of the MatureHarappan sites in regions such as Cholistan had beenabandoned. Simultaneously, there was

an expansion of population into newsettlements in Gujarat, Haryana and

western Uttar Pradesh.In the few Harappan sites that

continued to be occupied after 1900

BCE there appears to have been atransformation of material culture,

marked by the disappearance of thedistinctive artefacts of the civilisation– weights, seals, special beads.

Writing, long-distance trade, andcraft specialisation also disappeared.

In general, far fewer materials wereused to make far fewer things. House

construction techniques deterioratedand large public structures were nolonger produced. Overall, artefacts

and settlements indicate a rural wayof life in what are called “Late

Harappan” or “successor cultures”.What brought about these

changes? Several explanations have

been put forward. These range fromclimatic change, deforestation,

excessive floods, the shifting and/ or drying up of

rivers, to overuse of the landscape. Some of these“causes” may hold for certain settlements, but they

do not explain the collapse of the entire civilisation.It appears that a strong unifying element, perhaps

the Harappan state, came to an end. This isevidenced by the disappearance of seals, the script,distinctive beads and pottery, the shift from a

standardised weight system to the use of localweights; and the decline and abandonment of cities.

The subcontinent would have to wait for over amillennium for new cities to develop in a completely

different region.


SWAT

LATE

SISWALCEMETERY H

RANGPUR II B-C

JHUKAR

I n d

u s

Arabian Sea

Map 4 Areas of Late Harappan occupation



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Evidence of an “invasion”

D ead m an L ane is a n arrow alley, varying from 3 to 6 feet in w idth … A t the p ointw here the lane turns w estw ard, part of a skull and the b ones of the thorax an d

upper arm of an ad ult w ere discovered , all in very friab le condition, at a dep th of4 ft 2 in. The body lay on its back diagonally across the lane. Fifteen inch es to the

w est w ere a few fragm en ts of a tiny skull. It is to these rem ains that the lan e ow es

its nam e.

F RO M JO H N M A R S H A L L,M ohenjodaro and the Indus C ivilisation , 1931.

Sixteen skeletons of people w ith the o rnam ents that they w ere w earing w hen theydied w ere fou nd from the sam e part of M oh enjod aro in 1925.

M uch later, in 1947, R .E.M . W heeler, then D irector-G en eral of the A SI, tried to

correlate this archaeological evidence w ith that of the Rigved a,the earliest know ntext in the sub continen t. H e w rote:

The Rigved a m entions pur , m eaning ram part, fort or stronghold. Indra, the A ryan

w ar-god is called puram dara, the fort-destroyer.W here are –or w ere –these citad els? It has in the p ast been supposed that they

w ere m ythical … The recen t excavation o f H arappa m ay be thought to have

chan ged the p icture. H ere w e h ave a high ly evolved civilisation of essen tially non-A ryan type, now know n to have em ployed m assive fortifications … W hat destroyed

this firm ly settled civilisation? C lim atic, econom ic or political deterioration m ay

have w eaken ed it, but its ultim ate extinction is m ore likely to have been com pletedby deliberate and large-scale destruction. It m ay be no m ere chan ce that at a late

period of M oh enjod aro m en, w om en, and children, app ear to have beenm assacred there. O n circum stantial evidence, Indra stands accused .

F RO M R .E.M . W H E E LE R, “H arappa 1946”, A ncient India, 1947.

In the 1960s, the evidence o f a m assacre in M ohenjodaro w as questioned by an

archaeologist nam ed G eorge D ales. H e dem onstrated that the skeletons found at the

site d id not belong to the sam e p eriod:

W hereas a couple of them definitely seem to indicate a slaugh ter,… the bulk of

the bones w ere found in contexts suggesting burials of the sloppiest an d m ost

irreverent nature. There is no destruction level co vering the latest period of thecity, no sign of extensive burning, no bodies of w arriors clad in arm our an d

surrounded by the w eapons of w ar. The citadel, the o nly fortified part of the city,yielded no eviden ce of a final defen ce.

FRO M G .F. D ALES, “The M ythical M assacre at M ohenjodaro”,Expediton,1964.

A s you can see, a careful re-exam ination of the d ata can som etim es lead to arev ersal o f earlier in terpretatio n s.

Discuss...What are the similarities and differences between Maps 1, 2 and 4?

Source 3


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19

10. Discover ing the Har appanCivil isationSo far, we have examined facets of the Harappancivilisation in the context of how archaeologistshave used evidence from material remains to

piece together parts of a fascinating history. However,there is another story as well – about howarchaeologists “discovered” the civilisation.

When Harappan cities fell into ruin, peoplegradually forgot all about them. When men and

women began living in the area millennia later, they

did not know what to make of the strange artefactsthat occasionally surfaced, washed by floods orexposed by soil erosion, or turned up while ploughinga field, or digging for treasure.

10.1 Cunningham’s confusionWhen Cunningham, the first Director-General of the

ASI, began archaeological excavations in the mid-nineteenth century, archaeologists preferred to usethe written word (texts and inscriptions) as a guideto investigations. In fact, Cunningham’s main

interest was in the archaeology of the Early Historic

(c . sixth century BCE-fourth century CE) and laterperiods. He used the accounts left by ChineseBuddhist pilgrims who had visited the subcontinentbetween the fourth and seventh centuries CE to locate

early settlements. Cunningham also collected,documented and translated inscriptions found duringhis surveys. When he excavated sites he tended torecover artefacts that he thought had cultural value.

A site like Harappa, which was not part of the

itinerary of the Chinese pilgrims and was not knownas an Early Historic city, did not fit very neatly within

his framework of investigation. So, althoughHarappan artefacts were found fairly often duringthe nineteenth century and some of these reached

Cunningham, he did not realise how old these were.A Harappan seal was given to Cunningham by an

Englishman. He noted the object, but unsuccessfullytried to place it within the time-frame with whichhe was familiar. This was because he, like many

others, thought that Indian history began with thefirst cities in the Ganga valley (see Chapter 2). Givenhis specific focus, it is not surprising that he missed

the significance of Harappa.

Fig. 1.24

Cunningham’s sketch of the first- known seal from Harappa



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Sites, mounds, layers

A rchaeologicalsites are form ed

through the production, use

an d discarding of m aterials

and structures. W hen people

continue to live in the sam e

place, their constan t use and

reuse o f the landscape results

in the build up of occupational

debris, called a m ound . Brief

or perm anent abandonm ent

results in alteration o f the

landscape by w ind or w ater

activity and erosion. O ccupations

are d etected b y trace s o f

an cient m aterials found in

layers , w hich differ from one

an other in colour, texture and

the artefacts that are found

in them . A bando nm ent or

desertions, w hat are called

“sterile layers”, ca n b e

iden tified by the absen ce ofsuch traces.

G enerally, the low est layers

are the oldest and the highest

are the m ost recent. The study

o f th ese laye rs is ca lled

stratigraphy. A rtefacts found in

layers can b e a ssign ed to

specific cultural periods and

can thus provide the cu ltural

sequence for a site.

10.2 A new old civilisationSubsequently, seals were discovered at Harappa byarchaeologists such as Daya Ram Sahni in the early

decades of the twentieth century, in layers that weredefinitely much older than Early Historic levels. Itwas then that their significance began to be realised.Another archaeologist, Rakhal Das Banerji foundsimilar seals at Mohenjodaro, leading to the

conjecture that these sites were part of a singlearchaeological culture. Based on these finds, in 1924,

J ohn Mar shal l, Director -General of th e ASI ,announced the discovery of a new civilisation in the

Indus valley to the world. As S.N. Roy noted inThe Story of Indian Archaeology, “Marshall left Indiathree thousand years older than he had found her.”

Th is was because similar, ti ll-then-unidentifiedseals were found at excavations at Mesopotamiansites. It was then that the world knew not only of a

new civilisation, but also of one contemporaneouswith Mesopotamia.

In fact, J ohn Marshall’s stint as Director-Generalof the ASI marked a major change in Indianarchaeology. He was the first professional

archaeologist to work in India, and brought hisexperience of working in Greece and Crete to thefield. More importantly, though like Cunningham hetoo was interested in spectacular finds, he wasequally keen to look for patterns of everyday life.

Marshall tended to excavate along regularhorizontal units, measured uniformly throughout themound, ignoring the stratigraphy of the site. Thismeant that all the artefacts recovered from the sameunit were grouped together, even if they were found

at different stratigraphic layers. As a result, valuable

Fig. 1.25The stratigraphy of a small mound

Notice that the layers are not exactly horizontal.


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information about the context of these finds wasirretrievably lost.

10.3 New techniques and questionsIt was R.E.M. Wheeler, after he took over as Director-General of the ASI in 1944, who rectified this

problem. Wheeler recognised that it was necessaryto follow the stratigraphy of the mound ratherthan dig mechanically along uniform horizontallines. Moreover, as an ex-army brigadier, he broughtwith him a military precision to the practice

of archaeology.

The frontiers of the Harappan civil isation havelittle or no connection with present-day nationalboundaries. However, with the partition of thesubcontinent and the creation of Pakistan, the major

sites are now in Pakistani territory. This has spurredIndian archaeologists to try and locate sites in India.An extensive survey in Kutch has revealed a numberof Harappan settlements and explorations in Punjaband Haryana have added to the list of Harappan

sites. While Kalibangan, Lothal, Rakhi Garhi andmost recently Dholavira have been discovered,explored and excavated as part of these efforts, freshexplorations continue.

Over the decades, new issues have assumedimportance. Where some archaeologists are oftenkeen to obtain a cultural sequence, others try tounderstand the logic underlying the location of specific sites. They also grapple with the wealth of

artefacts, trying to figure out the functions thesemay have served.

Since the 1980s, there has also been growinginternational interest in Harappan archaeology.Specialists from the subcontinent and abroad have

been jointly working at both Harappa andMohenjodaro. They are using modern scientifictechniques including surface exploration to recovertraces of clay, stone, metal and plant and animalremains as well as to minutely analyse every scrap

of available evidence. These explorations promise toyield interesting results in the future.

Wheeler at Harappa

Early arch aeologists w ere often

driven by a sense of adven ture.

T his is w hat W h eeler w ro teab o u t h is exp erien ce a t

H arappa:It w as, I recall, on a w arm

M ay night in 1944 that a four

m iles’tonga-ride brought m eas th e n ew ly ap p o in ted

D irecto r G en eral o f th eA rchaeological Survey w ith

m y local M uslim officer from

a little railw ay-station labelled“H arap p a”alon g a d ee p

sand track to a sm all rest-house beside the m oonlit

m ounds of the ancien t site.

W arned b y m y anxiouscolleagu e that w e m ust start

our inspection at 5.30 n extm orning and finish by 7.30

“after w hich it w ould be toohot”, w e turned in w ith thedark figure of thepunka-w alla

crouch ed patiently in theen tran ce a n d th e n igh t

air ren t b y in n u m erab le

jackals in the n eigh bouringw ilderness.

N ext m orning, punctuallyat 5.30, our little procession

started out tow ards the sandy

heap s. W ithin ten m inutes I

stopped and rubbed m y eyesas I gazed upon the tallestm ound, scarcely trusting m y

vision. Six hours later m y

em barrassed staff and I w erestill toiling w ith picks and

knives under the b lazing sun ,the m ad sahib (I am afraid)

setting a relentless pace.

FRO M R .E.M . W H E E LE R,

M y A rchaeological M ission

to India and Pakistan,1976.

Discuss...Which of the themes in this chapter would haveinterested Cunningham? Which are the issues

that have been of interest since 1947?



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11. Pr obl ems of Piecing Togetherthe PastAs we have seen, it is not the Harappan script thathelps in understanding the ancient civilisation. Rather,it is material evidence that allows archaeologists to

better reconstruct Harappan life. This material couldbe pottery, tools, ornaments, household objects, etc.Organic materials such as cloth, leather, wood andreeds generally decompose, especially in tropicalregions. What survive are stone, burnt clay (or

terracotta), metal, etc.

It is also important to remember that only brokenor useless objects would have been thrown away.Other things would probably have been recycled.Consequently, valuable artefacts that are found

intact were either lost in the past or hoarded andnever retrieved. In other words, such finds areaccidental rather than typical.

11.1 Classifying findsRecovering artefacts is just the beginning of thearchaeological enterprise. Archaeologists then

classify their finds. One simple principle of

classification is in terms of material, such as stone,clay, metal, bone, ivory, etc. The second, and morecomplicated, is in terms of function: archaeologistshave to decide whether, for instance, an artefact is

a tool or an ornament, or both, or something meantfor ritual use.

An understanding of the function of an artefact isoften shaped by its resemblance with present-daythings – beads, querns, stone blades and pots are

obvious examples. Archaeologists also try to identifythe function of an artefact by investigating the

context in which it was found: was it found in ahouse, in a drain, in a grave, in a kiln?

Sometimes, archaeologists have to take recourse

to indirect evidence. For instance, though there aretraces of cotton at some Harappan sites, to find outabout clothing we have to depend on indirectevidence including depictions in sculpture.

Archaeologists have to develop frames of reference.

We have seen that the first Harappan seal that wasfound could not be understood till archaeologists hada context in which to place it – both in terms of the

cultural sequence in which it was found, and interms of a comparison with finds in Mesopotamia.


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11.2 Problems of interpretation The problems of archaeological interpretation areperhaps most evident in attempts to reconstruct

religious practices. Early archaeologists thought thatcertain objects which seemed unusual or unfamiliarmay have had a religious significance. These includedterracotta figurines of women, heavily jewelled, somewith elaborate head-dresses. These were regarded

as mother goddesses. Rare stone statuary of men inan almost standardised posture, seated with onehand on the knee – such as the “priest-king” – wasalso similarly classified. In other instances,

structures have been assigned ritual significance. These include the Great Bath and fire altars foundat Kalibangan and Lothal.

Attempts have also been made to reconstructreligious beliefs and practices by examining seals,some of which seem to depict ritual scenes. Others,

with plant motifs, are thought to indicate natureworship. Some animals – such as the one-hornedanimal, often called the “unicorn” – depicted on sealsseem to be mythical, composite creatures. In someseals, a figure shown seated cross-legged in a “yogic”

posture, sometimes surrounded by animals, hasbeen regarded as a depiction of “proto-Shiva”, thatis, an early form of one of the major deities of Hinduism. Besides, conical stone objects have beenclassified as lingas .

Many reconstructions of Harappan religion aremade on the assumption that later traditions provideparallels with earlier ones. This is becausearchaeologists often move from the known to theunknown, that is, from the present to the past. While

this is plausible in the case of stone querns and

pots, it becomes more speculative when we extendit to “religious” symbols.Let us look, for instance, at the “proto-Shiva” seals.

The earliest religious text, the Rigveda (compiled c .

1500-1000 BCE) mentions a god named Rudra, whichis a name used for Shiva in later Puranic traditions(in the first millennium CE; see also Chapter 4).However, unlike Shiva, Rudra in the Rigveda isneither depicted as Pashupati (lord of animals in

general and cattle in particular), nor as a yogi . Inother words, this depiction does not match thedescription of Rudra in the Rigveda . Is this, then,possibly a shaman as some scholars have suggested?

Fig. 1.26 Was this a mother goddess?

A linga is a polished stone

that is worshipped as a

symbol of Shiva.

Fig. 1.27

A “proto-Shiva” seal



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What has been achieved after so many decades of archaeological work? We have a fairly good idea of

the Harappan economy. We have been able to teaseout social differences and we have some idea of howthe civilisation functioned. It is really not clear howmuch more we would know if the script were to bedeciphered. If a bilingual inscription is found,questions about the languages spoken by theHarappans could perhaps be put to rest.

Several reconstructions remain speculative atpresent. Was the Great Bath a ritual structure? How

widespread was literacy? Why do Harappancemeteries show little social differentiation? Alsounanswered are questions on gender – did womenmake pottery or did they only paint pots (as atpresent)? What about other craftspersons? What werethe terracotta female figurines used for? Very fewscholars have investigated issues of gender in thecontext of the Harappan civilisation and this is awhole new area for future work.

Shamans are men andwomen who claim magicaland healing powers, as well

as an ability to communicatewith the other world.

This is w hat M ackay, one of theearliest excavators, had to sayabout these stones:

Various sm all cones m ad eo f lap is lazu li, jasp er,

ch alced o n y, an d o th er

stones, m ost beau tifully cutan d finished, and less than

tw o inches in heigh t, are alsothought to be lingas … on the

o th er han d , it is ju st as

possible that they w ere used

in the board-gam es …FR O M ER N E ST M A C K A Y, Early

Indus C ivilisation , 1948.

Discuss...What are the aspects of Harappan economy that have

been reconstructed fromarchaeological evidence?

Fig. 1.28

Gamesmen or lingas?

Fig. 1.29 A terracotta cart


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Timel ine 1Major Periods in Ear ly Indian Archaeol ogy

2 million BP Lower Palaeolithic(BEFORE PRESENT)

80,000 Middle Palaeolithic

35,000 Upper Palaeolithic

12,000 Mesolithic

10,000 Neolithic (early agriculturists and pastoralists)

6,000 Chalcolithic (first use of copper)

2600 BC E Harappan civilisation

1000 BC E Early iron, megalithic burials

600 BC E-400 CE Early Historic

Timel ine 2Major Devel opments in Har appan Archaeol ogy

Nineteenth century

1875 Report of Alexander Cunningham on Harappan seal

Twentieth century

1921 M.S. Vats begins excavations at Harappa

1925 Excavations begin at Mohenjodaro

1946 R.E.M. Wheeler excavates at Harappa

1955 S.R. Rao begins excavations at Lothal

1960 B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar begin excavations at Kalibangan

1974 M.R. Mughal begins explorations in Bahawalpur

1980 A team of German and Italian archaeologists begins surfaceexplorations at Mohenjodaro

1986 American team begins excavations at Harappa

1990 R.S. Bisht begins excavations at Dholavira


(Note: All dates are approximate. Besides, there are wide variations in developments in different parts of the subcontinent. Dates indicated are for the earliest evidence of each phase.)


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Answer in100-150 wor ds

1. List the items of foodavailable to people in

Harappan cities. Identify

the groups who wouldhave provided these.

2. How do archaeologists

trace socio-economicdifferences in Harappan

society? What are thedifferences that they

notice?

3. Would you agree thatthe drainage system in

Harappan cities indicates

town planning? Givereasons for your answer.

4. List the materials used to

make beads in theHarappan civilisation.

Describe the process bywhich any one kind of bead

was made.

5. Look at Fig. 1.30 anddescribe what you see.

How is the body placed?

What are the objectsplaced near it? Are there

any artefacts on the body?Do these indicate the sex of

the skeleton?

Fig. 1.30 A Harappan burial


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Wr ite a shor t essay (about500 words) on the f ol l owing:

6. Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.

7. List the raw materials required for craft

production in the Harappan civilisation anddiscuss how these might have been obtained.

8. Discuss how archaeologists reconstruct the past.

9. Discuss the functions that may have been

performed by rulers in Harappan society.

Map wor k

10. On Map 1, use a pencil to circle sites where

evidence of agriculture has been recovered. Mark

an X against sites where there is evidence of craftproduction and R against sites where raw

materials were found.

Pr oj ect (any one)11. Find out if there are any museums in your town.

Visit one of them and write a report on any ten

items, describing how old they are, where theywere found, and why you think they are on

display.

12. Collect illustrations of ten things made of stone,metal and clay produced and used at present.

Compare these with the pictures of the Harappan

civilisation in this chapter, and discuss thesimilarities and differences that you find.


If you would like to knowmore, read:R aym on d an d B ridget A llchin.

1997.O rigins of a C ivilization.

V iking, N ew D elhi.

G .L. Possehl. 2003.

The Indus C ivilization.

V istaar, N ew D elhi.

Shereen Ratnagar. 2001.U nd erstand ing H arapp a.

Tulika, N ew D elhi.

For more information,you could visit:http://w w w .harappa.com /har/

harres0.htm l

Documents

Lehs101 Harappa