CHAPTER I
The HarappanCivilisation
1. WHAT ARE THE SOURCES AVAILABLE TO UNDERSTAND (OR) TO STUDY HARAPPAN
CIVILIZATION? Follow
a) The Harappan seal is possibly the most distinctive artifact of the Harappans or Indus
valley civilisation. Harappan seals contain animal and plant motifs and signs from a
LIST
script that remains undeciphered.
b) We know a great deal of sources which were left by the people, such as their houses, ► 2019 (6)
pots, ornaments, tools and seals – in other words, archaeological evidence.
► 2018 (4)
2. *WHY WAS INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATIONALSO CALLED THE HARAPPAN CULTURE? ► 2017 (1)
a. Archaeologists use the term “culture” for a group of objects,distinctive in style, that are usually ► 2015 (1)
found together within a specific geographical area and period of time. ► 2014 (5)
b. In the case of the Harappan culture, these distinctive objects include seals, beads, weights, stone
blades and baked bricks. ▼ 2013 (17)
c. These objects were found from areas as far apart as Afghanistan, Jammu, Baluchistan (Pakistan) ► December (3)
and Gujarat .
d. Harappan civilisation is dated between c. 2600 and1900 BCE. ► November (5)
► August (2)
3. S DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EARLY HARAPPAN CULTURES AND M
H CULTURES. ► July (1)
► June (2)
) Early and later Harappan cultures were associated with distinctive pottery, evidence of
agriculture and pastoralism, and some crafts. ► May (2)
b) In Early Harappan cultures Settlements were generally small, and there were virtually
no large buildings. But in Mature Harappan culture settlements were large and buildings ▼ April (2)
were also large. ▼ Apr 25 (2)
chapter-1 Indus valley Civilization
4. SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES (DIETARY PRACTICES) OF HARAPPAN CULTURES AND
MATURE HARAPPAN CULTURES Chapter-1 The French Revolution
a. The Harappans ate a wide range of plant products. Archaeologists have been able to
reconstruct dietary practices from finds of charred grains, seeds and bones.
b. These are studied by archaeo-botanists, who are specialists in ancient plant remains.
c. Food grains found at Harappan sites include wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame, ABOUT ME
Millets and rice. P.Suresh
d. The Harappans ate a wide range of animal products.Archaeologists have been able to
reconstruct use of animals from finds of charred animal bones found at Harappan sites. VKV Teacher from
These include those of cattle, sheep,goat, buffalo and pig. 1996 to 2003. DPS
e. These are studied by Archaeo-zoologists or zoo-Archaeologists who are specialists in Duliajan Teacher
ancient animal remains. from 2004 to till
f. Bones of wild species such as boar, deer and gharial were also found. We do not know date
whether the Harappans hunted these animals themselves orobtained meat from other
hunting (tribal) communities. View my complete
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C. Archaeologists have also found evidence of a ploughed field at Kalibangan
(Rajasthan).The field had two sets of furrows at right angles toeach other,
suggesting that two different cropswere grown together.
d. Archaeologists have also identified thetools used for harvesting. Harappans
used stone blades set in wooden handles and metal tools made of copper.
e. Most Harappan sites are located in semi-aridlands, where irrigation was probably
required foragriculture. Traces of canals, water reservoirs and wells have been
found at the Harappan sites indicate that agriculture was practiced.
f. Archaeologists have also found charred food grains which indicate prevalence of
agriculture.
a. The settlement is divided into two sections, one smaller but higher called as the Citadel
and the other much larger butlower called the Lower Town.
b. The Citadel owesits height to the fact that buildings were constructedon mud brick
platforms. It was walled and physically separated from theLower Town. We find
evidence of structures that were probably used for special public purposes.
B.CITADEL
c. The warehouse, a massive structure of which the lower brick portions remain, while
theupper portions, probably of wood, decayed long ago.
d. The Great Bath was a large rectangular tank in a courtyard surrounded by a corridor on
all four sides. There were two flights of steps on the north and south leading into the
tank. There were rooms on three sides, in one of which was a large well. Across a lane
to the north lay a smaller building with eight bathrooms, four on each side of a
corridor.Scholars suggest that it was meant for some kind of a special ritual bath.
C. LOWER TOWN
E. The Lower Town was also walled. Several buildingswere built on platforms, which
served as foundations.
F. Once the platforms were in place, all building activity within the city was restricted to a
fixed area on the platforms. So it seems that the settlement was first planned and then
built accordingly.
D.DRAINAGE SYSTEM
G. One of the most distinctive features of Harappan cities was the carefully planned
drainage system. If you look at the plan of the Lower Town you will noticethat roads and
streets were laid out along an approximate “grid” pattern, intersecting at right angles.
H. It seems that streets with drains were laidout first and then houses were built along
them.
E.DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE
I. The Lower Town at Mohenjodaro provides examples of residential buildings. Many
were centred on a courtyard, with rooms on all sides. The courtyardwas probably the
centre of activities such as cooking and weaving, particularly during hot and dry
weather. People were more concern for privacy: there are no windows in thewalls along
the ground level. Besides, the mainentrance does not give a direct view of the interioror
the courtyard.
J. Every house had its own bathroom paved withbricks, with drains connected through the
wall tothe street drains. Some houses have remains of stair cases to reach a second
storey or the roof. Many houses had wells, often in a room that could be reached from
the outside and perhaps used by passers-by.
a. At burials in Harappan sites the dead weregenerally laid in pits. Sometimes, there
weredifferences in the way the burial pit was made – insome instances; the hollowed-
out spaces were linedwith bricks. These variations are an indicationof social
differences.
b. Some graves contain pottery and ornaments,perhaps indicating a belief that these could
be used in the afterlife. Jewellery has been found in burialsof both men and women.
e. Archaeologists assume luxuries objects are rare and made from costly, non-local
materials or with complicated technologies such as little pots of faience, beads, micro
beads etc were probably consideredprecious because they were difficult to make.Rare
objects made of valuable materialsare generally concentrated in large settlements like
Mohenjodaro and Harappa
a. In order to identify centres of craft production, archaeologists usually look for the
following: raw material such as stone nodules, whole shells, and copperore etc.
b. Archaeologists also lookfor tools which were used for making crafts.
c. Archaeologists lookfor unfinished objects, rejects and waste material. Waste isone of the
best indicatorsof craft work. Sometimes, larger waste pieces were used up tomake
smaller objects.
d. These traces suggestthat apart from small, specializedcenters, craftproduction was also
undertaken in large cities such as Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
Transportation:
a. Terracotta toy models of bullock carts suggest that this was one important means of
transporting goods and people across land routes.
b. Depictions of shipsand boats on seals suggest that Riverine routes along the Indus and
its tributaries, as well as coastal routes were also probably used for transporting goods
and people.
a. The Harappans procured materials for craftproduction in various ways. For instance,
theyestablished settlements where raw material was available.(Nageshwar andBalakot-
shell, Shortughai- lapis lazuli, a blue stone, Lothal- carnelian, steatite and metal-
Rajasthan and Gujarat)
b. Another strategy for procuring raw materials mayhave been to send expeditions to
areas such as the Khetri region of Rajasthan (for copper) and southIndia (for gold).
These expeditions establishedcommunication with local communities.
c. Occasional finds of Harappan artefacts such as steatite micro beads in the Khetri area
indicates that the inhabitants of Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture supplied copper to the
Harappans according to the aggrement.
(What is Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture?-In the Khetri area archaeologists found a
new culture and call it as the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture. Here they found
distinctive non-Harappan pottery and an unusual wealth of copper objects. It is
possiblethat the inhabitants of this region supplied copper to the Harappans).
STRATEGIES FOR PROCURINGMATERIALS FROM DISTANT LANDS
a. Recent archaeological finds suggest that copper wasalso probably brought from Oman,
on the southeasterntip of the Arabian Peninsula. Chemicalanalyses have shown that
both the Omani copper and Harappan copper artifacts have traces of nickel.
b. A distinctive type of vessel, a large Harappan jar coated with a thick layer of blackclay
has been found at Omani sites. Itis possible that the Harappans exchanged the
contents of these vessels for Omani copper.
c. Mesopotamian texts datable to the thirdmillennium BCE refer to copper coming from a
region called Magan, perhaps a name forOman, and interestingly enough copper found
Mesopotamian sites alsocontains traces of nickel.
d. It is worth notingthat Mesopotamian textsmention contact with regions named
Dilmun(Bahrain), Magan and Meluhha (the Harappan region).They mention the
products from Meluhha: carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and varieties of wood.
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8/5/2019 Notes And Assignment for History IX, XI and XII: chapter-1 Indus valley Civilization
e. A Mesopotamian myth says of Meluhha: “May your bird be the haja-bird, may its call be
heard inthe royal palace.” Some archaeologists think the haja-bird was the peacock.
f. Mesopotamian texts refer to Meluhha (the Harappan region) as aland of seafarers.
Besides,we find depictions of shipsand boats on seals.
HARAPPAN SEALS
a. Seals and sealings were used to facilitate longdistancecommunication. Imagine a bag of
goodsbeing sent from one place to another. Its mouth wastied with rope and on the knot
was affixed some wetclay on which one or more seals were pressed,leaving an
impression.
b. If the bag reached withits sealing intact, it meant that it had not beentampered with. The
sealing also conveyed the identityof the sender.
c. Harappan seals usually have a line of writing and animal midifs. Scholars have also
suggested that the motif(generally an animal) conveyed a meaning to thosewho could
not read.
HARAPPANSCRIPT
a. Harappan seals usually have a line of writing. Most inscriptions are short, the longest
containing about 26 signs. Although the script remains undeciphered to date, it was
evidently notalphabetical but syllable.It has just too many signs –somewhere between
375 and 400.
b. It is apparent that the script was written from right to left as some seals show a wider
spacing on the right and crampingon the left, as if the engraver began working fromthe
right and then ran out of space.
c. A variety of objects on which writinghas been found: seals, copper tools, rims of
jars,copper and terracotta tablets, jewellery, bone rods, even an ancient signboard.
Remember, there mayhave been writing on perishable materials too such as cloth,
animal skin etc.
HARAPPANWEIGHTS
a. Exchanges were regulated by a precise system ofweights, usually made of a stone
called chert and generally cubical with no markings.
b. Thelower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4,8, 16, 32, etc). while the
higherdenominations followed the decimal system. Thesmaller weights were probably
used for weighing jewellery and beads and bigger weights were used for food grains.
c. Metal scale-pans have alsobeen found. These were probably used for measuring cloth
and other materials.
Ruling Authority in indus valley civilisation
(What are indications prove that complex decisions were taken and implemented
in Harappan society by the ruler?)
a. There is evidence that by c. 1800 BCE most of the Mature Harappan sites had been
abandoned. Simultaneously, there wasan expansion of population into newsettlements
in Gujarat, Haryana andwestern Uttar Pradesh.
b. Distinctive artefacts of the civilisation- weights, seals, special beads, Writing, long-
distance trade, andcraft specialization disappeared after 1800 BCE.Houseconstruction
techniques deterioratedand large public structures were nolonger produced.
c. Overall disappearence of artefacts and settlements indicates a rural wayof life in what is
called Vedic culture or vedic civilisation began.
d. Several explanations havebeen put forward. These range fromclimatic change,
deforestation,excessive floods, the shifting and/or drying up ofrivers, to overuse of the
landscape.
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e. Some of these“causes” may hold for certain settlements, but theydo not explain the
collapse of the entire civilisation.It appears that a strong unifying element, perhaps the
Harappan state, came to an end.
a. Deadman Lane is a narrow valley wherepart of a skull, the bones of the thorax andupper arm of an
adult were discovered.Allwerein very friable condition, at a depth of4 ft 2 in. The body lay on its back
diagonally across the lane. Fifteen inches to thewest were a few fragments of a tiny skull. It is to these
remains that the lane owesits name.
b. Sixteen skeletons of people with the ornaments that they were wearing when theydied were found
from the same part of Mohenjodaro in 1925.
c. R.E.M. Wheeler, then Director-General of the ASI, tried tocorrelate this archaeological evidence with
that of the Rigveda, the earliest known text in the subcontinent.
d. There is no destruction level covering the latest period of the city Mohenjodaro, no sign of extensive
burning, no bodies of warriors clad in armour and surrounded by the weapons of war. The citadel, the
only fortified part of the city,yielded no evidence of a final defence.
a. Cunningham’s confusion
Harappan artefacts were found fairly often duringthe nineteenth century and some of
these reachedCunningham, he did not realise how old these were. A Harappan seal
was given to Cunningham by anEnglishman. He noted the object, but
unsuccessfullytried to place it within the time-frame of c. sixth century BCE-fourth century
CE.It is not surprising that he missedthe significance of Harappa.
R.E.M. Wheeler, took over as Director-General of the ASI in 1944, who rectified many
problems. Wheeler recognised that it was necessaryto follow the stratigraphy of the
mound ratherthan dig mechanically along uniform horizontallines. Moreover, as an ex-
army brigadier, he broughtwith him a military precision to the practiceof archaeology.
However, with the partition of thesubcontinent and the creation of Pakistan, the
majorsites are now in Pakistani territory. This has spurredIndian archaeologists to try
and locate sites in India.
Seals were discovered at Harappa by archaeologists such as Daya Ram Sahni in the
early
decades of the twentieth century, in layers that weredefinitely much older than Early
Historic levels. Itwas then that their significance began to be realised.
Another archaeologist, Rakhal Das Banerji found similar seals at Mohenjodaro, leading
to the
conjecture that these sites were part of a single archaeological culture. Based on these
finds, in 1924,John Marshall, Director-General of the ASI,announced the discovery of a
new civilisation in the Indus valley to the world.
f. S.N. Roy
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8/5/2019 Notes And Assignment for History IX, XI and XII: chapter-1 Indus valley Civilization
As S.N. Roy noted inThe Story of Indian Archaeology, “Marshall left Indiathree thousand
years older than he had found her.”This was because similar, till-then-unidentifiedseals
were found at excavations at Mesopotamiansites. It was then that the world knew not
only of anewcivilisation, but also of one contemporaneouswith Mesopotamia.
Since the 1980s, there has also been growing international interest in Harappan
archaeology.
Specialists from the subcontinent and abroad havebeen jointly working at both Harappa
and Mohenjodaro. They are using modern scientifictechniques including surface
exploration to recovertraces of clay, stone, metal and plant and animalremains as well
as to minutely analyse every scrap of available evidence. These explorations promise
toyield interesting results in the future.
HarappanCulture.
2
6. Explain any five evidences to understand the prevalence of agriculture in
Harappan civilization? 5
7. List the items of food (plant and animal) available to people in Harappan cities?
8. How do we reconstruct the dietary practices and domestication of animals in
Harappancivilization?
5
9. Explain any five unique and distinctive features of Mohenjodaro
city. 5
10. How does drainage system of Harappan cities indicate town planning?
2
11. Explain any five features of domestic architecture of Mohenjodaro
city. 5
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8/5/2019 Notes And Assignment for History IX, XI and XII: chapter-1 Indus valley Civilization
12. How do archaeologists trace socio- economic differences in Harappan society?
specialized
centers.
5
15. Write short notes on Seals, script and weights of Harappan
civilization. 5
16. Explain the opinions of archaeologists regarding ruling authority (political system)
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