The Harappan Civilisation

1. Beginnings

– Prior to the Mature Harappan civilization, there were various archaeological cultures in the region.
– These cultures had distinct pottery styles and evidence of agriculture, pastoralism, and crafts.
– The settlements were typically small, lacking large buildings.
– There was a noticeable transition or break between the Early Harappan period and the Harappan civilization.
– Some sites show evidence of large-scale burning, and certain settlements were abandoned during this transition.

2. Subsistence Strategies

– The Mature Harappan culture developed in areas previously occupied by the Early Harappan cultures.
– Both cultures shared certain elements, including subsistence strategies.
– The Harappans had a diverse diet, including various plant and animal products.
– Archaeo-botanists study charred grains and seeds to reconstruct Harappan dietary practices.
– Grains such as wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, and sesame were found at Harappan sites.
– Millets were found in Gujarat, while rice finds were relatively rare.
– Animal bones found at Harappan sites indicate domesticated species like cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo, and pig.
– Bones of wild animals like boar, deer, and gharial were also found, but it’s unclear if they were hunted by the Harappans.
– Fish and fowl bones were also present at Harappan sites.

2.1 Agricultural technologies

– Actual agricultural practices of the Harappans are difficult to reconstruct.
– Representations on seals and sculptures suggest the use of oxen for ploughing.
– Terracotta models of ploughs have been discovered at Cholistan and Banawali sites.
– Evidence of ploughed fields with two sets of furrows has been found at Kalibangan.
– The tools used for harvesting, whether stone blades or metal tools, remain uncertain.
– Irrigation was likely required for agriculture in the semi-arid regions where most Harappan sites are located.
– Traces of canals have been found at Shortughai, while wells and water reservoirs at Dholavira may have been used for irrigation and water storage.

3. Mohenjodaro: A Planned Urban Centre

– The Harappan civilization is characterized by the development of urban centers, with Mohenjodaro being a well-known site.
– The settlement at Mohenjodaro consists of two sections: the Citadel (smaller and higher) and the Lower Town (larger and lower).
– The Citadel was elevated due to buildings constructed on mud brick platforms and was physically separated from the Lower Town by walls.
– The Lower Town was also walled, and buildings were constructed on platforms serving as foundations.
– The construction of platforms required a large-scale mobilization of labor.
– The settlement was meticulously planned, with building activity restricted to a fixed area on the platforms.
– Standardized bricks, with a ratio of length to breadth and height, were used in construction across Harappan settlements.

3.1 Laying out drains

– Harappan cities had a well-designed drainage system, notable for its careful planning.
– The Lower Town layout reveals a grid pattern of roads and streets, intersecting at right angles.
– Streets with drains were constructed first, followed by the construction of houses along them.
– To facilitate the flow of domestic waste water into the street drains, every house was required to have at least one wall along a street.

3.2 Domestic architecture

– Residential buildings in the Lower Town of Mohenjodaro had a courtyard at their center, surrounded by rooms on all sides.
– The courtyard served as a central space for activities like cooking and weaving, especially in hot and dry weather.
– Privacy was valued, as there were no windows in the ground-level walls, and the main entrance did not provide a direct view of the interior or courtyard.
– Each house had its own brick-paved bathroom with drains connected to the street drains.
– Some houses had staircases leading to a second storey or the roof.
– Wells were common in houses, with approximately 700 wells estimated to have existed in Mohenjodaro.

3.3 The Citadel

– The Citadel in Mohenjodaro contains structures that likely served special public purposes.
– These include a warehouse, of which the lower brick portions remain, and the Great Bath.
– The Great Bath was a large rectangular tank surrounded by a corridor on all four sides.
– It had steps on the north and south leading into the tank, which was made watertight with bricks set on edge and gypsum mortar.
– Rooms were present on three sides, with a large well in one of them.
– Water from the tank flowed into a drain, and nearby was a smaller building with eight bathrooms and drains connecting to a central corridor.
– The unique nature of the Great Bath and its location within the Citadel have led scholars to suggest its association with special ritual bathing.

4. Tracking Social Differences

4.1 Burials

– Archaeologists study burials to investigate social and economic differences within a culture.
– In the Harappan civilization, burials generally involved laying the dead in pits.
– Variations in the construction of burial pits, such as lining them with bricks, may suggest social differences, but this is uncertain.
– Some graves contained pottery and ornaments, possibly indicating a belief in their use in the afterlife.
– Jewelry has been found in burials of both men and women.
– A male burial in Harappa revealed an ornament with shell rings, a jasper bead, and micro beads near the skull.
– Copper mirrors were occasionally buried with the dead, but overall, the Harappans did not commonly bury precious items with them.

4.2 Looking for “luxuries”

– Archaeologists use the study of artifacts to identify social differences.
– Utilitarian artifacts are objects of daily use made from ordinary materials and are found throughout settlements, such as querns, pottery, needles, and flesh-rubbers.
– Luxuries are objects that are rare, made from costly or non-local materials, or involve complicated technologies.
– Objects made of valuable materials, such as faience spindle whorls, pose a classification challenge as they could be considered both utilitarian and luxurious.
– Rare objects made from valuable materials are typically concentrated in large settlements like Mohenjodaro and Harappa, while smaller settlements have fewer examples.
– Miniature pots of faience, potentially used as perfume bottles, are primarily found in Mohenjodaro and Harappa, not in smaller settlements like Kalibangan.
– Gold was rare and considered precious during the Harappan civilization, and most gold jewelry found at Harappan sites was discovered in hoards.

5. Finding Out About Craft Production

– Chanhudaro is a small settlement focused on craft production, including bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making, and weight-making.
– Beads at Chanhudaro were made from various materials such as stones (carnelian, jasper, quartz), metals (copper, bronze, gold), and shell.
– Beads exhibited diverse shapes, decorations, and techniques, with steatite allowing for a variety of forms.
– Carnelian beads obtained their red color through firing, while carnelian nodules were chipped, flaked, polished, and drilled to create the final product.
– Nageshwar and Balakot were coastal settlements known for shell object production, likely supplying larger urban centers like Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

5.1 Identifying centres of production

– Archaeologists identify craft production centers through the presence of raw materials, tools, unfinished objects, and waste materials.
– Waste materials are particularly useful in identifying craft work, as discarded pieces of materials indicate the production process.
– Small specialized centers as well as larger cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa were involved in craft production.
– Traces of craft production, including waste materials, indicate the existence of craft activities in various locations.

6. Strategies for Procuring Materials

– Craft production required a variety of materials, including locally available clay and materials like stone, timber, and metal that were obtained from outside the alluvial plain.
– Terracotta toy models of bullock carts indicate the use of land routes for transporting goods and people.
– Riverine routes along the Indus and its tributaries, as well as coastal routes, were likely used for transportation during the Harappan civilization.

6.1 Materials from the subcontinent and beyond

– The Harappans established settlements like Nageshwar and Balakot in areas abundant with shell, while Shortughai in Afghanistan provided access to lapis lazuli.
– Lothal was strategically located near sources of carnelian, steatite, and metal.
– Harappans may have sent expeditions to regions like the Khetri area for copper and to South India for gold, establishing communication and trade.
– The Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture in the Khetri area had distinctive non-Harappan pottery and an abundance of copper objects, potentially indicating the supply of copper to the Harappans by the local inhabitants.

6.2 Contact with distant lands

– Recent archaeological evidence suggests that copper was likely brought from Oman, as chemical analyses show traces of nickel in both Omani copper and Harappan artifacts.
– Harappan jars with thick coatings of black clay have been found at Omani sites, indicating a possible exchange of contents for Omani copper.
– Mesopotamian texts mention contact with regions like Dilmun (possibly Bahrain), Magan (possibly Oman), and Meluhha (possibly Harappan region) and describe products traded such as carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and wood.
– Communication with Oman, Bahrain, or Mesopotamia was likely through sea routes, as depicted in seals and references to Meluhha as a land of seafarers.

7. Seals, Script, Weights

7.1 Seals and sealings

– Seals and sealings were used for long-distance communication and to ensure the security of goods during transportation.
– A bag of goods would be tied with a rope, and wet clay with one or more seals pressed onto the knot, leaving an impression.
– If the bag reached its destination with the seal intact, it indicated that it had not been tampered with.
– The sealing also conveyed the identity of the sender, providing important information about the origin of the goods.

7.2 An enigmatic script

– Harappan seals contain a line of writing that likely represents the name and title of the owner.
– The motifs on the seals, often depicting animals, may have conveyed meaning to those who could not read.
– The Harappan script remains undeciphered, but it is not alphabetical due to the large number of signs (between 375 and 400).
– The script was likely written from right to left, as indicated by the spacing on some seals.
– Writing has been found on various objects such as seals, tools, jars, tablets, jewelry, bone rods, and even a signboard.
– The presence of writing on a wide range of objects suggests that literacy may have been widespread, and there may have been writing on perishable materials as well.

7.3 Weights

– Exchanges in the Harappan civilization were regulated by a precise system of weights.
– The weights were typically made of chert, a type of stone, and were cubical in shape.
– The lower denominations of weights followed a binary system (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., up to 12,800).
– The higher denominations of weights followed a decimal system.
– Smaller weights were likely used for weighing jewelry and beads.
– Metal scale-pans, used in the weighing process, have also been discovered.

8. Ancient Authority

– The Harappan civilization demonstrates indications of complex decision-making and implementation.
– There is extraordinary uniformity observed in Harappan artifacts such as pottery, seals, weights, and bricks.
– Bricks, despite being produced in multiple centers, were uniform in size throughout the region.
– Settlements were strategically established in specific locations for various purposes.
– The mobilization of labor was evident in brick-making and the construction of large walls and platforms.

8.1 Palaces and kings

– Archaeological records do not provide immediate answers regarding centers of power or depictions of people in power in the Harappan civilization.
– The labeling of a large building at Mohenjodaro as a palace yielded no spectacular finds.
– A stone statue known as the “priest-king” was identified based on parallels with Mesopotamian history, but the understanding of Harappan ritual practices and the relationship between religious and political power is limited.
– There are different theories among archaeologists regarding the nature of power in Harappan society, including the absence of rulers, the presence of multiple rulers, or the existence of a single state.
– The theory suggesting a single state seems the most plausible due to the similarities in artifacts, planned settlements, standardized brick size, and strategic location of settlements near raw material sources.
– It is unlikely that complex decisions could have been collectively made and implemented by entire communities without some form of centralized authority.

9. The End of the Civilisation

– By around 1800 BCE, most of the Mature Harappan sites, particularly in regions like Cholistan, had been abandoned.
– Simultaneously, there was a population expansion into new settlements in Gujarat, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh.
– The occupied Harappan sites after 1900 BCE underwent a transformation marked by the disappearance of distinctive artifacts, including weights, seals, and special beads.
– Writing, long-distance trade, and craft specialization also ceased to exist. There was a decline in construction techniques and public structures.
– The changes in material culture and the emergence of “Late Harappan” or “successor cultures” suggest a shift towards a rural way of life.
– Various explanations have been proposed for these changes, including climatic change, deforestation, floods, river shifts, and overuse of the landscape. However, these factors do not explain the collapse of the entire civilization.
– It is believed that a strong unifying element, possibly the Harappan state, came to an end, as evidenced by the disappearance of seals, script, distinctive beads, pottery, and the decline and abandonment of cities.
– It took over a millennium for new cities to develop in a different region of the subcontinent.

10. Discovering the Harappan Civilisation

– After the decline of the Harappan civilization, knowledge and memory of it gradually faded away.
– When people began inhabiting the area in later periods, they encountered strange artifacts that occasionally emerged due to natural processes like floods, soil erosion, or agricultural activities.
– These artifacts puzzled the local inhabitants, who had no knowledge of the ancient civilization they belonged to.
– It was through the work of archaeologists that the Harappan civilization was “discovered” and its significance understood.
– The excavation of archaeological sites and the analysis of the artifacts allowed researchers to piece together the story of the Harappan civilization and its remarkable history.

10.1 Cunningham’s confusion

– Cunningham, the first Director-General of the ASI, focused on the archaeology of the Early Historic and later periods.
– He relied on written accounts, particularly those of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, to locate early settlements and conducted surveys to document inscriptions.
– Cunningham’s investigations were centered around his framework of investigation, which did not include sites like Harappa.
– Harappan artifacts were found during the nineteenth century, but Cunningham did not realize their age or significance as he believed Indian history began with the first cities in the Ganga valley.
– He received a Harappan seal but failed to place it within his familiar time-frame, missing the importance of Harappa.

10.2 A new old civilisation

– Harappan artifacts were initially misunderstood and their significance was overlooked by early archaeologists like Cunningham.
– Seals discovered at Harappa and Mohenjodaro revealed the existence of a new civilization.
– John Marshall, the Director-General of ASI, announced the discovery of the Indus Valley civilization to the world.
– Marshall’s approach focused on finding patterns of everyday life and he excavated horizontally, often disregarding stratigraphy.
– The discovery of similar seals in Mesopotamia indicated contemporaneity between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations.

10.3 New techniques and questions

– R.E.M. Wheeler introduced stratigraphic excavation methods, departing from the horizontal approach, during his tenure as Director-General of the ASI.
– The Harappan civilization extends beyond present-day national boundaries, with major sites now located in Pakistan. Indian archaeologists have intensified efforts to discover sites within India.
– New Harappan sites have been discovered and explored in Kutch, Punjab, and Haryana, including Kalibangan, Lothal, Rakhi Garhi, and Dholavira.
– Contemporary archaeologists focus on cultural sequencing, site location logic, artifact functionality, and utilize modern scientific techniques for analysis.
– International collaboration and the application of advanced methods, such as surface exploration and detailed analysis, hold promise for uncovering further insights into the Harappan civilization.

11. Problems of Piecing Together the Past

– Material evidence, rather than the Harappan script, provides valuable insights into the ancient civilization.
– Pottery, tools, ornaments, and household objects are among the artifacts that help reconstruct Harappan life.
– Organic materials like cloth, leather, wood, and reeds are likely to decompose, while stone, burnt clay, and metal are more likely to survive.
– Intact and valuable artifacts are rare, as broken or useless objects were discarded or recycled in the past.
– Accidental discoveries of intact artifacts occur, indicating either past loss or deliberate hoarding without retrieval.

11.1 Classifying finds

– Archaeologists classify artifacts based on material composition and function.
– Resemblance to present-day objects and the context of discovery help determine the function of an artifact.
– Indirect evidence, such as depictions in sculpture, can provide insights into aspects like clothing.
– Developing frames of reference, including cultural sequences and comparisons with other civilizations, aids in understanding artifacts.
– The context and comparative analysis with Mesopotamian finds helped in deciphering the first Harappan seal.

11.2 Problems of interpretation

– Early archaeologists interpreted certain objects, such as terracotta figurines and stone statuary, as having religious significance.
– Structures like the Great Bath and fire altars were also assigned ritual importance.
– Seals were examined for clues about religious beliefs and practices, with some indicating ritual scenes or nature worship.
– The depiction of a seated figure in a “yogic” posture surrounded by animals has been associated with an early form of Shiva.
– Reconstructions of Harappan religion often rely on parallels with later traditions, but this approach becomes more speculative when interpreting “religious” symbols.
– The depiction of a figure as “proto-Shiva” on the seals does not match the description of Rudra in the Rigveda, raising questions about its interpretation as a shaman.