The Indus Civilization Page 8

  Bagor: Another Kind of Camp

  There is an important campsite in southeastern Rajasthan known as Bagor.33 It is small, about 80 meters by 80 meters. There are three phases of occupation at Bagor. The chronology presented here is based on the calibration of radiocarbon dates. Phase I at Bagor would be part of the Burj Basket-marked Phase.

  Phase III c. 600 B.C.— A.D. 200

  Phase II c. 2800—600 B.C.

  Phase I c. 5500—2800 B.C.

  The significance of Bagor I stems from its microlithic tool industry associated with the remains of animals that might be domesticated. The same species, zebu, sheep, goats, and pigs, are basically represented in all three periods, but they vary in frequency and density. The inhabitants of Bagor were also hunters and the remains of many wild animals were found there, including water buffalo, blackbuck, Indian gazelle, chital, sambar, fish, tortoises, and frogs. Meadow has cautioned that the analysis of the Bagor faunal remains was done at a time when many of the current methods used in archaeology were still being developed, and this important data set may need to be revisited (Meadow, personal communication, 1999).

  Figure 2.5 Sites of Stage One

  This mix of domesticated and wild animals associated with the camp of a people with a microlithic tool industry is indicative of the range of adaptations of people in protohistoric times in the Subcontinent. The most important domesticated animals at Bagor were sheep and goats, with sheep more prevalent. Recall that wild sheep and goats are found in Baluchistan and the Northwestern Frontier and are not a part of the environment in eastern Rajasthan. Thus, it seems that the inhabitants of Bagor acquired these animals from the west. This probably happened in a number of ways: collecting strays, stealing animals, or taking animals as compensation for work. The integration of these domesticates into an otherwise hunting and gathering subsistence regime is an important development in the history of subsistence strategies in South Asia and can be seen as an indication of the flexibility and adaptability of these ancient peoples. Bagor is not a unique site, as this form of adaptation is documented at Adamgarh Cave, near Hoshangabad on the central Narmada River34 as well as in Europe.35

  The Interactive Trade and Barter Aspect is also documented at Bagor. Copper arrowheads appear in Period II and are similar to those found at a number of Mature Harappan sites. A spearhead of copper/bronze has a midrib, not a feature of Indus metallurgy, and could be later. The beads of the period were made of several stones, including banded agate, carnelian, and garnet. The carnelian is particularly interesting because of its special association with the Mature Harappan. But this aspect is properly of another part of the Indus Age, and I return to it again in this book.

  STAGE TWO: THE DEVELOPED VILLAGE FARMING COMMUNITY AND PASTORAL SOCIETIES

  Togau Phase 4300—3800 B.C.

  Kechi Beg Phase 3800—3200 B.C.

  Hakra Wares Phase 3800—3200 B.C.

  Some of the most remarkable findings of the last forty years of archaeology in the Subcontinent are the strong lines of continuity in prehistoric life, from the very beginnings of village farming communities to the present. The Subcontinent has been raided and invaded, conquered and colonized on many occasions throughout the 9,000 years of history involved here, but the strength of the established cultural traditions has always proved to be as powerful and enduring as the customs brought by new peoples.

  The Nature of Stage Two

  This stage of developed village farming communities and pastoral societies is a special time in the prelude to the Mature Harappan. Three themes characterize this age: growth, continuity, and geographical expansion. There is increasing sophistication of the potter’s art, and the introduction of the Togau, Kechi Beg, and Hakra Wares ceramic assemblages is widespread and easily recognized. Some form of potter’s wheel makes its appearance at this time. Togau Phase sites are found in Baluchistan and adjacent regions. The Kechi Beg Phase is later in time, with the site distribution overlapping that of the Togau Phase settlements.

  Settlement Data for the Togau Phase

  It is apparent from the study of settlement patterns that there was a vast growth of settled life in this region. The expansion is documented by an increase in the number of sites and by the spread of food-producing peoples into the western delta of the ancient Sarasvati River near Fort Derawar in Cholistan. There are 84 Togau settlements and 279 attributed to the time period of the combined Kechi Beg—Hakra Wares Phases (see tables 2.5 through 2.8).

  Table 2.5 Settlement data for the Togau Phase

  Total sites known 84

  Sites with size estimate 48

  Settled area of sites with known sizes 168.27 hectares

  Sites with size unknown 36

  Average site size 3.51 hectares

  Estimated settled area of sites without size 126.36 hectares

  Estimated total settled area 294.63 hectares

  Table 2.6 Estimates of settled area for the Kechi Beg Phase

  Total sites known 153

  Sites with size estimate 84

  Settled area of sites with known sizes 304.52 hectares

  Sites with size unknown 69

  Average site size 3.63 hectares

  Estimated settled area of sites without size 250.47 hectares

  Estimated total settled area 554.99 hectares

  Table 2.7 Estimates of settled area for the Hakra Wares Phase

  Total sites known 126

  Sites with size estimate 123

  Settled area of sites with known sizes 822.40 hectares

  Sites with size unknown 3

  Average site size 6.69 hectares

  Estimated settled area of sites without size 20.07 hectares

  Estimated total settled area 842.47 hectares

  Table 2.8 Estimates of settled area for the combined Kechi Beg–Hakra Wares Phases

  Total sites with size estimate sites 279

  Sites with size estimate 207

  Settled area of sites with known sizes 1126.57 hectares

  Sites with size unknown 72

  Average site size 5.44 hectares

  Estimated settled area of sites without size 391.68 hectares

  Estimated total settled area 1518.25 hectares

  The Togau Phase at Mehrgarh Is a Period of Significant Change

  Mehrgarh III, the Togau Phase, saw significant change. This is the only known Togau Phase site with human funerary remains. One hundred and twenty-five interments were found in an area reserved as a cemetery.36 Of these, ninety-nine were excavated. There is a change in the burial customs. Gone are the grave structures of Period I, and the practice of using red ocher in a lavish way was discontinued. There are also burials arranged in a manner that suggests collective graves. These were aligned in an east-west orientation, with the head always to the east and the bodies lying on their sides in a flexed position. Disarticulated secondary inhumations were also found.

  Hemphill, Lukacs, and Kennedy have found skeletal evidence for a discontinuity between the Stage One and the Mehrgarh III (Togau) inhabitants. The Togau population shares important affinities with the individuals in the Mature Harappan Cemetery R-37 at Harappa, which, taken together, “bear close affinities to populations from the west, that is, from the Iranian Plateau and the Near East.”37 Lukacs feels that the Stage One population at Mehrgarh shared little with this western population, but had features pointing to a biological heritage to the east of the Subcontinent.

  Shifts are reflected in other parts of the archaeological record as well. Mehrgarh III has evidence for the mass production of pottery, with more or less standardized shapes, a shift in the chipped stone tool industry away from true microliths to larger, bulkier types based on different technological principles.38 There are also signs of technological innovation and an upsurge in craft production, including copper metallurgy (with crucibles), the use of gold, the manufacture of compartmented seals, glazed steatite, and beads.

  There also is continuity between Stage One (Periods I and II) an
d Stage Two (Period III) at Mehrgarh, and it should not be imagined that this theme is any weaker than the one just noted. The architecture remains the same with two kinds of buildings, including the compartmentalized storage structures. The Togau Ware repertory of ceramics, while new in itself, draws heavily on past ceramic technology, and there is continuity in the subsistence regime of the site.

  The Later Phases of the Developed Village Farming Community and Pastoral Societies

  The later part of Stage Two, the Kechi Beg and Hakra Wares Phases, represent continued growth with consolidation, rather than development, of technology. These phases also mark the beginnings of regionalism in the Indus Age, with the first evidence for the movement of significant numbers of farmers and herders out of the old Neolithic homeland of Baluchistan and its eastern pied-monts, across the Indus River, and into the Punjab. This expansion was anticipated by the appearance of herders on the eastern fringes of the Thar Desert, possibly as early as Kili Ghul Mohammad and Burj Basket-marked times, as noted at Bagor.

  Kechi Beg settlements are found in the Kulli and Northwestern Domains, as well as the plains of the Indus Valley. But at the same time a large number of farmers and herders appear to have settled the eastern drainage of the ancient Sarasvati River, well away from the Kechi Beg zone. M. R. Mughal first found the remains of these people during his remarkable exploration of Cholistan, and he has given the name “Hakra Wares” to this phase.39 None of Mughal’s Hakra Wares sites in Cholistan have been excavated, but this material has been found in stratigraphic excavations at Jalilpur40 and Harappa.41

  Lifeways during the Kechi Beg Phase

  We know comparatively little about the lifeways of the Kechi Beg Phase. Curiously, it is the most poorly known of the periods at Mehrgarh, where Periods IV and V have traces of this assemblage (figure 2.6). It is clear that there was continuity in metallurgy and some interesting changes in the subsistence regime. For example, at Mehrgarh, grape pips occur and persist through all subsequent periods until the abandonment of the site. The continued ascendancy of barley over wheat is documented, and barley continues to be the predominant grain through the Mature Harappan. It is widely believed that this is a reflection of barley’s greater tolerance of salty soils, possibly an early reflection of poor management of irrigation. An irrigation canal on the Kachi Plain may date to Kechi Beg times.

  Hakra Wares and the Beginnings of Regionalism

  I have previously noted that this phase marks the beginnings of regional archaeological assemblages in the Greater Indus region with the colonization of Cholistan (figure 2.7). The Hakra Wares consist of an entire assemblage of different pottery types (figure 2.8).42 The historical roots of the Hakra Wares are found at Mehrgarh and Sheri Khan Tarakai in Bannu. A black-slipped red ware is somewhat distinctive, but this technique is present at Anjira, although the forms there are different from the Hakra examples. A wide-shouldered vessel that is important at Kot Diji and later in the Mature Harappan also occurs.43 Pottery shapes found in the Kot Diji suite of ceramic types are also found in the Hakra Wares assemblage (e.g., flanged rims). Some of the ceramics from Sheri Khan Tarakai have been compared to the Hakra Wares.44

  Microlithic tools are typically abundant on Hakra Wares sites, especially the camps. Mughal also collected bits and pieces of copper, beads of shell, stone mace heads or ring stones, unworked carnelian, pestles along with terra-cotta animal figurines, bangles, and beads.

  Figure 2.6 Ceramics of the Kechi Beg Phase (after Fairservis 1956)

  Fifty-four of the Hakra Wares sites can be classified as camps. Camps are sites represented by a light scatter of pottery without a buildup of an archaeological midden. These settlements were located on the old alluvium of Cholistan as well as in stabilized sandy areas.45 These sites seem to represent the seasonal monsoon abodes of pastoralists who came into Cholistan to maintain their animals. This is a provisional interpretation, of course, but if it is true, the presence of so many camps testifies to the importance of pastoralism in the time of the Hakra Wares. There are also forty-nine village farming communities. Mughal notes that many sites in Cholistan are buried under moving dunes or have been significantly altered or erased by wind.

  THE NORTHERN NEOLITHIC: FOOD-PRODUCING COMMUNITIES ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER OF THE INDUS REGION

  A cultural tradition of farmers and herders separate from the type found at Mehrgarh has been found in the northern regions of Pakistan and western India. These peoples lived in the Vale of Kashmir and surrounding valleys extending into Swat and the northern plains of the Greater Indus Valley, at such places as Sarai Khola. They represent a cultural tradition whose origin is outside of South Asia. Archaeologists refer to this material as the “Northern Neolithic.” Sites of this type begin just after the end of Stage Two.

  Burzahom and Gufkral

  Burzahom and Gufkral were both prehistoric villages (figure 2.9). Many of their dwellings were semisubterranean, with hearths and a central pole supporting the roof. The people were cultivators of wheat and barley and cared for domesticated animals: sheep, goats, and dogs. They also engaged in some hunting.

  Northern Neolithic pottery is soft and gray to brown with mat and cord impressions. These people made a rich bone tool industry with points, needles, harpoons, and serrated points. The stone tools are mostly ground, with oval pointed butt axes, flat ring stones of jadeite, and a small knife. Many of the artifacts are illustrated in the preliminary reports on the excavation.46 The small knife is quite specific in type. It is rectangular, generally with two perforations on the long side opposite the cutting edge. These were used to fasten a wooden handle. In northern Asia, where they are widespread, they are called ulus and are used as harvesting implements. Ulus have been found at other South Asian sites, most notably Kalako-deray in Swat. The chronology for these two sites is summarized in table 2.9.

  Figure 2.7 Sites of Stage Two

  Figure 2.8 Hakra Wares from surface collections at sites in Cholistan (after Mughal 1997)

  Table 2.9 Chronology for the Northern Neolithic

  Two Late Kot Diji-type pots were found at Burzahom in Period Ib. One of them contained approximately 950 beads of carnelian and agate and was decorated with the horned deity (Mahisha; figure 2.10).47

  Cultural Roots of the Northern Neolithic

  The cultural and historical affinities of the Northern Neolithic are clearly north Asian. The principal parallels are the semisubterranean dwellings, mat-impressed pottery, rich bone industry, form of the ground-stone tools, and dog burials. Fairservis notes the significance of the Northern Neolithic:

  Burzahom represents the southernmost expression of a widespread north Asian complex. It represents a movement that may well have started with the Mesolithic of Europe and which survived in the fertile valleys of Kashmir and perhaps Nepal, Tibet, Hunza, Baltistan and Ladakh. It is so clearly Inner Asian that one finds difficulty in including it as a part of Subcontinental archaeology except for the fact that it is in the river system of the Subcontinent. It is also a less important but nonetheless definitive manifestation of one of the cultural streams which were through time directed toward India. In this one is reminded of the historical travels of the Chinese monks Fa Hien and Hsuen Tsang.48

  Figure 2.9 Sites of the Northern Neolithic

  Table 2.10 Estimates of settled area for the Northern Neolithic

  Total sites known 25

  Sites with size estimate 3

  Settled area of sites with known sizes 23.6 hectares

  Sites with size unknown 22

  Average site size 7.87 hectares

  Estimated settled area of sites without size 173.14 hectares

  Estimated total settled area 196.74 hectares

  F. Southworth found some evidence for a language(s) of the Sino-Tibetan family in ancient South Asia.49 The Northern Neolithic may be a concrete archaeological expression of this hypothesis. Settlement data for the Northern Neolithic are given in table 2.10.

  Figure 2.10 Kot Diji-type pot
from Burzahom

  Northern Neolithic: Summary

  The Northern Neolithic is important for understanding the mechanism through which the Early and Mature Harappan peoples gained access to mountain resources: timber, stone, possibly metal. Many products found at Mohenjo-daro are found in Kashmir, timber among them.

  There are four approximately contemporaneous, interrelated archaeological assemblages that make up the Early Harappan. While we do not know what these archaeological assemblages represent in terms of ethnicity, their existence does suggest that there was a diversity of peoples in the Greater Indus region at the time and that the Mature Harappan emerges from the interaction and fusion of these groups.

  STAGE THREE: THE EARLY HARAPPAN

  The themes that have been developed in Stages One and Two continue to be important in the Early Harappan: cultural continuity and change, growth, geographical expansion, and regionalism. There is a minimum of technological change, and the paradigm already established for the subsistence regime was expanded rather than modified.