The Harappan Civilisation
● The Harappan seal is possibly the most distinctive artefact of the Harappan or Indus valley civilisation.
● The Indus valley civilisation is also called as the Harappan culture.
● Archaeologists use the term ‘culture’ for a group of objects that are distinctive in style and are usually found together within a specific geographical area and period of time.
● The civilisation got its name from Harappa, which was the first site to be excavated. It was dated between c 2600 and 1900 BCE.
● The Harappan civilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from other cultures.
Beginnings of Harappan Civilisation
● There were several archaeological cultures in the region prior to the Mature Harappan.
● These culture were associated with distinctive pottery, evidence of agriculture and pastoralism and some crafts.
Subsistence Strategies of Harappan Civilisation
● These cultures shared certain common elements including subsistence strategies.
● The Harappans ate a wide range of plant and animal products, including fish.
● Grains found at Harappan sites include wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and sesame.
● Millets are found from sites in Gujarat. Evidence of rice are rare found.
● Animal bones found at Harappan sites include those of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pig.
● Bones of wild species such as boar, deer and
gharial are also found.
Agricultural Technologies
● Terracotta models of the plough have been found at sites in Cholistan and at Banawali (Haryana).
● Most Harappan sites are located in semi-arid lands, where irrigation was probably required for agriculture.
● Traces of canals in Shortughai (Afghanistan) and water reservoirs in Dholavira (Gujarat) were found.
Mohenjodaro : A Planned Urban Centre
● The most unique feature of the Harappan civilisation was the development of urban centres.
● The Mohenjodaro settlement is divided into two sections, citadel (smaller but higher settlement) and lower town (larger but lower settlement).
● Citadel was walled. The buildings were constructed on mud brick platforms.
● The Lower Town was also walled. Several buildings were built on platforms, which served as foundations.
● Other signs of planning include bricks, which were either sun dried or baked. It was of standardised ratio.
Drainage System
● One of the most distinctive feature of Harappan cities was the carefully planned drainage system.
● Roads and streets were laid out in grid pattern, intersecting at right angles.
● Streets with drains were built first and then houses were built along them.
Domestic Architecture
● The Lower Town at Mohenjodaro provides examples of residential buildings.
● The courtyard was probably the centre of activities such as cooking and weaving, particularly during hot and dry weather.
● Every house had its own bathroom, some had wells also.
The Citadel
● There are structures in citadel that were probably used for special public purposes.
● The Great Bath was a large rectangular tank in a courtyard surrounded by a corridor on all four sides.
● The Great Bath meant for some kind of a special ritual bath.
Tracking Social Differences : Burials
● At burials in Harappan sites the dead were
generally laid in pits.
● Some graves contain pottery and ornaments. In some instances the dead were buried with copper mirrors. Precious things were not found with the dead, it seems that Harappans did not believe in burying precious things with the dead.
Artefacts
● To identify social differences archaeologists study artefacts and broadly classify them as utilitarian and luxuries.
● Utilitarian includes objects of daily use that were made of stone or clay.
● Objects were considered luxuries if they were rare or made from costly, non-local materials or with complicated technologies.
Art and Craft Production
● A variety of materials were used to make beads such as stones like carnelian jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite; metals like copper, bronze and gold and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt clay.
● Techniques for making beads differed according to the material.
● Nageshwar and Balakot were specialised centres for making shell objects.
Identifying Centres of Production
● In order to identify centres of craft production, archaeologists usually look for raw material such as stone nodules, whole shells, copper ore, tools, unfinished objects, rejects and waste material.
Strategies for Procuring Materials
● A variety of materials were used for craft production.
● While some materials such as clay were locally available, many materials such as stone, timber and metal had to be procured from outside the alluvial plain.
Materials from the Sub-continent and Beyond
● Harappans procured materials for craft production in various ways.
● For procuring raw materials they send expeditions to areas such as the Khetri region of Rajasthan (for copper) and South India (for gold).
Contact with Distant Lands.
● Archaeological evidences found at the ancient sites suggested about the contact of Harappans with other contemporary civilisations.
● Archaeological finds suggest that copper was probably brought from Oman, on the South- Eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula.
● A distinctive type of vessel, a large Harappan jar coated with a thick layer of black clay has been found at Omani sites.
Seals, Script, Weights Seals and Sealings
● Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long distance communication. The sealings conveyed the identity of the sender.
Script
● Harappan seals usually have a line of writing and probably containing the name title of the owner.
● Most inscriptions are short and the longest contained about 26 signs.
● The script remains undeciphered but it has signs between 375 and 400. The script was written from right to left.
Weights
● Exchanges were regulated by a precise system of weights, usually made of a cubical stone called chert.
Ancient Authority
● Complex decisions were taken and implemented in Harappan society.
● Settlements were strategically set-up in specific locations for various reasons.
Palaces and Kings.
● A large building found at Mohenjodaro was labelled as a palace by archaeologists but no magnificent findings marked it as a palace.
● A stone statue was labelled and continues to be known as the priest-king.
● Some archaeologists are of the opinion that Harappan society had no rulers and everybody enjoyed equal status.
The End of the Civilisation
● By c. 1800 BCE most of the mature Harappan sites in regions such as Cholistan had become uninhabited.
● After 1900 BC, there was a marked change in material culture with the disappearance of the artefacts of the civilisation like weights, seals and special beads.
● Several explanation have been put forward about the reasons for the end of civilisation like climate change, deforestration, excessive floods, over use of landscape, etc. But they do not explain the collapse of the entire civilisation.
Discovering the Harappan Civilisation
Many archaeologists have discovered several aspects of the Harappan civilisation
Alexander Cunningham.
● Cunningham, was the first Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). He began archaeological excavations in the mid-19th century.
● Cunningham’s main interest was in the archaeology of the early historic (c. 6th century BCE-4th century CE) and later periods.
● When he received a Harappan seal found by an Englishman, he unsuccessfully tried to place it in the time frame between 4th and 7th centuries CE, which caused confusion in his mind. Thus, he missed the significance of Harappa..
A New Old Civilisation
● Seals were discovered at Harappa by archaeologists such as Daya Ram Sahni in the early decades of the 20th century.
● Rakhal Das Banerji found similar seals at Mohenjodaro.
● In 1924, John Marshall, Director-General of the ASI, announced the discovery of a new civilisation to the world in the form of Indus valley.
● John Marshall’s period as Director-General of the ASI marked a major change in Indian archaeology. He was the first professional archaeologist to work in India and brought his experience of working in Greece and Crete to the field.
New Techniques and Questions
● In 1944, REM Wheeler as Director-General of the ASI, emphasised the need to follow the stratigraphy of mound rather than to dig mechanically along uniform horizontal line. He rectified the previous problems faced by the archaeologists.
Problems of Piecing Together the Past Classifying Finds.
Archaeologists classified their findings by following two principles
(i) One is in terms of material, such as stone clay, metal, bone, ivory, etc.
(ii) The second 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.
Problems of Interpretation
● Reconstructing religious practices was a problematic issue for archaeologists. Every archaeologist thought that certain objects which seemed unusual or unfamiliar had religious significance.
● These objects included terracotta figurines of women, heavily jewelled, some with elaborate head-dresses. These were regarded as mother goddesses
● 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-Shiva.
● The earliest religious text, the Rigveda (compiled c.1500-1000 BCE) mentions a god named Rudra,which is a name used for Shiva in later Puranic traditions.
