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Questions and Answers
What is the term used to refer to the Harappan Civilisation?
Indus Valley Civilisation
Harappan seals are made of clay.
False
What was the most prosperous phase of the Harappan Civilisation?
What materials were grinding equipment, vessels for mixing, blending, and cooking made of during the Harappan civilization?
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The Harappan pottery, ____, seals, weights, and beads have been found in regions as apart as Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Sind, and Punjab provinces of Pakistan, and Indian States of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.
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What feature of Harappan cities was carefully planned and included streets laid out along an approximate grid pattern with intersecting drains?
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Archaeologists use present-day analogies to try to understand the use of ancient artefacts. Is this a useful strategy?
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What strategy do archaeologists generally use to find out social or economic differences amongst people living within a particular culture?
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How do archaeologists classify artefacts to identify social differences?
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Archaeologists believe that hoards, objects kept carefully by people, are __________ kept inside containers like pots.
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Where were Shortughai and Lothal located?
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Variations in the way burial pits were made, such as lining them with bricks, could indicate social differences among the Harappans. (True/False)
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What kind of stone was highly valued by the Harappans?
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Harappan artifacts like steatite micro beads indicate contact with distant regions.
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What brought about the changes in material culture seen in the few Harappan sites that continued to be occupied after 1900 BCE?
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Match the following regions mentioned in Mesopotamian texts with the products from Meluhha (Harappan region):
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Match the following materials with the craft production: stone nodules, copper ore, whole shells, tools
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What were seals and sealings used for in Harappan society?
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Archaeologists call the culture in the Khetri region of Rajasthan with distinctive non-Harappan pottery as the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture, indicating a possible supply of ________ to the Harappans.
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Who believed that the destruction of the Harappan civilization was likely deliberate and large-scale?
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Archaeogenetics involves studying DNA of ancient populations.
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Archaeologists initially preferred to use the written word as a guide to investigations, while Cunningham's main interest was in the archaeology of the ____.
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What was the name of the first professional archaeologist to work in India?
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What is the study of the layers in archaeology called?
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Organic materials like cloth and wood generally decompose easily in tropical regions.
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Archaeologists classify their finds based on material, such as stone, clay, metal, bone, ivory, etc., and also in terms of ________.
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List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.
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What are the aspects of Harappan economy that have been reconstructed from archaeological evidence?
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List the items of ______ available to people in Harappan cities.
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How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the differences that they notice?
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Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.
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What were some of the materials that survived well in archaeological contexts?
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Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.
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Study Notes
The Harappan Civilization
- The Harappan seal is a distinctive artefact of the Harappan or Indus valley civilization, made of steatite, often containing animal motifs and undeciphered script.
- Archaeological evidence reveals details about the lives of the people who lived in the region, including their houses, pots, ornaments, tools, and seals.
Terminologies, Places, and Time
- The Harappan Civilization is also known as the Indus Valley Civilization.
- The term Harappa is derived from the place where the civilization was first identified.
- The total time span of the civilization ranges from 6000 BCE to 1300 BCE.
- The civilization has three phases: Early Harappan (6000 BCE-2600 BCE), Mature Harappan (2600 BCE-1900 BCE), and Late Harappan (1900 BCE-1300 BCE).
Distinctive Features
- Distinctive Harappan pottery, bricks (baked and unbaked), seals, weights, beads, copper, and bronze articles have been found in the region, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indian states.
- The civilization developed in some areas occupied by Early Harappan cultures.
Subsistence Strategies
- The Harappans ate a wide range of plant and animal products, including wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame, and fish.
- Archaeo-botanists have reconstructed dietary practices from finds of charred grains and seeds.
- Animal bones found at Harappan sites include those of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo, and pig, indicating domestication.
- Bones of wild species, such as boar, deer, and gharial, are also found.
Agricultural Technologies
- Agriculture is indicated by finds of grain, but actual practices are difficult to reconstruct.
- Representations on seals and terracotta sculptures suggest that the bull was known, and oxen were probably used for ploughing.
- Terracotta models of the plough have been found, and evidence of a ploughed field has been discovered at Kalibangan.
- Archaeologists have tried to identify tools used for harvesting, such as stone blades or metal tools.
Mohenjodaro: A Planned Urban Centre
- Mohenjodaro is a unique example of a planned urban centre, with a Citadel and a Lower Town.
- The Citadel owes its height to mud brick platforms, was walled, and physically separated from the Lower Town.
- The Lower Town was also walled, with buildings on platforms serving as foundations.
- The settlement was first planned and then implemented, with standardized bricks used throughout.
Mohenjodaro's Drains and Architecture
- The city had a carefully planned drainage system, with roads and streets laid out along an approximate "grid" pattern, intersecting at right angles.
- Houses needed to have at least one wall along a street, and every house was connected to the street drains.
- Domestic architecture featured courtyards, with rooms on all sides, and an apparent concern for privacy.### Urban Planning and Architecture
- Houses in Mohenjodaro were built with bricks set in mortar, with drains connected to the street drains.
- Every house had its own bathroom paved with bricks, with drains that could be removed for cleaning.
- Some houses had staircases to reach a second storey or the roof, and many had wells.
- Scholars estimate that there were around 700 wells in Mohenjodaro.
Drainage Systems
- The cities had advanced drainage systems, with very long drainage channels provided at intervals with sumps for cleaning.
- The drainage systems were not unique to the larger cities, but were found in smaller settlements as well.
- At Lothal, houses were built of mud bricks, but drains were made of burnt bricks.
The Citadel
- The Citadel is where evidence of structures used for special public purposes were found.
- These structures include the warehouse, a massive structure with lower brick portions remaining, and the Great Bath.
- The Great Bath is a large rectangular tank in a courtyard surrounded by a corridor on all four sides, with two flights of steps leading into the tank.
- The tank was made watertight by setting bricks on edge and using a mortar of gypsum.
- There were rooms on three sides, one of which had a large well, and water from the tank flowed into a huge drain.
Burials and Social Differences
- Archaeologists study burials to find out if there were social or economic differences amongst people living within a particular culture.
- At Harappan sites, the dead were generally laid in pits, sometimes with differences in the way the burial pit was made.
- Some graves contain pottery and ornaments, which may indicate a belief in the afterlife.
- Jewellery has been found in burials of both men and women, but on the whole, it appears that the Harappans did not believe in burying precious things with the dead.
Luxuries and Social Differences
- Another strategy to identify social differences is to study artefacts, classifying them as utilitarian or luxuries.
- Luxuries are objects that are rare or made from costly, non-local materials, or with complicated technologies.
- Examples of luxuries include faience pots, copper mirrors, and beads made from semi-precious stones.
- The distribution of these artefacts suggests that rare objects made of valuable materials are generally concentrated in large settlements like Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
Craft Production
- Chanhudaro is a small settlement that was almost exclusively devoted 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, including stones, metals, shell, faience, and terracotta.
- Techniques for making beads differed according to the material, and archaeologists have experimented to understand the ancient technology.
Centres of Production
- Archaeologists identify centres of production by looking for raw materials, tools, unfinished objects, rejects, and waste material.
- Waste material is one of the best indicators of craft work, and minuscule bits of waste were usually left in the work area.
- Craft production was also undertaken in large cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
Procuring Materials
- Materials for craft production were procured from various sources, including local areas, the subcontinent, and beyond.
- The Harappans established settlements in areas where materials were available, such as shell, stone, and metal.
- They also sent expeditions to areas like the Khetri region of Rajasthan for copper and south India for gold.
Contact with Distant Lands
- Recent archaeological finds suggest that copper was brought from Oman, on the southeastern tip of the Arabian peninsula.
- Chemical analyses have shown that both Omani copper and Harappan artefacts have traces of nickel, suggesting a common origin.
- Other traces of contact include Harappan seals, weights, dice, and beads found in distant lands.
- Mesopotamian texts refer to copper coming from a region called Magan, possibly a name for Oman.### Mesopotamian Texts and the Indus Region
- Mesopotamian texts mention contact with regions named Dilmun (probably the island of Bahrain), Magan, and Meluhha (possibly the Harappan region).
- They mention products from Meluhha, including carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and varieties of wood.
- A Mesopotamian myth describes Meluhha as a land of seafarers.
Seals and Communication
- Seals were used to facilitate long-distance communication.
- A bag of goods would have a seal impressed on a knot of rope to convey the identity of the sender.
- Harappan seals usually have a line of writing, probably containing the name and title of the owner.
- The motif on the seal (generally an animal) may have conveyed a meaning to those who could not read.
Weights and Trade
- Exchanges were regulated by a precise system of weights, usually made of a stone called chert.
- Lower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32), while higher denominations followed the decimal system.
- Smaller weights were used for weighing jewelry and beads.
The End of the Harappan Civilisation
- By c. 1800 BCE, most Mature Harappan sites in regions such as Cholistan had been abandoned.
- There was an expansion of population into new settlements in Gujarat, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh.
- The distinctive artefacts of the Harappan civilization, such as weights, seals, and special beads, disappeared.
- Writing, long-distance trade, and craft specialization also declined.
Theories of the Decline
- Climatic change, deforestation, excessive floods, and the shifting and/or drying up of rivers have been proposed as causes of the decline.
- The collapse of the entire civilization may have been due to the end of a strong unifying element, such as the Harappan state.
Archaeological Discoveries
- In 1925, sixteen skeletons of people with ornaments were found at Mohenjodaro.
- The discovery of these skeletons led to the theory of an "invasion" and the destruction of the Harappan civilization.
- However, this theory was later questioned by archaeologist George Dales, who demonstrated that the skeletons found at the site did not belong to the same period.
- Archaeogenetic research carried out at the site of Rakhigarhi indicates that the Harappans are the indigenous people of the region, and their genetic roots go back to 10,000 BCE.
Discovering the Harappan Civilisation
- Archaeologists "discovered" the Harappan civilization through the study of material remains.
- The first Director-General of the ASI, Cunningham, was initially focused on the archaeology of the Early Historic period and did not realize the significance of Harappan artefacts.
- It was not until the discovery of similar seals at Harappa and Mohenjodaro that the significance of these sites was realized.
- John Marshall, the Director-General of the ASI, announced the discovery of a new civilization in the Indus valley in 1924.
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Description
Explore the Harappan Civilisation and its distinctive artefacts, such as the Harappan seal, and learn about the daily lives of the people who lived in the Indus Valley region.
