IN THE EARLIEST CITIES

1 N 24 OUR PASTS ISaSaSaSaSaving an old buildingving an old buildingving an old buildingving an old buildingving an old buildingJaspal and Harpreet were playing cricket in the laneoutside their home when they noticed the people whowere admiring the dilapidated old building that thechildren called the haunted house. Look at the architecture! said one of the men. Have you seen the fine wood carving? asked one of thewomen. We must write to the Minister so that she makesarrangements to repair and preserve this beautiful house. Why, they wondered, would anybody be interested inthe old, run down house?The storThe storThe storThe storThe story of Hary of Hary of Hary of Hary of HarappaappaappaappaappaVery often, old buildings have a story to tell. Nearlya hundred and fifty years ago, when railway lineswere being laid down for the first time in thePunjab, engineers stumbled upon the site ofHarappa in present-day Pakistan.

2 To them, itseemed like a mound that was a rich source ofready made, high quality bricks. So they carriedoff thousands of bricks from the walls of the oldbuildings of the city to build railway lines. Manybuildings were completely , about eighty years ago, archaeologistsfound the site, and realised that this was one ofthe oldest CITIES in the subcontinent. As this wasthe first city to be discovered, all other sites fromwhere similar buildings (and other things) werefound were described as Harappan. These citiesdeveloped about 4700 years often, old buildings are pulled down tomake way for new construction. Do you think itis important to preserve old buildings?CHAPTER 3IN THE EARLIEST CITIESIN THE EARLIEST CITIESIN THE EARLIEST CITIESIN THE EARLIEST CITIESIN THE EARLIEST CITIES2020-21 NCERT not to be republished25 nWhat wWhat wWhat wWhat wWhat was special about these CITIES ?

3 As special about these CITIES ?as special about these CITIES ?as special about these CITIES ?as special about these CITIES ?Many of these CITIES were divided into two or moreparts. Usually, the part to the west was smallerbut higher. Archaeologists describe this as thecitadel. Generally, the part to the east was largerbut lower. This is called the lower town. Very oftenwalls of baked brick were built around each bricks were so well baked that they havelasted for thousands of years. The bricks werelaid in an interlocking pattern and that made thewalls some CITIES , specialbuildings were constructedon the citadel. For example,in Mohenjodaro, a veryspecial tank, whicharchaeologists call the GreatBath, was built in this was lined with bricks,coated with plaster, andmade water-tight with a layerof natural tar. There weresteps leading down to it fromtwo sides, while there wererooms on all sides.

4 Water wasprobably brought in from awell, and drained out afteruse. Perhaps importantpeople took a dip in this tankon special CITIES , such asKalibangan and Lothal hadfire altars, where sacrificesmay have been some CITIES likeMohenjodaro, Harappa, andLothal had elaborate CITIES were found inthe Punjab and Sind inPakistan, and in Gujarat,Rajasthan, Haryana andthe Punjab in have founda set of unique objects inalmost all these CITIES : redpottery painted withdesigns in black, stoneweights, seals, specialbeads, copper tools, andparalleled sided long : 3 The EARLIEST Citiesin the Subcontinent2020-21 NCERT not to be republishedn 26 OUR PASTS IHouses, drHouses, drHouses, drHouses, drHouses, drains and strains and strains and strains and strains and streetseetseetseetseetsGenerally, houses were either one or two storeyshigh, with rooms built around a courtyard.

5 Mosthouses had a separate bathing area, and somehad wells to supply of these CITIES had covered drains. Noticehow carefully these were laid out,in straight lines. Although youcannot see it, each drain had agentle slope so that water could flowthrough it. Very often, drains inhouses were connected to those onthe streets and smaller drains ledinto bigger ones. As the drains werecovered, inspection holes wereprovided at intervals to clean three houses, drains andstreets were probably plannedand built at the same at least two differencesbetween the houses described hereand those that you studied aboutin Chapter Great BathHow bricks werearranged to build wallsin Harappan cities2020-21 NCERT not to be republished27 nLife in the cityLife in the cityLife in the cityLife in the cityLife in the cityA Harappan city was a very busy were people who planned theconstruction of special buildings in the were probably the rulers.

6 It is likelythat the rulers sent people to distant landsto get metal, precious stones, and otherthings that they wanted. They may havekept the most valuable objects, such asornaments of gold and silver, or beautifulbeads, for themselves. And there werescribes, people who knew how to write, whohelped prepare the seals, and perhapswrote on other materials that have , there were men and women,crafts persons, making all kinds of things either in their own homes, or in specialworkshops. People were travelling todistant lands or returning with rawmaterials and, perhaps, stories. Manyterracotta toys have been found andchildren must have played with a list of the people who lived in the any of these people listed as living invillages such as Mehrgarh?IN THE EARLIESTCITIESTop : A street inMohenjodaro with : A Left : A Harappanseal.

7 The signs on the topof the seal are part of ascript. This is the earliestform of writing known inthe have tried toread these signs but westill do not know exactlywhat they : Terracotta NCERT not to be republishedn 28 OUR PASTS INeNeNeNeNew crw crw crw crw crafts in the cityafts in the cityafts in the cityafts in the cityafts in the cityLet us look at some of the objects that were madeand found in Harappan CITIES . Most of the thingsthat have been found by archaeologists are madeof stone, shell and metal, including copper, bronze,gold and silver. Copper and bronze were used tomake tools, weapons, ornaments and and silver were used to make ornamentsand the most striking finds are those ofbeads, weights, and Harappans also made seals out of are generally rectangular (See illustrationon page 27) and usually have an animal carvedon Harappans also made pots with beautifulblack designs, such as the oneshown on page metal used in the villagesyou learnt about in Chapter 2?

8 Was stone used to makeweights?Cotton was probably grownat Mehrgarh from about 7000years ago. Actual pieces ofcloth were found attachedto the lid of a silver vase andsome copper objects atMohenjodaro. Archaeologistshave also found spindle whorls,Top : Stone how carefully andprecisely these weightsare shaped. These weremade of chert, a kind ofstone. These wereprobably used to weighprecious stones : of these weremade out of carnelian, abeautiful red stone. Thestone was cut, shaped,polished and finally ahole was bored throughthe centre so that astring could be passedthrough right : Stone Right :Embroidered stone statue of animportant man foundfrom Mohenjodaroshows him wearing anembroidered NCERT not to be republished29 nmade of terracotta and faience. These were usedto spin of the things that were produced wereprobably the work of specialists.

9 A specialist is aperson who is trained to do only one kind of work,for example, cutting stone, or polishing beads, orcarving seals. Look at the illustration (page 28)and see how well the face is carved and howcarefully the beard is shown. This must have beenthe work of an expert crafts everybody could have been a specialist. Wedo not know whether only men were specialistsor only women were specialists. Perhaps somewomen and men may have been searIn searIn searIn searIn search of rch of rch of rch of rch of raaaaaw materialsw materialsw materialsw materialsw materialsRaw materials are substances that are eitherfound naturally (such as wood, or ores of metals)or produced by farmers or herders. These are thenprocessed to produce finished goods. For example,cotton, produced by farmers, is a raw materialthat may be processed to make cloth.

10 While someof the raw materials that the Harappans used wereavailable locally, many items such as copper, tin,gold, silver and precious stones had to be broughtfrom distant Harappans probably got copper frompresent-day Rajasthan, and even from Oman inFFFFF aienceaienceaienceaienceaienceUnlike stone or shell, that are found naturally,faience is a material that is artificially gum was used to shape sand or powderedquartz into an object. The objects were then glazed,resulting in a shiny, glassy surface. The coloursof the glaze were usually blue or sea was used to make beads, bangles,earrings, and tiny THE EARLIESTCITIES2020-21 NCERT not to be republishedn 30 OUR PASTS IHow were goods carriedfrom one place toanother?Look at the shows a toy and theother is a you suggest whatthe modes of transportused by the Harappanswere? Did you comeacross illustrations ofwheeled vehicles inearlier lessons?