The Harappan Civilisation

Type Take-in

Mastery Based On Metric Weak

Notes Not started

Oswaal Not started

Describe the Harappan seal

Most distinctive artefact of the harappan civilisation

Made from a stone called Steatite

Contains animal motifs and signs from an undeciphered script

What is the Harappan civilisation?

Also called the Indus valley civilisation

“Harappa” is derived from the place where the civilisation was identified

Time span → 6000 BCE to 2600 BCE:

Early phase:

Formative phase of the civilisation

Called early Harappan

6000 BCE - 2600 BCE

Urban phase:

Called the Mature Harappan

2600 BCE - 1900 BCE

Decadent phase:

Decline of the civilisation

Called late Harappan

1900 BCE - 1300 BCE

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 How many sites have been discovered of the Harappan civilisation?

more than 2000

What are most of these sites?

5 major cities:

Rakhigarhi

Mohenjo-daro

Harappa

Dholavira

Ganweriwala

Where are these sites located?

Most of them are found between the Indus and Saraswati river basins

2/3 are near the Saraswati basin → importance of Saraswati river for the
Civilisation

Describe the cultures before the Mature Harappan culture

Many distinct ones, associated with distinct pottery, evidence of

agriculture, pastoralism, and craft

Settlements were small → virtually no large buildings

When did early harappan culture emerge?

Evidence says it emerged from farming communities dated around 7000

BCE

Describe the subsistence strategies in Early harappan culture

Harappans had a variety of plant and animal products, and fish:

Findings of charred grains and seeds (studied by archaeo-botanists,

who specialise in ancient plant remains)

Grains found include wheat, barley, chickpea, sesame, and lentil,

millets (Gujarat)

Rice finds were rare

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 Animal bones of sheep, cattle, goat, buffalo, and pig

Archaeo-zoologists found that harappans domesticated animals

Bones of wild species like Deer, Gharial, and boar also found

It’s not clear whether harappans hunted these, or got the meat from other
hunting communities

Bones of fish and fowl also found

Describe the agricultural technologies of early Harappan culture

Prevalence of agriculture indicated by findings of grain

Ploughing:

Evidence like terracotta bull sculptures and seals indicate that the bull
was known

Archaeologists extrapolate that oxen might’ve been used for ploughing

→ Terracotta models of plough have been found on sites like Cholistan
and Banawali (Haryana)

Evidence of ploughed field found in Kalibangan (Rajasthan), through

early harappan levels

Fields had two sets of furrows at right angles → suggests that two
crops might’ve been grown together

Irrigation:

Most harappan sites were located in semi-arid regions, where

irrigation was required for agriculture

Traces of canals found at Shortughai (Afghanistan), but not in Punjab

or Sind

Possible that the canals silted up long ago

Water must’ve been drawn from wells as well

Water reservoirs might’ve been used to store water for agriculture (Eg:
Reservoir at Dholavira, Gujarat)

what is the reservoir at Dholavira known for?

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 Its masonry work

What was the first site discovered of the Harappan civilisation?

Harappa

Explain the planning of Mohenjo-daro

Settlement divided into two sections:

Smaller but higher → Citadel

Larger but lower → Lower Town

Citadel:

had the height as its buildings were built on mud brick platforms

Walled, meaning that it was physically separated from the Lower Town

Lower Town:

Buildings built on platform which served as foundations

Labour was mobilised on a large scale to build the foundations

Also walled

Signs of planning:

When the platforms were set in place, all building activity as restricted
to a fixed area on the platforms

This means that settlement was planned first and then implemented
accordingly

Bricks were in a standardised ratio → Length and breadth were 4 times

and twice the breath

These bricks were used in all harappan settlements

Why are many of the ancient structures at Harappa damaged?

Destroyed by brick robbers → the amount of bricks was enough to lay out
a railway line between Lahore and Multan

Describe the drainage system of Mohenjo-daro

Carefully planned and distinctive and advanced

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 Roads and streets were laid out in a grid pattern, intersecting at right
angles

Streets with drains were built first, then the houses were built along them

Every house needed to have one wall along the street for domestic waste
to flow into street drains

They were found in small settlements as well

they were made of burnt bricks, unlike mud bricks used for houses

What variations can be found in lower towns, and citadels?

At dholavira and Lothal, entire settlement was fortified and sections were
also divided by walls

At Lothal the citadel was built at a height

Describe the domestic architecture of Mohenjo-daro

Most buildings were centred around a courtyard, with rooms in all

directions

Courtyard was the centre of activities like cooking, and weaving during hot
and dry weather specifically

Concern for privacy:

No windows on walls along the ground level

The main door doesn’t give a direct view to the interior or the
courtyard

Every house had its own bathroom paved with bricks, and had drains
through the wall, connecting to street drains

Some houses had staircases to the second storey or the roof

Most houses had wells, that could be approached from the outside,
might’ve been used by passers-by

Scholars estimate the total no. of wells in Mohenjo-daro to be 700

Describe the Citadel of Mohenjo-daro

Had structures used for public purposes:

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 The Warehouse: a massive structure, whose lower portion only
remains (Upper portion might’ve decayed as it may have been of
wood)

The Great Bath: Large rectangular tank in a courtyard surrounded by

corridors from all 4 sides

Flights of steps in both north and south leading into the tank

Tank was made watertight by setting bricks on edge, and bonding

them with mortar of gypsum

Rooms on three sides, in one of which there was a large well

Water from the tank flowed into a huge drain

Across a lane in the north was a small building with 8 bathrooms 4

on each side of the corridor

These had drains that connected to the drain that went along the
corridors

The uniqueness and the context in which this structure was found
makes scholars believe that it was meant for a kind of special ritual
bath

Explain the burials at Harappan sites

Dead bodies were laid out in pits

The way in which these pits were made had differences → some pits were
hollowed out spaces with lined bricks

These variations might or might not indicate social differences

Some graves had ornaments and pottery, indicating the belief that these
could be used in the afterlife

Jewellery has been found in excavations of both men and women graves:

Excavation of harappan cemetery in 1980s found an ornament

consisting of three shell rings, a jasper bead (semi precious stone),
and many beads, was found near the skull of a male

The dead were also buried with copper mirrors in some cases

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 Harappans didn’t believe in burying precious things with the dead, unlike
the Egyptians

What type of artefacts were studied at harappan sites?

Utilitarian:

Objects of daily use made easily, with ordinary materials like stone or
clay

Eg: Querns, pottery, needles, flesh-rubbers (Body scrubbers)

Luxuries:

Objects made of rare, or costly material made with complicated

technologies

Eg: Little pots of Faience (material made from ground sand, and silica,
and mixed with colour and gum and then fired) → difficult to make

These were concentrated in large settlements like Harappa and

Mohenjo-daro, and not small settlements like Kalibangan

Gold was rare, and precious → has been recovered from hoards

Which settlement was entirely dedicated to craft production?

Chanhudaro

Describe the types of crafts in Mohenjo-daro

Beads were made with Carnelian (beautiful red stone), jasper, crystal,
quartz, steatite, and metals like copper, bronze, gold, and shell, faience,
and terracotta, or burnt clay

Some beads were made with two stones, cemented together, or with
stones of gold caps

Different shapes → Disc-shaped, cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped,

segmented

Some were decorated by incising or painting

Some had etched designs

Describe the technologies behind craft production in Harappan sites

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 Differed according to the material

For eg, Steatite was worked upon easily:

Beads would be moulded out of a steatite powder paste

this allowed many shapes, unlike only geometric forms of hard stones

How the steatite micro bead was made is a puzzle for archaeologists

Carnelian:

Obtained by firing yellowish raw material and beads at various stages

of production

Nodules chipped into rough shapes, and then finely flacked into the
final form

Grinding, polishing and drilling finished the process

Specialised drills have been found in Dholavira, Chanhudaro, and

Lothal

It’s likely that such finished products were transported to larger

settlements of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa

Waste pieces large enough were sometimes used to make further objects

Shell objects:

Nageshwar and Balakot were specialised centres for making shell

objects

Eg bangles, ladles, and Inlay

These were transported to other settlements

How are craft production centres identified?

Archaeologists look for raw material like stone nodules, whole shells,
copper ore, tools, unfinished objects, rejects, and waste material (one of
the best indicators of craft work)

Eg: If shell or stone is cut to make objects, waste pieces would be

discarded as waste at the site of production

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 These waste pieces have become evidence → Craft production was also
done in larger settlements

How would the Harappan people procure materials?

Clay was locally available but timber, stone, and metal had to be procured
from outside

Terracotta toy model bullock carts suggest that that was an important
means of transporting goods and people across land routes

Riverine routes along the Indus and its tributaries also might’ve been used

They established settlements in Nageshwar and Balakot where shell was

was available

Other sites were:

Shortughai in Afghanistan, near the best source of Lapis Lazuli (blue

stone, very high valued)

Lothal, from where Carnelian (from Bharuch), Steatite (Rajasthan and

north Gujarat), and metal (Rajasthan) was sourced

They would’ve sent expeditions to areas like Khetri (Rajasthan) for copper,
and to South India for Gold

These expeditions would establish communications with local

communities

Evidence → harappan artefacts (Steatite micro beads) found in these

regions

The Khetri region also had what archaeologists call Ganeshwar-Jodhpura

culture, with the distinctive non harappan pottery, and unusual wealth of
copper objects

These people might’ve supplied copper to the harappans

Explain the connection of Harappan civilisation with distant lands

Oman:

Archaeology suggests that copper was also brought from Oman, south
east tip of the Arabian peninsula

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 Chemical analyses suggest that both Omani copper and harappan
artefacts have traces of nickel → tracing common origins

A large harappan jar with thick black coating of clay has also been
found in Omani sites

These think coatings prevented percolation of liquids

It’s not clear what was transported in these, but it’s possible that
harappans traded this for copper

Mesopotamia:

Mesopotamian texts also mention contact with a region named

Meluhha, possibly the harappan region

The products mentioned in the texts:

Carnelian, Lapis Lazuli, copper, gold, varieties of wood

Evidence of such contacts also includes Harappan seals, weights,

dice, and beads

A Mesopotamian myth mentions a bird called the Haja-bird, which

might possibly be the Peacock

Bahrain:

The round Persian gulf seal found in Bahrain sometimes has harappan
motifs

Local “Dilmun” weights followed the harappan standard

It’s likely that contact with Oman, Mesopotamia, and Bahrain was through
sea:

Mesopotamian texts refer to Meluhha as a land of seafarers

Depictions of ships and boats have been found on seals

Describe the seals of Harappa

Seals were used to facilitate long-distance communication

Goods would be transported in containers or bags sealed with wet clay

and pressed with one or more seals

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 the seal would convey the identity of the sender

If the seal was intact, it means that the good had not been tampered with

Explain the script used in Harappa

The motifs might’ve conveyed a meaning to those who couldn’t read, as

scholars say

Most inscriptions were short, longest one being 26 sings

The script is still undeciphered till date, and is not alphabetical as it has
between 375 and 400 signs

It’s apparent that the script was right to left, as some seals show wider
spacing on the right, and cramping on the left (the engraver must’ve began
working from the right and then ran out of space)

Writing was found on a variety of objects → Seals, tablets, copper tools,

jar rims, jewellery, bone rods, and signboards

This might or might not indicate that literacy was widespread

Describe the weighing system of Harappa

Exchanges were done through a system of weights made from the stone
Chert and cubical in shape without any markings

Lower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32), while

larger denominations were decimal system (160, 200, 320)

Smaller weights might’ve been used for jewellery, and beads

Metal scale-pans have also been found

What evidence indicates existence of authority in Harappan society?

Extraordinary uniformity of harappan artefacts, like in pottery, seals,

weights, and bricks (which were of uniform ratios throughout regions)

Strategically set up urban centres, and mobilisation of labour for building

the platforms and walls

Did the Harappan society have any sorts of authority?

No archaeological evidence suggests that there was a centre of power

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 There was a building titled as a palace but spectacular finds were
associated with it

A stone statue was named priest king by archaeologists as archaeologists

were familiar with the priest kings of Mesopotamia, and found parallels in
both the regions

But the rituals of the harappan civilisation are still unknown, and there are
no means of knowing whether those who performed such rituals held
political power or not

Some archaeologists think that the harappans had no rulers, while others
feel that each urban centre might’ve had a separate ruler

But it’s argued that the harappan civilisation was a single state, due to the
similarity of artefacts, and evidence of planned cities, uniform brick size
ratio, and settlements near raw material sources

It’s possible that they followed a democratic system, as some structures

were created for utilitarian purposes

Explain the changes in harappan culture in its ending phases

By 1800 BCE, most mature Harappan sites had been abandoned

There was a simultaneous expansion of settlements in Gujarat, Haryana,

and western UP

In the few harappan sites occupied after 1900 BCE there was a
transformation of material culture, marked by the disappearance of
artefacts like weights, seals, beads, long distance trade, and craft
specialisation

Fewer materials were used to make fewer things

House building techniques deteriorated, and public structures weren’t

produced anymore

The settlements therefore shifted to a rural way of life, in the “Late

Harappan” or successor cultures

why did these changes occur?

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 Some explanations are climatic change, deforestation, excessive floods,
shifting/drying up of rivers, or overuse of landscape

Some of these might be true, but they don’t explain the collapse of the
entire civilisation

The unifying element of the Harappan state might’ve come to an end

This is evident through disappearance of seals, beads, pottery, shift from

standard weights to local weights, and decline and abandonment of cities

Explain the archaeogenetic research in Harappa

Archaeogenetic research has been done on the site Rakhigarhi (biggest

harappan city 550 hectares) located in the Hisar district of Haryana

DNA was extracted from the skeletal remains to study the genetic history
of the harappans

Their genetic roots go back to 10000 BCE

Due to trade and cultural contacts with distant regions the DNA is largely
continuous with little quantities of mixtures found

This rules out the possibility of any sort of immigration or invasion of the
so-called Aryans into the sub-continent

There is no breaking or discontinuity in genetic history of harappan people

In fact, as harappans moved towards Iran and central Asia, their genes
spread in those regions

Describe Cunningham’s excavations in the Indian-subcontinent

Cunningham was the first Director-General of the ASI(Archaeological

Survey of India) and was interested in the archaeology of early historic
periods (6th century BCE - 4th century BCE)

He used the accounts of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who had come to
the sub-continent between 4th and 7th century CE to locate early
settlements

He documented and translated early inscriptions, and recovered artefacts

he deemed had cultural value

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 When he recovered harappan artefacts, they wouldn’t fit with his
framework of investigation because the Chinese pilgrims didn’t visit
harappans

And so, he wouldn’t realise how old the harappan artefacts would be

He was given a harappan seal, but he unsuccessfully tried to place it in the

time-frame with which he was familiar

This is so, as he like many others thought that Indian history began in the
Ganga valley, and so he missed the significance of Harappa

How was Harappa discovered?

Archaeologists like Daya Ram Sahni in the early 20th century would find
harappan seals in the layers that were much older than the early historic
level

Rakhal Das Banerji also found similar seals at Mohenjo-daro, leading to the
notion that these sites were a part of a unified culture

On the basis of these finds, in 1924, John Marshall the Director-General of

ASI announced the discovery of a new civilisation in the Indus valley, to
the world

S.N Roy described in The Story of Indian Archaeology, that Marshall left
India 3000 years older than he had found her

This is so, as similar but unidentified seals were also found in

Mesopotamian sites, indicating that another civilisation existed which was
contemporaneous with Mesopotamia

Describe John Marshall’s contribution to the Indian Archaeology

He was the Direct General of the ASI in 1924, when he announced the
discovery of the Indus Valley civilisation

He was the first archaeologist in India, who had the experience of working
in Greece and Crete

He was also interested in spectacular finds, but also keen on exploring

patterns of daily life

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 He excavated along horizontal units, measured uniformly throughout the
mound, ignoring the stratigraphy of the site

all artefacts covered in the same unit were grouped together, even if they
were found at different stratigraphic layers, and this resulted in valuable
information being lost

Explain the contribution of R.E.M Wheeler to the discovery of harappan sites

R.E.M Wheeler became the Director-General of India in 1944

He recognised that stratigraphic layers should be followed instead of

uniform horizontal lines for excavation

Being an ex-army brigadier, he brought the military precision to

archaeology

What sites of the harappan civilisation have been found in India?

A survey in Kutch has revealed many harappan sites in Punjab, and

Haryana

Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Lothal, and Dholavira have been recently

discovered

What new issues have grown in the further exploration of Harappan sites?

Some archaeologists try to explore cultural sequences, others try to

understand the logic of location of specific sites

They also try to understand the wealth of the artefacts, and what purposes
they would’ve served

Modern scientific techniques are being used to explore clay, plant, stone,
and metal remains to form conclusions

How is the past understood?

the material evidence of the harappan sites is what allows archaeologists

to reconstruct harappan life

Eg: Ornaments, seals, pottery, tools, stone, burnt clay, metal

Such finds are often accidental rather than typical

How do archaeologists classify artefacts?

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 Archaeologists classify their finds on the basis of materials, like stone,
clay, bone, ivory, etc.

Or they classify them in terms of function, whether the artefact is a tool or

an ornament, or both, or something of ritual use

The function of an artefact is understood by comparing their resemblance

to present day things like blades, querns, pots, and stone blades

It is also determined by the context in which the artefact is found, whether

at home, in drains, in a grave, or in a kiln

Indirect evidence is also used sometimes → finding depictions on

sculpture to trace clothing patterns in Harappa

Developing frames of reference → Harappan seal wasn’t understood till

the time it was placed in a context, in a cultural sequence, and in
comparison to its finds in Mesopotamia

Explain the interpretations of religious practices in Harappa

Early archaeologists thought that unfamiliar or unusual objects had

religious significance:

Figurines:

Eg: Terracotta figurines of women who are heavily jewelled and

have elaborate head dresses → were called mother goddesses

Eg: Rare stone statuary of men in a standardised posture, seated

with one hand on the knee, like the Priest-king was similarly
classified

Structures also have religious significance → Eg: the Great Bath, and
Fire Altars around Kalibangan and Lothal

Seals:

Seals which depict rituals have been used to reconstruct religious

beliefs and practices

Some seals having plant motifs indicate nature worship

Some seals have animals depicted on them → One-horned

unicorn, which are mythical, composite creatures

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 Some seals have a figure seated cross-legged in a yogic posture,
sometimes surrounded by animals, called the depiction of “Proto-
Shiva” → earliest forms of one of the deities of hinduism

Reconstructions of harappan religion have been made using present

objects and traditions to trace older ones:

It is possible with objects, like stone querns, but it becomes speculative

when we come to religious symbols:

Eg: Proto-Shiva seals:

The Rigveda (earliest religious text compiled c.1500-1000 BCE)

mentions a god named Rudra (the name of Shiva in later Puranic
traditions

But the Rigveda doesn’t depict Rudra as a Pashupati (lord of animals),

nor as a yogi, as we see in the seal

It’s possible that It just may be a shaman as suggested by many

scholars

What is a linga?

Polished stone worshipped as a symbol of Shiva

What are Shamans?

Men and women who claim they have magical and healing powers, and
ability to communicate with the other world

What are mounds?

Constant use and reuse of landscape creates a build up of occupational

debris which is called Mound

What are stratigraphic layers?

Layers which differ in texture, colour, and artefacts that are found in them

The oldest ones are the most lowest, while the most recent ones are the
highest

Artefacts found in these layers are assigned a cultural period, and thus
create a cultural sequence of the site

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