1.

Bricks, Beads and Bones

THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION
Indus Valley Civilization is also known as
Harappan Civilization.

Itstarted flourishing along with river Indus

(Now in Pakisthan) at around 2600 BC.

Harappan civilization was the largest

Bronze age civilization in the world.
 India’s First Civilization
 Asin Mesopotamia and Egypt, early
civilization in India and China emerged in
river valleys
 Thevalleys of the Indus River valley of the
River supported a flourishing civilization
that extended hundreds of miles from the
Himalayas to the coast of the Arabian Sea
 India’s First Civilization
 Archeologists have
more than a thousand settlements in
the region
 Two of the major
cities we are going
to discuss are:
 Harappa
 Mohenjo-Daro
 Harappa & Mohenjo-Doro
 Atits height, Harappa had 35,000
inhabitants
 Mohenjo-Daro had perhaps 35,000 to 40,000
 Both cities were planned carefully
 Mostbuildings were constructed of mud
bricks baked in oven and were square,
forming a grid pattern
 Public
wells provided a regular supply of
water for all the inhabitants
 The Harappan Civilization
 Harappa was the first site of this
civilization discovered by archaeologists.
 It was an urban civilization. Its writing is
not deciphered.
 After 1900 B.C., most of the sites were
abandoned due to some reasons.
 By 1900 B.C. major part of the civilization
ended.
 Period of Harappan Civilization
 Thecivilization is dated between 2600 BC and
1900 BC.
 The period of the civilization is broadly divided
in to three:
1.The Early Harappan culture (Before 2600 BC)

2.The Mature Harappan culture (2600-1900 BC)

3.The Late Harappan culture (After 1900 BC)

Some important sites of Harappan civilization

Kalibangan, Lothal, Rakhi Garhi,

Dholavira,Rupar, Harappa,
Ganeriwala,Chanhudaro,
Sutakagen Dor, Mohenjodaro,
Amri, Balakot, Kot Diji, Rangpur,
Nageshwar, Ganeriwala etc.
 Major Developments in Harappan
Archaeology
 1875-Report of Alexander Cunningham on Harappan seal
 1924-John Marshall announced the discovery of Harappan
civilization
 1925-Excavation began at Mohenjodaro
 1944-R E M Wheeler became the Director General of ASI
 1946- R E M Wheeler excavates at Harappa
 1955-S.R.Rao begins excavation at Lothal
 1960-B.B Lal&B.K Thaper begins excavations at Kalibangan
 1974-M.R.Mughal begins explorations in Bahawalpur
 1990-R.S Bisht begins excavations at Dholavira.
Early archaeological cultures
 There were several archaeological
cultures in the region prior to the
Mature Harappan.
 These cultures were associated with
distinctive pottery, evidence of
agriculture, pastoralism and some
crafts.
 The settlements were small in size and
had no large building.
 Subsistence strategies of the people
(Economic Life)
 Subsistencestrategies of the people
included hunting and gathering, cultivation,
pastoralism, and distribution.
 People relied on many plants and animals,
fishing and agriculture for their food.
 Thereare evidences of bones of animals
which prove that people consumed meat.
Terracotta models of oxen, plough etc.
show that people relied on agriculture too.
 Different types of food available to the
people
 The Harappans ate wide range of plants and animal
products, including fish.
 Archaeologists found grain such as wheat, barley,
lentils, chickpea and sesame at the Harappan sites.
In Gujarat, Millets have been found. Rice was found
rarely.
 Bones of cattle, fish, fowl(a bird), sheep, goat,
buffalo, pig, deer, and bear are found at the sites.
Studies indicate that these animals were either
domesticated or hunted by the Harappan
 Agricultural technologies of Harappans
 Agriculture was the main occupation of the Harappans.
 The prevalence of agriculture is indicated by finds of
grains.
 It is very difficult to reconstruct actual agricultural
practices carried out by the Harappans.
 Terracotta sculptors of the bull and their representation
on the seals indicate that bull was known to them.
 From this, the archaeologists assume that the oxen
were used for ploughing.
 Agricultural technologies of Harappans
 Moreover, the Archaeologists have also found
terracotta models of the plough at sites in Cholistan
and at Banwali (Haryana).
 Evidence of a ploughed field, associated with early
Harappan levels have also found at Kalibangan
(Rajasthan).
 The field had two sets of furrows at right angles to
each other, suggesting that two different crops were
grown together.
 Most of the Harappan sites were located in semi-arid
regions. So,to enhance agricultural produce ,they
needed facilities of irrigation.
 Agricultural technologies of Harappans
 Traces of canals have been found at the Harappan site
of Shortughai in Afghanistan.
 It is also likely that water was drawn from wells was
used for irrigation.
 Besides, water reservoirs found in Dholavira (Gujarat)
may have been used to store water for agriculture.
 Processing of food required grinding equipment as well
as vessels for mixing, blending and cooking. These
equipments were made of stone, metal and terracotta.
 Mohenjodaro- A Planned urban centre:
Architectural features of Mohenjodaro
(Town Planning)
 The most spectacular part of Harappan structure is the
large scale town layout.
 The city of Mohenjodaro was divided into two halves
i.e, the Citadel and the lower city.
 Citadel- It was built on mud brick platforms. It was
walled and separated from the Lower Town.
 The citadel was probably used for special public
purposes.
 The Lower Town was walled. Several buildings were
made on the platform that served as foundation.
Layout of Mohenjodaro: Architectural features of
Mohenjodaro (Town Planning)
 Labour was mobilized at a very large scale.
 Thesettlement was first planned and then
implemented.
 Bricks used in the buildings were uniform in size.
 The roads and streets in the lower town were laid
out in a grid pattern, intersecting at right angles.
 Thestreets and drains were first laid out and
then houses were built on the same pattern.
Layout of Mohenjodaro: Architectural
features of Mohenjodaro (Town Planning)
 The
Lower Town of Mohenjodaro provides
examples of residential buildings.
 Most
of these were centred on a courtyard, with
rooms on all sides.
 Differentactivities like cooking, weaving etc.
were carried out in the courtyard particularly
during the hot and dry seasons.
 Therewere no windows along the walls on the
ground floor. So privacy could be maintained.
Layout of Mohenjodaro: Architectural
features of Mohenjodaro (Town Planning)
 The main entrance did not provide view of courtyard
and interior.
 Every house had bathroom paved with bricks which was
connected through the wall to the street drains.
 In some houses remains of staircases to reach second
storey or roof have been found.
 Many houses had wells which were reachable from
outside for the use of outsiders.
 It is estimated that the total number of wells in
Mohenjodaro was about 700.
 Drainage system of the Harappans
 One of the striking features of Harappan cities
was the well planned drainage system.
 Every house was connected to the street drains.
 The drains were made of mortar(kummayam),
lime and gypsum.
 They were covered with big bricks which could be
lifted easily to clean the drains.
 For sewage from the houses, pits were provided
at either side of the street.
 Drainage system of the Harappans
 Very long drainage channels were provided
at intervals with sumps for cleaning.
 Insmaller settlements such as Lothal, the
houses were built of mud bricks and drains
were made of burnt bricks.
 Littleheaps of materials mostly sand have
frequently been found alongside the drains.
 Thisshows that the drains were cleaned at
regular intervals.
 The Great Bath
 Size:11.8 x 7.01 x 2.43 m
 Oncitadel, some special buildings were
built like 'The great bath of Mohenjodaro'.
 Suchbuildings were used on some religious
occasions or on public gatherings
 TheGreat Bath was a large rectangular
tank surrounded by corridors on all four
sides.
 Therewere two flights of steps on north
and south leading into the tank.
 The Great Bath
 Thetank was made watertight by laying bricks
on the edge and using mortar and gypsum.
 Rooms were made on three sides of the tank,
with one room having a large well.
 Thewater from the tank flowed into a huge
drain.
 Acrossthe lane there was a smaller building
with eight bathrooms, four at each side of a
corridor, with drains from each bathroom
connecting to a drain that ran along the
corridor.
Tracking Social Differences: Strategies to
find out social differences
1. Studying Burials
 Strategiesto analyze social and economic
differences amongst people living within a
particular culture include study of burials.
 At
burials in Harappan sites the dead were
generally laid in pits.
 Some of the pits were lined by bricks.
 Tracking Social Differences: Strategies
to find out social differences
 Some of the burials contained ornaments, pottery
etc, may be a belief that these things can be used
after life.
 In some instances the dead were buried with
copper mirrors.
 Jewelleries were found in both men and women
burials which mean that both men and women
used ornaments.
 But in general, Harappans never believed in
burying precious things with the dead.
 Tracking Social Differences: Strategies
to find out social differences
2.Studying Artefacts
 Studying artefacts is another strategy to find out social
differences.
 Artefacts are divided into utilitarian and luxuries.
 Utilitarian artefacts include objects made of stone or clay.
These include querns(attukallu), pottery, needles, flesh-
rubbers etc. and are usually found distributed throughout
settlements.
 Luxury artefacts are rare objects made of valuable
materials are generally concentrated in large settlements
like Mohenjodaro and Harappa. For Example, little pots
were used as perfume bottles.
 Finding out about craft production
Raw materials required for craft
production
 The variety of materials used to make
beads is remarkable: stones like carnelian
(of a beautiful red colour) jasper
(sooryakantham), crystal, quartz and
agate(vaidooryam); metals like copper,
bronze and gold; and shell, and terracotta
or burnt clay.
 Methods of making craft by the Harappans
 Sometimes beads were made of two or more
stones by cementing together, while some of
stone with gold caps.
 They were made in different shapes such as
cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped, and
segmented.
 Some were decorated by painting and some had
designs etched on them.
 They made bangles, ladles(a large spoon) out of
shells.
 Methods of making craft by the Harappans
 Special tools were used for craft work.
 Specialized
drills have been found at
Chanhudaro, Lothal and more recently at
Dholavira.
 Nageshwar and Balakot were specialized centres
for making shell objects.
 Chanhudaro was the centre of crafts production.
It was specialist in bead-making, shell-cutting,
metal-working, seal-making and weight-making.
 Identifying centres of production.

 How centers of production were

identified by the archaeologists?
 Simply by evidences of tools, raw
materials, unfinished objects, rejects,
waste materials, etc.
 Strategies for procuring materials for
craft production
 The Harappans procured materials for craft
production in various ways.
 Two methods of procuring materials for craft
production.
 1. They established settlements in Nageshwar,
Balakot and Shortughai.
 2. They might have sent expeditions to areas such
as the khetri region of Rajasthan (for copper) and
south India (for gold).
Strategies for procuring materials for craft
production
 Nageshwar and Balakot were areas for shell.
 Shortughai,in far-off Afghanistan, was the best
source of lapis-lazuli, and Lothal which was
near sources of carnelian, and metal from
Rajasthan.
 Expeditions to the khetri region and south
India established communication with local
communities.
 Contact with distant lands
(Trade relation with the world)
 Archaeological
finds suggest that the Harappans
maintained long distance trade.
 The main source of long distance contacts
includes seals, weights, dice and beads.
 Harappans
probably had trade contacts with the
Oman peninsula.
 Chemical analyses have shown that both the
Omani copper and Harappan artefacts have traces
of nickel, which suggests a common origin.
 Contact with distant lands
(Trade relation with the world)
 Thereare similarities between certain other
types of objects found at this site.
A Harappan jar coated with a thick layer of
black clay has been found in Oman.
 Mesopotamian texts refer to contact with
regions named Dilmun (probably the island of
Bahrain), Magan and Meluhaha, possibly the
Harappan.
 Seals and Sealings
 Seals and Sealings were used to facilitate long
distance communication.
 When a bag of goods was sent from one place to
another, its mouth was tied with a rope.
 On the knot was affixed some wet clay on which
one or more seals were pressed, leaving an
impression.
 If
the bag reached with its sealing intact, it
meant that it had not been tampered with.
 The sealing established the identity of the sender.
 Characteristics of seals and script

 Harappan seals usually have a line of

writing.
 Seal had the name and title of the owner.
 Theseal had a motif-main theme (generally
an animal) which conveyed a meaning to
those who could not read.
 Characteristics of seals and script
 Seals were basically used to convey the identity
of the sender and to facilitate long distance
communication.
 The Harappan inscriptions are short.
 The script was not alphabetical and written right
to left.
 Many signs were used and they are around 375-
400 in numbers.
 The script still remains un deciphered to date
Indus Script
 Weights
 Exchangers were regulated by a precise
system of weights usually made of a stone
called chert (a kind of stone, generally
cubical with no markings).
 Lower denominations of weights were
binary (1, 2,4,8,16,32 etc.), while the
higher denominations followed the decimal
system.
 Ancient Authority
Different arguments put forwarded by the
archaeologists over the central authority of Harappa
 There are three major views about the existence
of a central authority in the Harappan society.

 1.Some archaeologists are of the opinion that

there were no rulers in the Harappan society and
that everybody enjoyed equal status.
 Ancient Authority
 2. Others are of the opinion that there was no
single ruler but several rulers. Monenjodaro had a
separate ruler, Harappa had separate and so on.
 3. Some others suggest that there was a single
state. This theory was based on the similarity of
artefacts, planned settlements etc.
 The last opinion considers being more plausible as
it is doubtful that such complex decisions were
made and implemented collectively by entire
communities.
 The End of the Civilization
The Evidences that reflected the disappearance of Harappan civilization
by 1800 BCE
 By 1800BCE most of the mature Harappan sites were abandoned.
 The expansion of population and its migration took place towards
Gujarat, Haryana, Western U.P etc.
 After 1900B.C.sites which existed marked the transformation of material
culture i.e. disappearance of distinctive artefacts of civilization like
weights, seals, distant trade, etc. Writing, long-distance trade, and
craft specialization also disappeared.
 House construction techniques deteriorated and large public structures
were no longer produced.
 This indicates a rural way of life named late Harappan.
 Several explanations for the decline of
Harappan civilization
 The reasons responsible for the end of the civilization is still unknown.
But probable reasons are;
1. Climatic Change
2. Deforestation
3. Excessive floods
4. Over use of the landscape
5. The shifting and or drying up of rivers
6. Invasion most probably by the Aryans
7. Harappan state might have ended because there are evidences
of absence of distinctive artefacts like seals, pottery, etc
 The Arrival of the Aryans

 Around1500 BC a group of nomadic peoples

known as the Aryans moved out of their
homeland in central Asia.
 Theymoved south into northern India and
conquered the Harappans and created a
new Indian society based on Aryan culture
and institutions.
 Discovering the Harappan Civilization
Cunningham and his Confusions
 Cunningham was the first Director General of ASI
(Archaeological Survey of India).
 He was known as the father of Indian archaeology.
 He began archaeological excavations in the mid 19th century.
 His main interest was in the archaeology of early history from
6th century BCE-4th century CE, and later periods.
 He used the accounts left by Chinese pilgrims who had visited
the subcontinent between the 4th and 7th centuries CE
 He also collected, documented and translated inscriptions
found during his surveys.
 Site like Harappa did not fit well in his area of investigation.
 Discovering the Harappan Civilization
Cunningham and his Confusions
 Although Harappan artefacts were found during the
19th century and some of these reached Cunningham.
 But he did not realize how old these were as they were
not part of the itinerary of Chinese pilgrims and was
not known as an Early Historic city.
 An English man gave a Harappan seal to Cunningham.
 But he was unable to place it in the time frame with
which he was familiar. He thought that Indian history
began with the first cities in the Ganga valley.
 So, it is assumed that he missed the significance of
Harappa.
 Different methods adopted by Marshall and
Wheeler in reconstructing Harappan civilization
 Daya Ram Sahni and Rakhal Das Banerji found
similar seals at Harappa and Mohenjodaro
respectively.
 Basedon these finds, in 1924, John Marshall,
Director General of the ASI, announced the
discovery of a new civilization in the Indus valley to
the world.
 Marshalltended to excavate along regular
horizontal units, measured uniformly throughout
the mound, ignoring stratigraphy of the site.
 Different methods adopted by Marshall and
Wheeler in reconstructing Harappan civilization

 This meant that all the artefacts recovered

from the same unit were grouped together, even
if they were found at different stratigraphic
layers.
 As a result, valuable information about the
context of these finds was irretrievably lost.
 R.E.M Wheeler rectified this problem. He
recognized that it was necessary to follow the
stratigraphy of the mound rather than dig
mechanically along uniform horizontal lines.
 Problems faced by archaeologists in the
interpretation of religious practices of Harappa
 Harappan script is not helpful in understanding the
Harappan civilization. The script remains undeciphered till
date.
 Material remains help the archaeologists to reconstruct
Harappan life.
 Organic material such as cloth, leather, wood and reeds
generally decomposed while stone, burnt clay, metal
etc.survive. Materials such as pottery, tools, ornaments,
and house hold objects are available.
 Recovering artefacts is just the beginning of the
archaeological enterprise. Archaeologists then classify
their finds.
 Problems faced by archaeologists in the
interpretation of religious practices of Harappa
 The second, and most complicated, is in terms of
function: archaeologists have to decide whether, for
instance, an artefact is a tool or an ornament, or both,
or something meant for ritual use.
 An understanding of the function of an artefact is often
shaped by its resemblance with present day things-
beads, querns, stone blades and pots are obvious
examples.
 Archaeologists also try to identify the function of an
artefact by investigating the context in which it was
found. Whether it was found in a house, in drain, grave
or in kiln(choola).
 Problems faced by archaeologists in the
interpretation of religious practices of Harappa
 The problems of archaeological interpretation are
perhaps most evident in attempts to reconstruct
religious practices.
 Attempts have also been made to reconstruct religious
beliefs and practices by examining seals, some of
which seem to depict ritual scenes. Others, with plant
motifs, are thought to indicate nature worship.
 Many reconstructions of Harappan religion are made on
the assumption that later traditions provide parallels
with earlier ones. This is because archaeologists often
move from the known to the unknown, that is, from
the present to the past.
Archaeologist’s attempts to reconstruct the
religious practices of Harappan people
 The discovery of pots, querns, beads etc in the
Harappan sites and their graves provide enormous
information.
 Traces of cotton and dresses depicted on seals and
sculptures, give us an idea about the dressing style of
the Harappan people.
 The terracotta figurines of women indicate the worship
of mother goddess.
 Plant motifs seem to suggest the practice of nature
worship.
 The conical stones indicate linga worship
 Archaeologist’s attempts to reconstruct the
religious practices of Harappan people
 In Some seals a figure shown seated cross legged in a
‘yogic’ posture, sometimes surrounded by animals has
been regarded as a depiction of proto-Siva that is an
early form of one of the major deities of Hinduism.
 Some animals such as the unicorn depicted on seals
seem to be mythical, composite creatures.
 The two important structures that have been found by
archaeologists are:
1.The fire altars found at Kalibangan and Lothal
2.The Great Bath at Monhenjodaro, something meant
for ritual use.
Map-Major Harappan sites
Map- Major Harappan Sites
Theme 1- Map Study
MODEL QUESTIONS
1.The first discovered Harappan site
2.One Harappan site in Haryana
3.The site where fire altars and ploughed field found
4.A specialised centre for shell making
5 The most recently discovered site in Haryana
Answers
1. Harappa 2. Banwali 3. Kalibangan
4. Balakot 5. Rakhi Garhi
 Theme 1- Map Study
MODEL QUESTIONS
6. The site where water reservoirs found
7. The Important Harappan site from Gujarat
8. The site where R.D Banerji conducted excavations
9. The major centre of bead making
10. One Harappan site now in Pakistan.
Answers
6. Dholavira 7. Lothal 8. Mohenjodaro
9. Chanhudaro 10. Harappa/Mohen jo Daro/
Chan hu Daro/Balakot/ Kot Diji