THEME Bricks, Beads and Bones ONE

1 1 Bricks, Beads and BonesThe Harappan CivilisationTHEMEONEThe Harappan seal ( ) 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 weknow 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 howarchaeological material is interpreted and howinterpretations sometimes change. Of course, thereare some aspects of the civilisation that are as yetunknown and may even remain , places, timesThe Indus valley civilisation is also called the Harappan use the term culture for a group of objects,distinctive in style, that are usually found together within a specificgeographical area and period of time.

2 In the case of the Harappanculture, these distinctive objects include seals, Beads , weights, stoneblades (Fig. ) and even baked bricks. These objects were foundfrom areas as far apart as Afghanistan, Jammu, Baluchistan(Pakistan) and Gujarat (Map 1).Named after Harappa, the first site where this unique culturewas discovered (p. 6), the civilisation is dated between c. 2600 and1900 BCE. There were earlier and later cultures, often called EarlyHarappan and Late Harappan, in the same area. The Harappancivilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan culture todistinguish it from these Harappan sealFig. , weights, blades2021 22 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY2 Map 1 Some importantMature Harappan sitesSketch map not to scaleMandaHarappaBanawaliRakhigarhiMitat halGanweriwalaKot DijiChanhudaroAmriBalakotMohenjodaroSutk agendorDholaviraLothalNageshwarRangpurKa libanganJhelumChenabRaviIndusYamunaGanga ChambalSabarmatiArabian SeaMahiNarmadaSutlej1.

3 BeginningsThere were several archaeological cultures in theregion prior to the Mature Harappan. These cultureswere associated with distinctive pottery, evidence ofagriculture and pastoralism, and some 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-scaleburning at some sites, as well as the abandonmentof certain Subsistence StrategiesIf 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 also shared certain common elementsincluding 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.

4 These are studied by archaeo-botanists, whoare specialists in ancient plant remains. GrainsEarly and MatureHarappan culturesLook at these figures for thenumber of settlements in Sindand Cholistan (the desert areaof Pakistan bordering the TharDesert).SINDCHOLISTANT otal number106239of sitesEarly Harappan5237sitesMature65136 Harappan sitesMature Harappan43132settlements onnew sitesEarly Harappan2933sites abandonedYou will find certainabbreviations, related todates, in this stands for BeforePresentBCE stands for BeforeCommon EraCE stands for the CommonEra. The present year is2015 according to thisdating for the Latinword circa and means approximate. 2021 223found at Harappan sites includewheat, barley, lentil, chickpeaand sesame. Millets are foundfrom sites in Gujarat. Finds ofrice are relatively Bones found at Harappansites include those of cattle, sheep,goat, buffalo and pig.

5 Studiesdone by archaeo-zoologists or zoo-archaeologists indicate that theseanimals were of wild species such asboar, deer and gharial arealso found. We do not knowwhether the Harappans huntedthese animals themselves orobtained meat from other huntingcommunities. Bones of fish andfowl are also Agricultural technologiesWhile the prevalence ofagriculture is indicated by findsof 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 inCholistan and at Banawali (Haryana).Archaeologists have also found evidence of aploughed field at Kalibangan (Rajasthan),associated with Early Harappan levels (see p.)

6 20).The field had two sets of furrows at right angles toeach other, suggesting that two different cropswere grown have also tried to identify thetools used for harvesting. Did the Harappans usestone blades set in wooden handles or did they usemetal tools?Most Harappan sites are located in semi-aridlands, where irrigation was probably required foragriculture. Traces of canals have been found atthe Harappan site of Shortughai in Afghanistan, butnot in Punjab or Sind. It is possible that ancient there any similarities ordifferences in the distributionof settlements shown on Maps1 and 2?Fig. terracotta bullBRICKS, Beads AND BONESMap 2 Areas of Early HarappanoccupationSketch map not to scaleAMRI-NALA rabian SeaDAMBSADAATI ndusKOTDIJISISWAL2021 22 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY4 Do you think thesetools could have been usedfor harvesting?

7 Fig. at DholaviraNote the masonry work. Archaeologists use present-day analogies to tryand understand what ancient artefacts were usedfor. Mackay was comparing present-day quernswith what he found. Is this a useful strategy? is the evidence used byarchaeologists to reconstructdietary practices?Fig. toolsFig. quernSource 1canals silted up long ago. It is also likely that waterdrawn from wells was used for irrigation. Besides,water reservoirs found in Dholavira (Gujarat) mayhave been used to store water for artefacts are identifiedProcessing of food required grinding equipment as well as vesselsfor mixing, blending and cooking. These were made of stone, metaland terracotta. This is an excerpt from one of the earliest reports onexcavations at Mohenjodaro, the best-known Harappan site:Saddle querns .. are found in considerable and they seem to have been the only means in usefor grinding cereals.

8 As a rule, they were roughly madeof hard, gritty, igneous rock or sandstone and mostlyshow signs of hard usage. As their bases are usuallyconvex, they must have been set in the earth or inmud to prevent their rocking. Two main types havebeen found: those on which another smaller stone waspushed or rolled to and fro, and others with which asecond stone was used as a pounder, eventuallymaking a large cavity in the nether stone. Querns ofthe former type were probably used solely for grain;the second type possibly only for pounding herbs andspices for making curries. In fact, stones of this lattertype are dubbed curry stones by our workmen andour cook asked for the loan of one from the museumfor use in the ERNEST MACKAY, Further Excavations atMohenjodaro, 225 How is the Lower Towndifferent from the Citadel?

9 3. MohenjodaroA Planned Urban CentrePerhaps the most unique feature of the Harappancivilisation was the development of urban us look at one such centre, Mohenjodaro,more closely. Although Mohenjodaro is the mostwell-known site, the first site to be discoveredwas settlement is divided into two sections, onesmaller but higher and the other much larger butFig. of MohenjodaroBRICKS, Beads AND Bones metres2021 22 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY6 The plight of HarappaAlthough Harappa was thefirst site to be discovered, itwas badly destroyed by brickrobbers. As early as 1875,Alexander Cunningham, thefirst Director-General of theArchaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI), often called thefather of Indian archaeology,noted that the amountof brick taken from theancient site was enoughto lay bricks for about100 miles of the railwayline between Lahore andMultan.

10 Thus, many of theancient structures at the sitewere damaged. In contrast,Mohenjodaro was far Archaeologists designate these as the Citadeland the Lower Town respectively. The Citadel owesits height to the fact that buildings were constructedon mud brick platforms. It was walled, whichmeant that it was physically separated from theLower Lower Town was also walled. Several buildingswere built on platforms, which served as 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, mobilisinglabour on a very large something else. Once the platforms werein 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.