NOTES – BRICKS,BEADS & BONES (HARAPPAN CIVILISATION)

NOTES OF CLASS-12 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART-1 CHAPTER-1 BRICKS,BEADS & BONES (HARAPPAN CIVILISATION)

Introduction
• Harappan Seal is the most distinctive artefact of Indus Valley Civilisation
made of Steatite
• Harappa was the site where the culture of civilization was found
• Harappan Civilisation in three phases, dates between 2600-1900 BCE

1.Early Harappan : Before 2600 BCE

2.Mature Harappan : 2600-1900 BCE

3.Late Harappan : After 1900 BCE
• Script has not been yet discovered
• Today spread across India, Pakistan & Afghanistan
• Important sites- Dholavira , Lothal , Kalibangan , Mohenjodaro etc.

SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES
• Ate plant & animal products , practiced agriculture, hunting & trade
• Dietary practices reconstructed from finds of charred grains , studied
by archaeo- botanists (specialist in ancient plant remains)
• Wheat , Barley, Lentil , Chickpea are found
• Domesticated animals (goat, buffalo etc.) , bones of animals & cattles
are found

AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES
• Finds of grains indicate the prevalence of Agriculture
• Bull was known , used for ploughing
• Terracotta models of plough found at Cholistan , Banawali
• Ploughed field evidence from Kalibangan
• Two different crops were grown as fields had two sets of furrows at right angles
• Traces of Canals from Shortughai in Afghanistan
• Water reservoirs found in Dholavira may have been used to store water for irrigation
*Saddle Quern also found for grinding cereals & pounding herbs

MOHENJODARO
• Largest site of IVC , present day in Pakistan
• Divided into two sections
• Settlement was first planned then implemented
• Baked bricks used in the ratio 1:2:4 (used almost in all settlements)

CITADEL LOWER TOWN

DOMESTIC STRUCTURE

• Lower town provides example of residential buildings
• Houses were centered on courtyard , with rooms on all sides
• People concerned of their privacy , no windows in the walls
• Some houses were second storey
• Houses had wells , about 700 wells found in Mohenjodaro

DRAINAGE SYSTEM

• Distinctive feature , carefully planned
• Roads & streets were laid out along grid pattern
• Seems streets with drains were laid out first & then
  houses built
• Every house had its own bathroom , connected with
  drains
  

TRACKING SOCIAL DIFFERENCES

• At burials in Harappa , dead were laid in pits
• Some graves contain pottery & ornaments (Jewellery found in burials of
men & women)
• Deads were buried with jasper beads & copper mirrors
• Artefacts of two types:

1.Utilitarian- of daily use , pottery , needles , querns etc.

2.Luxuries- Rare objects made from costly raw materials like faience pot
• Valuable artefacts (gold, perfume bottles , faience) are concentrated in
• Mohenjodaro & Harappa and nothing valuable has been found in small
settlements
• Hoards- objects kept by people inside containers such as pots

CRAFT PRODUCTION

• Chanhudaro devoted to craft production , bead making , seal & weight
making
• Stones – Carnelian & Crystal ; Metals- Bronze & Gold ; Terracotta
were used to make beads
• Some beads were made of two or more stones, with various shapes like
disc, cylindrical etc.
• Techniques of bead making differed according to material , steatite (soft
stone ) was used
• Drills found at – Lothal, Dholavira
• Shell making centres – Nageshwar & Balakot

IDENTIFYING CENTRES OF PRODUCTION

•Raw materials such as stone nodules & copper ore

•Unfinished objects

•Rejects & Waste material
*Waste material was best indicator of craft work

STRATEGIES FOR PROCURING RAW MATERIAL

• Stone, timber & metal had to be procured from outside
• River routes along Indus were used for procuring raw material
• Harappans established settlements near sources of raw material like
Nageshwar & Balakot
• Shortughai – Lapis Lazuli
• Lothal – Carnelian
• Khetri – Copper
• South – Gold

CONTACT WITH DISTANT LANDS
• Copper was brought from Oman – Archaeologists
• Both Omani copper & Harappan Artefacts have traces of nickel which
suggest a common origin
• Large Harapan jar has been found at Oman
• Mesopotamian texts mention contact with Harappa (Meluha) &
Oman (Magan) , Dilmun (Bahrain Island)
• Seals & weights suggest long distance trade

SEALS , SCRIPTS & WEIGHTS
• Seals & Sealings facilitated long distance communication
• Wet clay was fixed on the bags of goods sent from one place to other
, on which seals were pressed , intact seals meant the bag hasn’t
been tempered
• Conveyed the identity of owner , had a line of writing (probably name
& title)

ENIGMATIC SCRIPT
• Short inscriptions , longest had 26 signs
• Script was not alphabetical , had many signs around 375-400
• Script Undeciphered written from Right to left
• Literacy was widespread evident from the seals , tablets etc.

WEIGHTS
• Cubical stone weights called ‘chert’ were used for exchanges with no
markings
• Lower Denomination – 1, 2, 4 …12800
• Smaller weights used for weighing jewellery & beads
• Metal Scale pans were also in usage

ANCIENT AUTHORITY
• Palace identified by archaeologists & statue labelled as
priest king has been found
• Three theories :

1.Harappan society had no rulers , everybody was equal

2. No single but several rulers

3. Single state , artefacts were similar , planned settlements, standard brick ratio

END OF CIVILISATION
• Mature Harappan sites like Cholistan was abandoned by c. 1800 BCE
• Population from Cholistan moved to new settlements in Haryana &
Gujarat
• By 1900 BCE material culture was transformed , distinctive artefacts ,
trade , beads etc. got disappeared
• Construction techniques were deteriorated & large public structures
were not produced
• Later Harappan Culture indicated rural way of life
*Possible Reasons – Deforestation , Climate Change , floods ,
drying of river etc.

DISCOVERING HARAPPAN CIVILISATION

-CUNNIGHAM’S CONFUSION

• Alexander Cunningham (First DG of ASI ) , father of Indian
Archaeology , interest of study was in Early historic archaeology

• Used Chinese Buddhist pilgrim accounts to study harappan artefacts

• Couldn’t make out the age of artefacts & missed significance of
Harappa

-A NEW OLD CIVILISATION

1. Daya Ram Sahni – Harappan Seal

2. R.D Banerjee – Mohenjodaro

• In 1924 John Marshall (DG, ASI) announced discovery of IVC globally
*SN ROY – The Story of Indian Archaeology

• John Marshall was the first professional Archaeologist to work in India
had experience of working in Greece

• Excavated along regular horizontal units , ignored stratigraphy of site

• Information about different artefacts was lost

-NEW TECHNIQUES & QUESTIONS

1. R.E.M Wheeler (DG OF ASI ,1944) followed stratigraphy
2. Excavated many sites
3. Brought military precision (accuracy) to practice Archaeology
   • Today most Harappan Valley sites are in Pakistan
   • Since 1980s there is growing international interest in Harappan
   Archaeology now modern scientific methods are used

PROBLEMS OF PIECING TOGETHER PAST

-CLASSIFYING FINDS

1. In terms of Material- Stone , Clay , Metal etc.

2.In terms of Function- whether an artefact is a tool or ornament

3. Indirect evidences- studying sculptures (for cotton on depictions &
sculptures)

4. Where Found- House, Grave , Drain

5. Archaeologists have to develop frame of references of
time & place to study artefacts

-PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION
• Early Archaeologists classed unfamiliar objects found to have religious
significance
• Terracotta figurines of women , heavily jeweled were found along
with the priest king statuary
• Great Bath & fire altars found Kalibangan & Lothal
• Plant motifs on seals indicate nature worship
• Mythical creatures like Unicorn also depicted on seals
• Conical objects also found , classified as lingas

PROTO SHIVA SEAL
• Cross-legged seated figure in a yogic posture have been found on
some seals (Proto-Shiva seal)
• In Rigveda (1500-1000 BCE) Rudra is mentioned as a god which was
later used for Shiva
• But Rudra in Rigveda is neither depicted as Pashupati (lord of animals
) nor as yogi
• Seal depiction doesn’t match with the description of Rudra in Rigveda
• Some scholars says it to be a shaman(people who claim
magical powers and ability to communicate with the other world)