The Indus Civilization Read online

  To the memory of Margaret M. Pugh

  who helped me get this far

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  Copyright © 2002 by AltaMira Press

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  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Possehl, Gregory L.

  The indus civilization: a contemporary perspective / Gregory L. Possehl.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  9780759116429

  1. Indus civilization. I. Title.

  DS425.P64 2003

  934—dc21

  2002001960

  Printed in the United States of America

  ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48—1992.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Table of Figures

  List of Tables

  Preface

  CHAPTER 1 - Ancient Indian Civilization

  CHAPTER 2 - The Beginnings of the Indus Age

  CHAPTER 3 - The Indus Civilization

  CHAPTER 4 - The Technology of the Indus Age

  CHAPTER 5 - The Architecture of the Indus Age

  CHAPTER 6 - The Art of the Indus Civilization

  CHAPTER 7 - The Indus Script

  CHAPTER 8 - Indus Religion

  CHAPTER 9 - Burial Customs and Biological Diversity of the Peoples of the Indus Civilization

  CHAPTER 10 - Gender and the Indus Age

  CHAPTER 11 - Mohenjo-daro

  CHAPTER 12 - The Middle Asian Interaction Sphere

  CHAPTER 13 - The Transformation of the Indus Civilization

  CHAPTER 14 - The Indus Civilization: An Overview

  References

  Index

  About the Author

  Table of Figures

  Figure 1.1

  Figure 1.2

  Figure 1.3

  Figure 1.4

  Figure 1.5

  Figure 1.6

  Figure 1.7

  Figure 1.8

  Figure 1.9

  Figure 1.10

  Figure 1.11

  Figure 1.12

  Figure 1.13

  Figure 1.14

  Figure 2.1

  Figure 2.2

  Figure 2.3

  Figure 2.4

  Figure 2.5

  Figure 2.6

  Figure 2.7

  Figure 2.8

  Figure 2.9

  Figure 2.10

  Figure 2.11

  Figure 2.12

  Figure 2.13

  Figure 2.14

  Figure 2.15

  Figure 2.16

  Figure 2.17

  Figure 2.18

  Figure 2.19

  Figure 2.20

  Figure 3.1

  Figure 3.2

  Figure 3.3

  Figure 3.4

  Figure 3.5

  Figure 3.6

  Figure 3.7

  Figure 3.8

  Figure 3.9

  Figure 3.10

  Figure 3.11

  Figure 3.12

  Figure 3.13

  Figure 3.14

  Figure 3.15

  Figure 3.16

  Figure 3.17

  Figure 3.18

  Figure 3.19

  Figure 3.20

  Figure 3.21

  Figure 3.22

  Figure 3.23

  Figure 3.24

  Figure 3.25

  Figure 3.26

  Figure 4.1

  Figure 4.2

  Figure 4.3

  Figure 4.4

  Figure 4.5

  Figure 4.6

  Figure 5.1

  Figure 5.2

  Figure 5.3

  Figure 5.4

  Figure 5.5

  Figure 5.6

  Figure 5.7

  Figure 6.1

  Figure 6.2

  Figure 6.3

  Figure 6.4

  Figure 6.5

  Figure 6.6

  Figure 6.7

  Figure 6.8

  Figure 6.9

  Figure 6.10

  Figure 6.11

  Figure 6.12

  Figure 6.13

  Figure 6.14

  Figure 6.15

  Figure 6.17

  Figure 6.16

  Figure 6.18

  Figure 6.19

  Figure 6.20

  Figure 6.21

  Figure 7.1

  Figure 7.2

  Figure 7.3

  Figure 7.4

  Figure 7.5

  Figure 7.6

  Figure 8.1

  Figure 8.2

  Figure 8.3

  Figure 8.4

  Figure 8.5

  Figure 8.6

  Figure 8.7

  Figure 8.8

  Figure 8.9

  Figure 8.10

  Figure 8.11

  Figure 9.1

  Figure 9.2

  Figure 9.3

  Figure 9.4

  Figure 9.5

  Figure 9.6

  Figure 9.7

  Figure 9.8

  Figure 9.9

  Figure 9.10

  Figure 9.11

  Figure 10.1

  Figure 10.2

  Figure 10.3

  Figure 10.4

  Figure 10.5

  Figure 10.6

  Figure 10.7

  Figure 10.8

  Figure 10.9

  Figure 10.10

  Figure 11.1

  Figure 11.2

  Figure 11.3

  Figure 11.4

  Figure 11.5

  Figure 11.6

  Figure 11.7

  Figure 11.8

  Figure 11.9

  Figure 11.10

  Figure 11.11

  Figure 11.12

  Figure 11.13

  Figure 11.14

  Figure 11.15

  Figure 11.16

  Figure 11.17

  Figure 11.18

  Figure 11.19

  Figure 11.20

  Figure 11.21

  Figure 12.1

  Figure 12.2

  Figure 12.3

  Figure 12.4

  Figure 12.5

  Figure 12.6

  Figure 12.7

  Figure 12.8

  Figure 12.9

  Figure 12.10

  Figure 12.11

  Figure 12.12

  Figure 12.13

  Figure 12.15

  Figure 12.14

  Figure 12.16

  Figure 12.17

  Figure 12.19

  Figure 12.18

  Figure 12.20

  Figure 12.21

  Figure 12.23

  Figure 12.22

  Figure 12.24

  Figure 12.26

  Figure 12.25

  Figure 12.27

  Figure 12.28

  Figure 12.29

  Figure 12.30

  Figure 12.31

  Figure 12.32

  Figure 12.33

  Figure 12.3
4

  Figure 12.35

  Figure 12.36

  Figure 12.37

  Figure 12.38

  Figure 13.1

  List of Tables

  Table 1.1

  Table 2.1

  Table 2.2

  Table 2.3

  Table 2.4

  Table 2.5

  Table 2.6

  Table 2.7

  Table 2.8

  Table 2.9

  Table 2.10

  Table 2.11

  Table 2.12

  Table 2.13

  Table 2.14

  Table 2.15

  Table 2.16

  Table 3.1

  Table 3.2

  Table 3.3

  Table 3.4

  Table 3.5

  Table 3.6

  Table 4.1

  Table 5.1

  Table 5.2

  Table 7.1

  Table 7.2

  Table 7.3

  Table 7.4

  Table 7.5

  Table 8.1

  Table 9.1

  Table 9.2

  Table 9.3

  Table 9.4

  Table 9.5

  Table 9.6

  Table 12.1

  Table 12.2

  Table 12.3

  Table 12.4

  Table 12.5

  Table 12.6

  Table 13.1

  Table 13.2

  Preface

  THIS IS A BOOK ON THE INDUS CIVILIZATION FOR A MORE general audience than the other books I have authored and edited. It will fit into the larger series I am doing, entitled the Indus Age, as a kind of summary statement.

  The material for The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective has been assembled from other work, some of it published, some of it manuscript. But the configuration of the book, and the presentation of Ancient India’s earliest urban landscape, is new, especially in my attempts to begin to deal with the ideology of the Indus peoples.

  I want to thank my new colleagues at AltaMira Press for taking on the Indus Age series, especially Mitch Allen. He and his associates have been a pleasure to work with.

  I should also thank those colleagues who read my work in progress and/or provided me with the kind of scintillating discussion that continues my education. I list them here in the order in which I became actively engaged with them as a part of my intellectual life: Bridget and Raymond Allchin, M. Rafique Mughal, V. N. Misra, Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, Louis Flam, Jim G. Shaffer, Richard Meadow, Maurizio Tosi, Rita Wright, Mark Kenoyer, Vasant Shinde. I also want to acknowledge the fact that my views on the Indus Civilization continue to bear influences from my early training with Walter A. Fairservis Jr.

  There are many illustrations in this work. The preface gives me a chance to thank those who helped me here: Catherine and Jean-François Jarrige for imagery from Mehrgarh, Michael Jansen for architectural images and some from Mohenjo-daro, Alexandra Ardeleanu-Jansen for images relating to Indus sculpture, the Archaeological Survey of India (especially my friend and colleague R. S. Bisht) for its assistance, Man and Environment, Cambridge University Press, the American Museum of Natural History, Puratattva, Ferozsons (Lahore), the American Oriental Society, Istituto Italiano per l‘Africa e l’Oriente (formerly IsMEO), Arabian Art and Archaeology, the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, the University of California Archaeological Research Facility, The New Yorker magazine, and finally my own institution, the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Without the collegiality and cooperation of these individuals and institutions, The Indus Civilization would be a very plain book.

  Finally, my appointment as an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College, the University of Cambridge, has given me the freedom to bring this book to completion. Churchill College has been extremely generous in this regard, something I thank them for as well.

  CHAPTER 1

  Ancient Indian Civilization

  One cannot expect to build great edifices of theory on archaeological evidence without also anticipating their collapse.

  —Walter A. Fairservis Jr.,

  The Roots of Ancient India

  ANCIENT INDIAN CIVILIZATION

  This is a book about an ancient civilization in India and Pakistan. It was christened the “Indus Civilization” by one of British India’s great Directors General of Archaeology, Sir John Marshall.1 The term Harappan Civilization has also been applied to these peoples since their remains were first reported from the city of Harappa on the left bank of the Ravi River in the Punjab (figure 1.1 and figure 1.2).

  The Indus Civilization, or alternatively the Mature Harappan (2500-1900 B.C.), is a time of cities, developed social classes, craft and career specialists, writing and long-distance trade with Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and even the countries at the mouth of the Red Sea. The foundations for this extraordinary civilization are deep in time, going back to the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and pastoralism early in the Holocene, 9,000 to 10,000 years ago. The productive power of food production played a critical role in the growth and differentiation of peoples of ancient India and Pakistan that led by processes still only dimly illuminated to urbanization and the sociocultural differentiation that characterizes it. I use the notion of an “Indus Age” for the period from the beginnings of agriculture and pastoralism through the Indus Civilization to the widespread use of iron technology at about 1000 B.C.

  Figure 1.1 Sites mentioned in the text

  Figure 1.2 Places mentioned in the text

  Early in the second millennium B.C., by about 1900 B.C., the city of Harappa and its counterpart in Sindh, Mohenjo-daro, were no longer functioning urban centers. The Indus Civilization came to an end as a complex sociocultural system. Human life continued on the plains and in the hills and mountains of Pakistan and northwestern India, but the people were no longer organized by class and occupational specialization. While there was continuity of life, there was also much change. The ideology of the Indus Civilization was largely abandoned and the peoples of the region adopted new customs and beliefs. The change was not complete; older cultural patterns persisted, especially in the affairs of these peoples that were closely tied to the natural world, their use of plants and animals, of the land itself.

  By about 1000 B.C. a new technology appeared across the Subcontinent. Smelted iron, the first metal of the people at large, made its first widespread appearance. The use of this metal was made possible more through the control of pyrotechnology than anything else. It did bring new efficiencies and technologies to the lives of the ancient Indians. And, at about the same time, a new ideology manifested based on the beliefs expressed in the Vedas, the texts on which modern Hinduism is based. The formulation of the Vedic beliefs in the Early Iron Age is a convenient historical marker at which to end the Indus Age, or, more probably, it is an historical transition point at which the cultural traditions of the Subcontinent begin to be more clearly associated with the modern world.

  Taken together, I have termed the 6,000 to 7,000 years from the beginnings of food production to the Early Iron Age in Pakistan and northwestern India the “Indus Age.” It is the story of this long durée that unfolds through the pages of this book.

  WHY IS THE INDUS AGE WORTH STUDYING?

  Anthropology informs us that all peoples and places are worthy of study, since the collectivity of humankind, in all our historical depth and geographical spread, is the only complete documentation of human diversity, cultural and biological—and that is what anthropology is all about. This is the first and most fundamental reason that the study of the Indus Age is important. Over the past eighty years or so, a number of interesting observations have been made concerning the peoples of the Indus Age and their sociocultural systems. These observations emerge as themes that set the Indus Age and the Indus Civilization apart in quite specific ways from other peoples and places. These themes are used to provide structure and coherence for the story told here.

  The Indus Age Was an Archaeological Discovery

  In the first weeks of Septe
mber 1924 the earliest reliable date in Indian history was 326 B.C., the year of Alexander the Great’s raid into Gandhara, the Achaemenid Province of South Asia. Nowhere in South Asian history was there a reference to a great civilization of the Bronze Age, not even in the Vedas, the earliest of the Subcontinent’s texts. Then, on September 24, 1924, Sir John Marshall announced in the Illustrated London News the discovery of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, and a week later the Assyriologist A. H. Sayce firmly placed the remains in the Bronze Age by citing the occurrence of Mohenjo-daro-type seals in Mesopotamia and Iran.2

  As we look back, it is clear that remains of the Indus Civilization had been collected and published prior to 1924. Seals from Harappa were published in the nineteenth century.3 Such places as Dabar Kot, Sutkagen-dor, and Kalibangan were known, with pottery and other finds published in reputable journals—but no one knew how old the artifacts were because there was no historical context in which to place them and no reliable dating methods known. So, the notices of these sites sat as unknown curiosities.

  Unlike ancient Mesopotamia, Dynastic Egypt, and ancient Chinese civilization, for which historical records informed us of the antiquity of urban life, nowhere in the records of ancient India was there even a hint of the Indus Civilization, save in the mounds of the Greater Indus region.

  The Peoples of the Indus Age Lived Their Own Lives and Had Their Own Cultural Traditions, But Were a Part of a Larger World

  The Greater Indus region is the easternmost portion of a large cultural and natural area of antiquity, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Thar Desert of India, and from the Arabian Gulf to the plains of Central Asia. There is today a vast number of different peoples there. Characteristically, each of these peoples has their own language (or dialect) and distinctive way of life, or culture. The archaeological record and later textual materials indicate that there was also a diversity of peoples in this region in antiquity, at least since the beginning of the Holocene, about 10,000 years ago, following the retreat of the continental glaciers.4

  Within the Greater Indus region, similarities among archaeological assemblages inform us about communication and interaction among the people who created them. This communication and interaction was undoubtedly made manifest in many ways, both directly and indirectly, through third, fourth, fifth, nth . . . parties. Individual innovations in culture that had value to these peoples were spread in these ways throughout this region; for the most part, this communication probably happened very quickly, over a matter of a few years (even weeks and months, in some cases), but the acceptance and implementation of change may have taken longer. Such change may have been accepted within the variable sociocultural systems of the Greater Indus region because, most likely, there were close underlying sociocultural similarities among these diverse peoples.