Harrapan seal
This is the most distinctive artefact along with enigmatic designs. It's made up of stone called steatite. Seals contain symbols,animal motif's and signs with meanings, with different perspective views.
The Indus valley civilisation
The Harappan civilisation also known as Indus valley civilisation. This civilisation is dated between BCE 2600and 1900BCE .It is the oldest civilisation of India.
Beginning
This culture associated with distinctive pottery evidence of agriculture and domestication of animals, they lived in very small settlements.
Subsistence strategies
Archaeologists found that Harappan ate wide range of animal and plant products including fish. They also found dietary practices from finds of charred grains and seeds,these are studied by archaeo-botanists .
Grains are found at Harappan sites like Millet's, wheat,barley ,found in sites of Gujarat.
Animals bones found include those of cattle's like pig ,cow,Buffalo, goat. These are studied by archaeo-zoologist . This also shows that Harappan domesticated animals ,Bones of wild species are also found like gharials ,boar,deer . Archaeologists couldn't identify whether its hunted
Agricultural Technologies
* As archaeologists found charred grains and seeds, which indicates agricultural practices. It is more difficult to reconstruct actual agricultural practices.
* Bull were represented on seals and terracotta sculpture through which bull was known. Archaeologists also found that open were used for ploughing .
* They also found terracotta models at sites in Cholistan and at Banawali (Haryana) ,they also found evidence of plough field at kalibangan (Rajasthan) .Field's had two furrow's at right angles to each other, suggest that two crops were grown together .
* Most of the Harappan sites were located at semi-arid regions or lands ,for this irrigation was required . Traces of canals have been found at site of Shortughai in Afghanistan ,not in Punjab or sind .
*According to them canals settled up long ago . It is also assumed that water drawn from wells was used for irrigation and other agricultural uses . Reservoirs found in Dholavira (Gujarat).
Mohenjodaro A planed Urban Centre
Unique features of the Harappan Civilisation was the development of urban centre . The settlement was divided into following section:-
I)Citadel- It was smaller but higher. It was walled and was physically separated from the lower town .Here the buildings were constructed with mud,bricks platform . Here we find some structures that were probably used for social public purposes.
These include the warehouse -which was a massive structure ,where the lower portion was made of brick and upper of wood which decayed long ago.
2) Great Bath
*Large rectangular tank in courtyard ,surrounded by a corridor with all four side .
*There were two flights of step on the north and south leading on the tank .
*Bricks was laid on the edge using a mortar of gypsum to make it watertight. It also contained rooms on three sides in which there was a large well.
*To the North a smaller building with eight bathrooms four on each side of corridor with drain attached that ran along the corridor.
This great bath was meant for special purposes in special occasions.
3)Lower town - The lower town was also walked .Several buildings were built on platforms ,which served as foundations .This provides examples of residential buildings .
* These were centred at courtyard ,with rooms on all sides ,the courtyard was basically meant for cooking and weaving ,particularly during hot and dry season.
*Privacy was well maintained ,there were no windows in the walls along the ground level. The main entrance does not give a direct view to the interior part.
* Every house had its own bathroom with drains connected to the street drains .Many houses had wells.
4) Drainage system- Mohenjodaro had carefully planned drainage system .The roads and streets were laid out along an approximate grids pattern ,intersecting at right angles . Every house had its own bathroom paved with bricks,with drains connected to the street drains . It seems like streets with drains .
Tracking Social differences
These include study of burials. Where dead were generally laid in pits .There were also few differences made in some instances,the hollowed out spaces were lined with bricks.
Some of the graves contain pottery,ornaments, which literally meant that could be used after life.
Jewelry has been found in both men and women burials. In mid-1980s ,ornament consisting of three shell rings ,a jasper ,bead and hundreds of micro beads was found near skull of male . Where as Harappans didn't believe in burying precious things .
Another strategy to identify social differences is by study of artefacts ,as Utilitarian and Luxurious.
Utilitarian - in this category objects of daily use made up of ordinary materials like stone and clay . These include needles, querns, pottery ,are usually distributed or found throughout the settlements.
Whereas luxurious include the objects which are rare or made from costly ,non-local materials or with complicated technologies .
Examples- little pot of Faience, considered precious .
The distribution of such artefacts ,we find that rare object are usually found or concentrated on larger settlement like Mohenjodaro or Harappa.
Craft production
Harappan knew the art of making beautiful sculptures ,toys, pottery, ornaments etc, Chanhudaro was a tiny settlement exclusively devoted to craft production ,including bead making,shell cutting ,metal working ,seal making and weight making.
Grinding ,polishing and drilling were done for making beads.
Nageshwar and Balakot were specialized centres for making shell objects as both these settlements are near the coast. Apart from smaller settlement ,larger cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa were also the specialized centres for craft production.
The shapes were - disc - shaped ,cylindrical, spherical, barrel - shaped _segmented etc.
Techniques for making beads differed according to the material. Steatite ,a very soft stone was easily worked . Some beads were moulded . This permitted making a variety of shapes.
The red colour of carnelian was obtained by firing the yellowish raw material and beads at various stages of production .
Identifying centres of production:-
In order to identify centres of craft production ,archaeologists usually look for raw materials such as stone nodules ,whole shells,unfinished objects ,rejects and wages .
Acquiring materials for craft production .
The harappans produced materials for craft production in various ways . They established settlement where raw materials were available.
Another strategy for procuring raw materials may have been to send expeditions to areas where raw materials are available, eg, Khetri region for copper and south India for gold.
The Harappan made contact with distant lands like Oman for procuring copper. The Harappan seals,wrights dice and beads were found in other countries ,Oman ,Bahamian and Mesopotamia .
Seals,Script and Weight :-
Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long distance communication . If the bag of goods reached with its sealing intact ,it meant that it had not been tampered with seals also conveyed the identity of the sender.
The Harappan script remains undeciphered to date. The script was not alphabetical and had many signs between 375 and 400.
Exchange were regulated by precise system of weight's ,usually made of a stone called chert with no marking. The lower denomination of weights were binary and higher denominations followed the decimal systems.
Ancient Authority :-
A stone statue was labelled and
continues to be known as the “priest-king”. This is
because archaeologists were familiar with
Mesopotamian history and its “priest-kings” and have
found parallels in the Indus region. Some archaeologists opine that Harappan society had no rulers and that everybody enjoyed equal status .
Other scholars have the opinion that there was no single ruler but several. Mohenjodaro had a separate ruler ,Harappans had another. In the same way,other regions had different rulers.
Some scholars also argued that there was a single state given the similarity in artefacts, the evidence for planned settlements, the standardised ratio of brick size and the establishments near source of raw material.
Of all, the last theory seems to be the most plausible as it is unlikely that entire communities could have collectively made and implemented such complex decisions.
The End of the civilisation :-
There is a strong evidence that by 1800BCE,most of the mature Harappan sites in regions like Cholistan had been abandoned. Simultaneously ,there was a growth of settlement in Gujarat, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh. At that time ,distinctive artefacts of civilisation like weights ,seals,special beads,writing ,long - distance trade and craft specialisation disappeared. House construction techniques deteriorated and large public structure were not produced.
A variety of explanations were given by scholars to explain the decline of Harappan civilisation .
These reasons are:-
1)Climatic change
2)Deforestation
3)Excessive floods
4)Shifting and drying up of rivers
5)overuse of the landscape
Some of these reasons may be holding true for certain settlements ,but they do not account for the collapse of the entire civilisation.
No single reason was responsible for the decline of the civilisation. The civilisation might be destroyed by invaders which was proved by the bulk of bones found. It indicated a slaughtered. But the skeleton's found Didi not belong to the same period according to George Dales. Thus,it was not concluded in favour of a dramatic collapse,rather it was believed that the end if Harappan culture was a gradual process.
Cunningham confusion
Cunningham, the first Director-General of the ASI.
Alexdonr Cunningham thought that Indian history began in around 500BCE,with the establishment of the cities in the gangs valley. Cunni main interest was in the archaeology of the Early Historic and later periods. He used the accounts left by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who had visited the subcontinent between the fourth and seventh centruies. CE to locate early settlements. However ,when harappan site began to unearthed and material remains began to be discovered ,a Harappan seal was given to Cunningham by and English man ,he looked carefully to it ,Did not have any idea about how old these were and failed to place it within the time frame. This was because he like many others thought that Indian history began with the
first cities in the Ganga valley.
A new old civilisation:-
The two discoveries in selas in Harappa and Mohenjodaro by Daya Ram Sahani and Rakhal Days Banerji led to the conjecture that these two sites were part of a single archaeological culture. Based on these finds,in 1924, John Marshall ,Director General of the ASI announced the discovery if a new civilisation in the Indus valley to a new world. Similar seals were also found in the excavation sites of mesopotamia .
Sir John Marshall's term as the director General of ASI was actually a term of major change in Indian archaelogy. He was the first professional archaeologists who worked in India. He brought with himself his experience of Greece and Crete.
John Marshall tended to excavate along regular horizontal units ,measured unit firmly throughout the mound, ignoring the stratigraphy of the site and this was the means all the artefacts, found from the same unit ,were grouped together ,even if they are found at different stratigraphic layers. As a result ,valuable information found about the civilisation.
New Techniques and questions:-
R.E.M Wheeler was a British archaelogist. e
was an officer in the British Army. He was the founder of the institute of archaeology in London band took up the post of Honorary Director in the institute. He was appointed as a Director of National Museum of Wales and London museum.
He was appointed as Director General of the Archaeological Survey if India during 1944. It was during this tenure he under took the excavations of various sites like Arikamedu ,Brahmagiri and Harappa.
Wheeler had a huge interest in the history if the Bronze age Indus valley civilisation. During his initial period of inspection of the Indus vHaHarappans of Mohenjodaro and Harappan ,he undertook excavation which confirmed fortification on both settlememts. During his extensive excavation at the site of Harappan ,he revealed more such fortification. RM Wheeler recognised the necessity of digging by following the stratigraphy rather than digging mechanically along uniform horizontal line.
Classifying finds :-
When it comes to understanding Harappan Civilization archaeologist have to use material evidences because till now the script has not been deciphered.
The finds are classified according to their material, that is what it is made out of for example bones, clay, ivory, stones, or metal etc .It is classified on the level of its functions . Here archaeologists have to decide whether, for instance, an artefact is a tool or an ornament, or both, or something meant for ritual use.
Here are the ways in which archaeologist classify the finds according to their function:-
1. By how they resembles present day objects, for example beads, querns, stone blades and pots are few example.
2. Context in which it was found, for example was it found in a house, in a drain, in a grave, in a kiln etc.
3. Recourse to indirect evidence - For instance, though there are traces of cotton at some Harappan sites, to find out about clothing we have to depend on indirect evidence including depictions in sculpture.
4. Developing frames of reference - We have seen that the first Harappan seal that was found could not be understood till archaeologists had a context in which to place it - both in terms of the cultural sequence in which it was found, and in terms of a comparison with finds in Mesopotamia.
Problem of interpretation:-
Early archaeologist thought that certain objects which seemed unusual or unfamiliar may have had a religious significance.
These included terracotta figurines of women, heavily jewelled, some with elaborate head - dresses. These were regarded as mother goddesses. stone statuary of men in an almost standardised posture, seated with one hand on the knee – such as the “priest -king”.
Some animals such as the one horned animals ,often called the unicorn ,depicted on seals seem to be mythical.
Some of the seals ,a figure shown seated criss - legged in a 'yogic' postures ,has been regarded as Lord Shiva.
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