The Indus Civilization Read online

  Artifacts from Period 3 at Harappa include the usual square Indus stamp seals, black on red painted pottery, and carnelian beads, some of which were etched. There is considerable use of baked brick (not as much as at Mohenjo-daro). While the use of baked brick began in the Early Harappan—Mature Harappan Transition (possibly the Early Harappan), it can be thought of as a more or less distinctive feature of the Indus Civilization.

  Harappa is an extraordinary place, and much more about the Indus Civilization can be learned from it. The continuing excavations there, by a team of excellent archaeologists, offer us new and important insights into the Harappans, their predecessors, and their successors.

  Table 3.4 Phases of occupation at Harappa

  Period 5 Cemetery H, Posturban Harappan 1800-1500 B.C.

  Period 4 Transition from Mature Harappan to Posturban 1900—1800 B.C.

  Period 3C Final Mature Harappan 2200—1900 B.C.

  Period 3B Middle Mature Harappan 2450-2200 B.C.

  Period 3A Early Harappan-Mature Harappan Transition and Early Mature Harappan 2600-2450 B.C.

  Period 2 Early Harappan (Kot Dijian Phase) 3200—2600 B.C.

  Period 1 Ravi Aspect of the Hakra Wares Phase 3800-3200 B.C.

  Figure 3.5 Reconstruction of the “Granary” at Harappa (after Wheeler 1966)

  Ganweriwala

  A third, unexcavated Indus city, Ganweriwala, is located about 50 kilometers southwest of Fort Derawar in the Cholistan Desert. It was discovered by Mughal as a part of his great survey of the region. It is about 80 hectares in size and seems to have been founded on virgin soil, just as Mohenjo-daro probably was. We know that Ganweriwala is big, almost as big as Mohenjo-daro, and that it is almost exactly half way between Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. In terms of locational geography it is perfectly situated within the Mature Harappan settlement grid as an urban center. An excavation at this ancient metropolis can be anticipated as one of the truly rewarding experiences in Harappan archaeology.

  Dholavira

  The ASI has been excavating this important site of the Indus age since 1989.47 Dholavira is large, spreading to 60 hectares. It was discovered by J. P. Joshi in 1967—1968 on Kadir Island in the central part of the Great Rann of Kutch (figure 3.6).

  Continuous, large-scale excavation has revealed that Dholavira has a long sequence of habitation that seems to begin in the Early Harappan—Mature Harappan Transition (c. 2600—2500 B.C.) and extends to the early centuries of the second millennium B.C. R. S. Bisht, the director of the Dholavira excavations, has defined seven periods of occupation, or stages, at the site. The first two fall within the Early Harappan—Mature Harappan Transition. Stages III, IV, and V are Mature Harappan, and the final two stages are Posturban Harappan.

  The radiocarbon method does not seem to work well at Dholavira, so the chronology for the site is an estimate put together using a comparative method. An estimate for the dates for the seven stages is given in table 3.5. A variance of 100 to 150 years is possible for most stages.

  Table 3.5 A chronology for Dholavira

  Stage Date

  Stage VII Posturban Harappan B 1650-1450 B.C.

  Period of desertion, apparently longer than the one between Stages V and VI

  Stage VI Posturban Harappan A Short period of desertion 1850-1750 B.C.

  Stage V Mature Harappan C 2000-1900 B.C.

  Stage IV Mature Harappan B 2200-2000 B.C.

  Stage III Mature Harappan A 2500-2200 B.C.

  Stage II Early Harappan-Mature Harappan Transition B 2550-2500 B.C.

  Stage I Early Harappan-Mature Harappan Transition A 2650-2550 B.C.

  Figure 3.6 Plan of Dholavira (after Indian Archaeology A Review 1991-92)

  Stage I was founded on virgin soil. These pioneers knew the arts of copper working, bead making, and masonry and were careful planners of their architecture. The settlement of Stage I was located in the vicinity of the Citadel and was surrounded by a very substantial fortification, as thick as 11 meters at its base. The houses were built of molded mud bricks, with the Indus proportion of 4:2:1. The ceramics are a mix, but there are parallels to Amri Period II, Nausharo ID, and Kot Diji during the Early Harappan—Mature Harappan Transition.

  Stage II sees the widening and strengthening of the fortification wall and the enlargement of the settlement with construction to the north. The early fortification wall was found to be plastered on both sides, and parts of it were covered with a veneer of stone. At this time the inhabitants of Dholavira exhibited an affinity for bright plasters, white and reddish pink, that is still preserved in the fortification wall of Stage II. The use of this bright plaster continues through Stage III, then it is discontinued. The material culture of Stages I and II is similar, but there was an increase in the number of antiquities that were recovered in excavation. A boat-shaped crucible documents metalworking at the site.

  During Stage III, Dholavira grew from a small settlement to a large town or city with two sets of fortifications, separate districts, and a water storage system of significant scale. This period marks the raising of the Citadel and Bailey, as seen in figure 3.6. Painted Indus black-on-red-ware pottery and small finds, including square Indus stamp seals, allow us to date this stage to the early Mature Harappan. Some of the stamp seals from Stage III at Dholavira do not bear Indus writing, but animal devices are present. They could represent the early conventions of Indus seal making.

  Stage III saw the clearing, leveling, and paving of an old Stage II residential area. This created an expanse of open ground that Bisht believes was a ceremonial ground. To the north, a large residential area called the Middle Town was laid out, secured by the second fortification wall. This latter facility was provided with gates, bastions, and drains. The Middle Town was divided into residential areas, with streets and lanes laid out in a gridiron pattern. These rectilinear houses are within the Mature Harappan mold and are equipped with sumps and jars in the streets, apparently for sanitary purposes. There are no street drains here or in the Lower Town, and no evidence of bathing facilities was found; all characteristics somewhat different from Mohenjo-daro.

  During Stage III, the inhabitants of Dholavira invested heavily in several types of hydraulic facilities. Kutch is virtually a desert, and there is no large river like the Indus nearby, so they collected and stored water in the forms of both rain and runoff. At Dholavira, unlike Mohenjodaro, the functional need for the inhabitants of the city to provide for themselves a guaranteed year-round supply of water was great. There is an abundance of wasserluxus at Dholavira, but it is intertwined with the kind of water symbolism we see at Mohenjo-daro and the functional need for water to be available to sustain life.

  As one part of the water-harvesting system, the Castle was built with a network of connected drains and catchment surfaces. These collected rainwater and moved it to two interconnected chambers of stone. One part of this system is a remarkable water cascade, quite carefully fashioned of cut stone.

  The seasonal stream that runs to the north and south of the site was dammed in several places. These bunds allowed the inhabitants of Dholavira to direct and conserve runoff from the interior of Kadir Island.

  The Dholavirites created sixteen or more reservoirs of varying size during Stage III. Some of these took advantage of the slope of the ground within the large settlement, a drop of 13 meters from northeast to southwest. Other reservoirs were excavated, some into living rock. Recent work has revealed and mostly emptied two large reservoirs, one to the east of the Castle, one to its south, near the Annex. The eastern reservoir has thirty-one steps from top to bottom and is a marvel of technology and effort. We know that this reservoir was 24 meters wide and varied between 7.5 and 5 meters in depth. The reservoir near the Annex, to the south of the Castle, has an exposed length of 95 meters and a width of approximately 10 meters. The depth varies from about 2 to 4 meters.

  Dholavira in Stage III seems to have been a busy, prosperous city, with its citizens engaged in making substantial investm
ents in their settlement. There is an abundance of small finds, metal, and other artifacts that sustain this observation, along with the architecture. They have different kinds of public space: the Bailey, Castle, ceremonial ground, and a small stadium. The investment in public facilities, meant for the general civic good, is also seen in the construction of the reservoirs and water-harvesting facilities.

  Toward the end of Stage III Dholavira seems to have been struck by an earthquake of major magnitude. This is documented by slip faults in sections and the displacement of architectural features. This led to repairs within Stage III that are very large in scale. Parts of the Citadel and the residential areas were cleared of houses. Other residential areas were extended, especially to the east, necessitating the extension of the city wall. Monumental gateways were built on the Citadel (figure 3.7), and the settlement reached its largest, best-organized, perfected point.

  Stage IV can be thought of as the middle Mature Harappan. The city was carefully maintained, including the monumental gateways, fortification walls, and the drainage system. Of special note in Stage IV is the now famous mosaic inscription of ten large signs of the Harappan script found facedown in a chamber of North Gate (figure 3.8).

  All the classic Mature Harappan objects including pottery, seals with writing, tools, beads, weights, and other items of gold, copper, stone, shell, and clay are found in abundance in Stage IV. Perhaps the most impressive architectural elements are pillars and freestanding columns made of locally available limestone. At least some of the so-called Harappan ring stones were used in these constructions.

  Stage V sees the beginnings of a general decline of the city. The urban core, the Citadel and Bailey, were not maintained. In contrast to this, the material culture of Dholavira, ceramics and seals, for example, continue in their classic Mature Harappan forms and styles. We can think of this stage as a late Mature Harappan something like the Late I Period at Mohenjo-daro, the time after which the Great Bath had been abandoned.

  Figure 3.7 Plan of the North Gate at Dholavira (after Indian Archaeology, A Review 1991-92)

  Following Stage V there was a temporary desertion of the site apparently for a few decades. The following Stage VI presents the Harappan cultural tradition in a form that is widely seen in Saurashtra to the south. The once grand city shrank to a small settlement centered on the Bailey and Castle and the southern portion of the Middle Town, where a wall of inferior construction (if measured against earlier work at Dholavira) was built. The houses show no continuity with earlier buildings and are laid out on a different plan. This represents the transformation and devolution of the Indus Civilization, with strong ties to the Late Sorath Harappan and little contact with Sindh. The distinctive Banas white painted black and red ware from southern Rajasthan occurs in some quantity. The once grand city of Dholavira was transformed into a place of minimal diversity without the trappings of urbanization. Stage VI comes to an end after about a century, with the second abandonment of the settlement.

  Figure 3.8 Sign board inscription from Dholavira (courtesy of R. S. Bisht)

  Figure 3.9 Plan of Rakhigarhi (after Nath 1998)

  The duration of the second abandonment is not known. The new settlers were much like their Stage VI predecessors, with clear ties to the Late Sorath Harappans. They built circular houses and engaged in limited craft activities. These interlopers left little impression on the site.

  Dholavira is a splendid ancient city, filled with architectural achievements that were certainly not anticipated. The magnificent attention to water, its movement, and storage are very much within the Indus ideology, but quite different from what we see at Mohenjo-daro or Harappa. I think of it as the central link in the Sindhi Harappan connection to Gujarat and the sea. It was a regional center of authority, a hub of communications, an ancient caravansarai for traders and travelers. There is another Indus city to the north at Rakhigarhi.

  Rakhigarhi

  Rakhigarhi (also known as Rakhishahpur) is a huge mound in Hisar District of Haryana, associated with the right, or northern, bank of the Drishadvati River. The site is large enough to have two named villages on it: Rakhishahpur and Rakhikhas. Suraj Bhan discovered Rakhigarhi in 1964.48 There is both a Sothi-Siswal and a Mature Harappan occupation at the site (figure 3.9).49

  The site is about 17 meters in height. The southern face of the mounds is rather abrupt and steep. The northern side slopes down to the surrounding plain. The contours of the site have led the excavator to divide up the place into five mounds (RGR-1 through 5). RGR-6, a Sothi-Siswal site known as Arda, was probably a separate settlement. I have visited Rakhigarhi and believe that it is 80 hectares in size.

  Figure 3.10 Indus Civilization ceramics from Rakhigarhi (after Nath 1998)

  Occupation at Rakhigarhi begins during the Early Harappan, Sothi-Siswal Period, although some Hakra Wares are present.50 The exposure of this period is still small, but it is 3 meters deep. Rectilinear houses, oriented to the cardinal directions, were found. Baked brick was extensively used in this period, very unusual for the Early Harappan; however, the length, width, thickness ratio is 1:2:3, not the Indus 1:2:4. The bricks had graffiti marks on them, some signs of which are said to be close to those in the Indus script. A baked-brick street drain was found, to which a house drain was connected. The street drain is in the vicinity of a floor made of brickbats with four circular pits, perhaps dyeing vats.

  The Indus occupation saw the construction of a substantial mud-brick wall, possibly a fortification, exposed in the southeastern corner of RGR-2, the “acropolis” of the site. There is a public drain of baked brick. There are also household drains, some of which discharged into the street, others into soak jars pretty much along the pattern as at Mohenjo-daro.51 “Fire altars” with similarities to those reported from Kalibangan are also reported.

  The finds include standard Indus ceramics (figure 3.10). Several “unicorn” seals have been found, along with a terracotta amulet with an elephant on the front. Of particular interest is a faience cylinder seal, with the long-snouted Indus crocodile, the gavial, along with Indus script.52 Assorted objects of metal, including copper—bronze, gold, and silver have been recovered as well.

  There is a Mature Harappan cemetery at Rakhigarhi. The new excavations uncovered eight interments. The grave pits were often brick-lined, with one wooden coffin, as in Cemetery R-37 at Harappa. We have so few human remains from Mature Harappan sites, and they can tell us so much about the people and their way of life; therefore, this cemetery is of exceptional importance.

  There is much to be learned from long-term excavation at Rakhigarhi. The Early Harappan settlement with baked bricks, Mature Harappan—style drains, and graffiti signs that may be harbingers of the later Indus writing system would seem to be especially significant in our understanding of the genesis of the Indus Civilization.

  Kot Diji

  “Fort of the Daughter,” or Kot Diji, is located high on the southern end of the Rohri Hills (figure 3.11). It is an imposing fortress of the Talpur Dynasty. On the plain below is the prehistoric mound of the same name. The location is a strategic one, given the junction of the Indus with the massif of the Rohri Hills. The Pakistan Department of Archaeology excavated at Kot Diji in 1955 and 1957.53

  Figure 3.11 Plan of Kot Diji (after Khan 1964)

  The site has two parts: Area A, on the mound itself, some 12 meters high; and Area B, the Lower Town. Both places have a stratigraphic succession from Early Harappan to Mature Harappan. The Early Harappan is the distinctive Kot Dijian type, defined through these excavations.54 There may be a fortification associated with this period. The end of the Kot Dijian occupation is coincident with signs of massive burning. It is followed by the Indus occupation. There may be a Transitional Stage occupation between them. A well-known pot, with a buffalo motif that seems to figure in the Indus Mahayogi seal (see chapter 8 on religion), is probably attributable to the Early Harappan-Mature Harappan Transition at Kot Diji (figure 3.12).

  Th
e Indus occupation held evidence for copper—bronze objects (including a fine example of an Harappan flat axe), bangles, arrowheads, and two chisels. An etched carnelian bead also surfaced. Terra-cotta antiquities were numerous: bangles, cart frames and wheels, model plows, styli, beads of several types, large and small balls, cones, and triangular cakes. Faience disk beads also occurred. The figurines include bulls, humped and unhumped, and birds, painted and plain. Terra-cotta human figurines, which seem to conform to examples from Mohenjo-daro and Chanhu-daro, are also present.55 The absence of lapis lazuli, turquoise, and other luxury raw materials is noteworthy. There is no report on either plant or animal remains.

  Kot Diji is an extraordinary site. It occupies a strategic position on the Indus plains, on the more lightly settled eastern side of the valley. It superbly documents the Kot Dijian Phase in upper Sindh, and it played an important role in the definition of the Early Harappan.56 Further work at the site would offer an opportunity to gain some information on the subsistence regime.

  Figure 3.12 Pot with the buffalo motif from Kot Diji (after Khan 1964)

  Chanhu-daro