Study Guide: The Harappan Civilization (Indus Valley Civilization)
Transcript:
you know when you think about ancient civilizations maybe Egypt or Rome springs to mind first yeah often they do but today we’re going on a journey to explore a truly fascinating maybe sometimes overlooked culture the Harapen civilization also known as the Indis Valley Civilization and our way in it’s this small but uh incredibly significant artifact the Harapen seal absolutely these seals they’re often made of steotite and they’re like these little windows aren’t they into a society that thrived thousands of years ago wow they’re covered in these really intriguing animal motifs and crucially a script that well even today remains a complete mystery these are undeciphered still undeciphered so our mission in this deep dive is really to unpack what we do know about the Harapens trying to piece together their story from the archaeological clues they left behind right using the evidence to understand what it all means even without reading their writing precisely okay let’s get started then where and when did this Harapen story actually unfold well it covers a really significant period of prehistory we usually break it down into three main phases okay first you’ve got the early Herapan period that stretches uh quite a long time from around 6,000 B.CE all the way to 2600 B.CE think of that as the long development phase right the buildup exactly then comes the mature hurapan period from 2600 B.CE CE down to about 1900 B.CE now this is the one we often think of their urban most prosperous phase the time of the big cities the peak the peak yeah and finally there’s the late Harapen period from 1900 B.CE to around 1300 B.CE and that marks the civilization’s well decline and transformation and geographically where are we talking about it’s a big area isn’t it i’ve seen maps it had a huge reach yeah you find distinctive harapen artifacts in areas that now cover parts of Afghanistan the Baluchistan Sin and Punjab provinces of Pakistan and over in India the states of Jamu and Kashmir Punjab Harana Rajasthan Utar Pradesh Gujarat and even down in Tamarashtra wow that’s vast it is imagine a broad swath of land mostly defined by the Indis River Valley and its surrounding regions map one in the source material gives a pretty good visual of the main sites we know about okay so before these um grand cities that we often picture there were earlier beginnings what do we know about those roots that’s a key point what’s really fascinating is the evidence pointing to earlier archaeological cultures in the very same regions before the mature harapen phase ah okay these were often characterized by you know smaller settlements more basic farming and hering simpler crafts not the big urban senders yet got it and recent findings really suggest a gradual emergence it wasn’t like the harapen culture just appeared fully formed it seems to have grown out of these early farming communities maybe going back as far as 7,000 BC so a really long slow development exactly the impressive mature Harapen culture was the result of centuries even millennia of evolution and growth from these earlier foundations not a sudden invention that makes a lot more sense so when that mature harapen culture did take shape what were their basic survival strategies what did they eat how do they feed these large populations well if you connect it back to those earlier cultures you see the mature Harapen civilization developed in many of the same fertile areas they inherited and definitely built upon some of those earlier ways of life those subsistence methods so continuity a lot of continuity yes the Harapens uh enjoyed a pretty varied diet lots of different plant and animal products and even fish seems to have played a role how could we possibly know what they ate did they leave behind I don’t know shopping list carved in stone not quite but we have archobotist to thank they’re the specialists who study ancient plant remains right charred seeds and things exactly charred grains and seeds found at harapen sites and from their work we know the harapens cultivated and ate grains like wheat barley lentils chickpeas sesame staples we still recognize very much so interestingly millets have been found mainly at sites in Gujarat suggesting some regional variation in crops rice on the other hand seems to have been relatively rare across the board ah okay and what about the animal side of things meat dairy animal bones are another crucial piece of the puzzle archozoolologists the animal bone experts right they’ve identified the remains of domesticated animals things like cattle sheep goat buffalo and pig these were clearly part of their farming system standard farm animals then pretty standard yeah but they also found bones of wild species like boar deer even a geriel that’s a type of crocodile okay so does that mean they were actively hunting these animals well that’s the interesting question isn’t it did the Harapens hunt these wild animals themselves or did they maybe get meat through trade or interacting with other perhaps more hunter gatherer focused communities we’re not entirely sure another puzzle always more questions but we also know they ate fish and fowl birds so it points to a pretty diverse range of protein sources overall so far was clearly central but what kind of techniques did they use especially to support big cities in what’s often a semi-airid region that’s where it gets a bit tricky because reconstructing the actual farming practices from thousands of years ago it’s challenging we find the grains sure but the how is less obvious right but we do have clues representations on seals those little carvings and terracotta sculptures show us they definitely knew about bulls and from that archaeologists extrapolate they infer that oxen were likely used for plowing pulling the plows makes sense any more direct evidence like actual plows well not full-size ones but remarkably we have found terracotta models of plows little miniature ones wow yeah discovered in places like Kalistan and Bonoali and Hurana it’s a fascinating glimpse into their technology and what about evidence in the fields themselves any preserved fields even better at Kalabangan in Rajasthan they found evidence of a plowed field dating back to the early Harapen period so even before the main urban phase incredible what did it show it had two sets of furrows laid out at right angles to each other two sets why it strongly suggests they were growing two different crops together in the same field at the same time like intercropping exactly a pretty sophisticated technique to maximize the use of the land okay so they were plowing planting what about harvest time what tools did they use for that that’s another area where the details are a bit fuzzy did they use say stone blades set into wooden handles that was a common method in prehistory right flint sickles and things or had they already developed metal tools for harvesting maybe copper or bronze sickles the archaeological record hasn’t given us a definitive answer on that one yet we find both stone blades and metal tools but linking them specifically to harvesting is harder okay now you mentioned the semi-arid climate for many sites water must have been crucial how did they manage irrigation absolutely critical you’re right reliable water was key we have found traces of canals at one site short to high way up in Afghanistan okay so canals existed yes which is quite telling it suggests at least some large scale water management but surprisingly we haven’t found similar extensive canal systems in the core areas like Punjab or Sind why not well one possibility is they’ve just silted up completely over the millennia making them really hard to spot archaeologically possibly or perhaps in those core areas they relied more heavily on other methods like drawing water from wells wells were very common in Herapin cities ah okay less large-scale infrastructure more localized water access maybe a mix and interestingly at Doivera in Gujarat they found these huge stoneline water reservoirs massive structures what for drinking water possibly but maybe also for storing water for agriculture especially to get through the drier seasons water management was clearly a big deal for them okay so they grew the food harvested it managed water what about processing it preparing meals what tools did they use for that yeah processing the food required its own set of tools we find quite a lot of grinding equipment and of course vessels pots and pans essentially made of stone metal and terracotta used for mixing blending cooking all the usual stuff grinding equipment like mortars and pestles they’re like saddle corns actually source one in our material has this great excerpt from Ernest McKay’s early reports on Mohenadara specifically talking about these saddleorns what are they like mckay noted finding a lot of them seems they were the main tool for grinding cereals into flour usually made from hard gritty rock and they show clear signs of heavy prolonged use okay he actually describes two main types one was sort of trough shaped where you’d push a smaller cylindrical stone back and forth probably for getting a fine flower right the other tape was shallower and it looked like a second stone was used more like a pounder creating a hollow in the base stone different actions yeah and McKay mentions that his workmen and even the expedition cook back then immediately identified that second type they called them curry stones curry stones like for grinding spices exactly drawing a direct comparison to how similar stones were still being used in their own time it’s a fascinating example of how archaeologists can sometimes use present- day analogies or ethnoarchchaeology and local knowledge to understand the likely function of ancient tools that’s brilliant like being a detective across millennia mhm okay switching gears a bit we can’t really talk about the Harapens without diving into their incredible urban centers moended always seems to be the poster child doesn’t it it does yeah it’s certainly the most extensively excavated and perhaps best preserved but Harappa itself was actually discovered first right does that tell us anything interesting that’s absolutely correct haraba was the first site identified back in the 19th century but sadly as our sources mention Haraba suffered really badly from brick robbing people stealing the ancient bricks yeah even back in the 19th century alexander Cunningham the first head of the Archaeological Survey of India he noted that enough highquality baked bricks had been carted away from Harapa to lay the track ballast for about a 100 miles of railway line between Lor and Molten 100 miles that’s horrifying it’s a huge loss that large-scale destruction means we unfortunately have much less of the original city fabric to study at Harapa compared to Mohenjadaro such a shame so focusing on what we do have especially for Mohenjadaro what made these Harapen cities so distinctive i always hear about how well planned they were planning is definitely the word it’s a real hallmark of the Harapen cities and it tells us a lot about their society and how organized they must have been how so well take Mahendradaro as the prime example the settlement is clearly divided into two main parts there’s a smaller higher area to the west which we call the Citadel the Citadel and then there’s a much larger lower area to the east simply called the lower town why was the Citadel higher was it naturally on a hill not naturally no its height comes from the fact that the buildings there were constructed on top of massive mudbrick platforms deliberately raised why raise it flood protection or status probably both raising it offered protection from floods but it also likely signified importance and crucially the citadel was also walled physically separating it from the lower town okay and the lower town was that just sprawling or planned too the lower town although much bigger was also walled and many of its buildings were also constructed on platforms this implies a huge coordinated effort mobilizing vast amounts of labor how much effort are we talking estimate suggests something like 4 million person days just to lay the foundations in Mohenjidaro alone 4 million that’s staggering it implies well someone had to be organizing that exactly it points to a powerful organizing force capable of planning mobilizing and directing a very large workforce and the planning didn’t just stop at raising things up on platforms did it it extended to the actual layout definitely once those platforms were built it seems all the building activity that followed was restricted to specific designated areas it strongly suggests a predetermined urban plan was in place right from the start wow and another really striking aspect of this planning is the standardization of the bricks ah yes the bricks whether they were sundried or baked in a kiln the bricks used across all Harapen settlements conform to a very specific consistent ratio of length to breadth to height it’s always 4.2.1 everywhere across that huge geographical area pretty much everywhere yes this incredible uniformity in basic building materials isn’t just about efficiency it strongly suggests a centralized system or at least widely accepted standards for weights and measures maybe even a form of quality control it hints at a pretty sophisticated administrative framework underpinning their society that uniformity is just amazing it really points to some central authority or at least a very strong shared culture of how things should be done now what about the drainage that’s another feature I always hear mentioned as a sign of their advanced planning oh the drainage system is arguably one of the most distinctive and impressive features truly remarkable for the ancient world what was so special about it well in the lower town of Mahenjadaro the roads and streets were laid out in an almost perfect grid pattern intersecting at right angles very orderly like modern city blocks very much so and it appears that the streets with their drains were constructed first and then the houses were built alongside them so the infrastructure came first it seems so this layout ensured that domestic waste water from the houses could easily flow out into covered drains running along the streets it meant that at least one wall of pretty much every house had to run alongside a street to connect to the system clever integrated planning very integrated figure 1.8 8 in the source shows one of these remarkably wellpreserved drains it demonstrates a clear concern for sanitation and public health that was quite advanced for its time so a system built into the city’s fabric from the get-go not just added later were there any variations were all huracan settlements laid out exactly the same while that general pattern higher western citadel lower eastern town was common there were definitely variations and exceptions and these give us further clues like what sites like Dolever Vera and Lothal both down in Gujarat had their entire settlement fortified not just the citadel and they even had internal walls separating different sections within the city why would they do that social divisions different functions possibly maybe indicating different social groups or distinct administrative areas or maybe sparalized craft zones we’re not sure and interestingly at Lothal the citadel area was built at a height but it wasn’t walled off separately from the rest of the town huh so maybe a different kind of relationship between the elite area and the main town there perhaps it suggests there wasn’t one single rigid template but variations adapted to local needs or maybe different social structures looking at the figures like 1.7 for Mohenaro’s overall layout and 1.10 for the Citadel plan really helps visualize these arrangements okay let’s zoom in on the living spaces then inside the lower town what were the houses actually like what can they tell us about daily life the domestic architecture the houses in the lower town at Mahenhadaro typically seem to be centered around a courtyard a central courtyard yes rooms were usually arranged on all sides of the central open space the courtyard would likely have been the hub of household activities things like cooking weaving maybe kids playing especially important in a hot climate providing shade and air circulation makes sense anything else notable about the design privacy seems to have been a major concern really how can you tell well houses generally didn’t have windows in the walls facing the street on the ground floor and the main entrance often didn’t offer a direct view straight into the interior or the central courtyard you might have had to turn a corner ah so no let us go in from the street exactly it suggests a value placed on family privacy maybe a degree of social conservatism figure 1.9 gives a nice isometric drawing of a large house and you can clearly see that courtyard layout evidence of staircases suggesting maybe upper stories or accessible roofs and that deliberately indirect entrance courtyards definitely make sense for managing heat what about um sanitation inside the houses again remarkably advanced for the time almost every house had its own private bathroom every house seems so usually a small room paved with baked bricks to make it waterproof and crucially these bathrooms were connected by pipes or drains that led out to the main street drains we talked about earlier wow indoor plumbing connected to a city-wide sewer system essentially pretty much we also find remains of staircases in many houses which suggests they often had second stories or at least flat usable roofs for sleeping or working and water do they have running water not quite running water in the modern sense but many houses had their own private wells dug within the courtyard or accessible from inside their own well yeah providing a convenient private water source and interestingly some of these wells seem to have been positioned so they could also be accessed from the street outside for public use potentially maybe for neighbors or passers by scholars estimate there might have been around 700 wells just in Mohenaro alone 700 that’s a huge investment in water access at the household and neighborhood level it really highlights how important readily available water was and it connects back to that quote we mentioned from Ernest Mccay about the drainage system being the most complete ancient system yet discovered what made it so complete so effective in his view he emphasized how systematically every single house was connected to those main street drains the main channels were really wellbuilt precisely fitted bricks set in mortar often covered with removable bricks or limestone slabs so they could be accessed for inspection and cleaning removable covers like manholes sort of yeah and the house drains didn’t just dump straight into the street drains they often emptied first into a small sump or cess pit built just outside the house wall to collect the solid waste the heavier stuff letting it settle out before the waste water flowed on into the main street drain kept the main drains from clogging up so quickly very and the long street drainage channels themselves also had larger sumps built at intervals for cleaning out accumulated silt and debris it was a really wellthoughtout system and did they actually clean them well fascinatingly during excavations archaeologists sometimes found little heaps of material mostly sand and grit lying alongside the drains left behind after cleaning it strongly suggests that a system of regular cleaning was in place even if the debris wasn’t always perfectly cartered away and this kind of sophisticated drainage wasn’t just limited to the massive cities like Mohenadaro even smaller settlements like Lothal where houses were mainly built of mud brick still had drains made of highquality burnt brick okay so a real focus on infrastructure and sanitation across the board now let’s move up to the Citadel if the lower town was mainly for houses and maybe workshops what kind of special structures were up there in that higher walledoff area what was its purpose the citadel definitely seems to have been reserved for structures that served well special public purposes maybe administrative maybe religious possibly both what are the big examples the most notable ones that have been excavated and identified are the warehouse and the great bath a warehouse like for storing grain very likely it was a massive structure what survives is the lower portion made of solid brick platforms or foundations arranged in rows with air channels between them the upper part which was probably made of wood has decayed away but the scale suggests storage on a large scale maybe grain collected as tax or goods for trade and the Great Bath that always sounds so intriguing almost ceremonial what was it actually like it really is a unique structure it’s essentially a large rectangular tank or pool sunk into the ground within a spacious courtyard and this courtyard was surrounded by a covered corridor or walkway on all four sides like a big public swimming pool well maybe not for swimming steps led down into the tank from the north and south ends making access easy the construction was meticulous designed to be watertight they used bricks set on edge bonded with gypsum mortar and the floor was likely sealed with batumin a natural tar serious waterproofing very serious there were rooms built on three sides of the surrounding courtyard one of these rooms contained a large well which presumably supplied the water to fill the tank and there was also a large drain built into one corner of the tang to allow the water to be emptied out okay any other related buildings nearby yes just across a lane to the north there was a separate smaller building this contained eight small rooms arranged four on each side of a central corridor each of these rooms looked like a bathroom with its own drain connecting to a larger drain running down the corridor eight bathrooms linked to the great bath somehow it seems plausible they were related given the unique structure of the bath itself its prominent location within the citadel amongst other non-domemestic buildings and the sheer effort involved in its construction and maintenance most scholars believe it was likely used for some kind of special ritual bathing or purification ceremonies a sacred pool that’s the prevailing theory its exact religious significance is still debated of course but a purely functional purpose seems less likely figure 1.10 10 the plan of the citadel really helps visualize how central and distinctive the great bath was within that area so the citadel seems like the civic and maybe religious heart of the city now thinking about the society as a whole how do archaeologists try to figure out if there were social differences hierarchies especially since you don’t seem to have obvious grand palaces or royal tombs like in say Egypt that’s a really important question and yes the lack of obvious symbols of royalty makes it challenging archaeologists have to rely on more subtle indirect strategies like what one key method is studying burials you mentioned the Egyptian pyramids earlier those massive royal burials just filled with incredible wealth provisions for the afterlife they very clearly signal huge social stratification and the immense power of the pharaohs right so what about harapen burials were they elaborate do they show similar differences in wealth well in stark contrast to Egypt harap and burials were generally quite simple they don’t show that kind of overt display of wealth or status how were they buried the deceased were typically laid in single pits dug into the ground sometimes you see minor variations maybe the pit was lined with bricks or had a hollowedout space but it’s still really uncertain whether these subtle differences consistently reflect significant social standing so no treasure fil tombs what do they find in the graves some graves contain pottery vessels perhaps holding offerings of food or drink for the afterlife that suggests some belief in an afterlife and personal ornaments like beads bangles sometimes appear in burials of both men and women for instance excavations in a cemetery near Harappa itself back in the mid 1980s found quite an elaborate ornament made of shell rings jasper beads and hundreds of micro beads near the skull of a male burial ah so some nice items occasionally occasionally yes copper Mars have also been found in a few graves placed with the deceased figure 1.11 shows an example of one relatively modest personal item really okay but the overall impression looking at hundreds of burials is that the Harapens generally did not bury precious or high-v value items extensively with their dead unlike many of their contemporaries interesting maybe wealth wasn’t displayed in death or maybe society was more egalitarian or maybe they just had different beliefs all possibilities it’s hard to say for sure just from the burials so if burials aren’t showing huge differences what’s another way archaeologists look for social stratification another important approach is to carefully analyze the artifacts found within the settlements themselves during people’s lives archaeologists try to broadly categorize them oh usually into two rough groups utilitarian objects and what we infer might be luxuries utilitary meaning everyday stuff exactly things for daily use usually made from common easily available materials like stone or clay think about those saddle corns for grinding grain simple pottery for cooking and storage maybe bone or copper needles for sewing these kinds of things are typically found in most households across all types of settlements okay makes sense and luxuries luxuries are assumed to be the rarer items things made from costly and non-local materials stuff that had to be imported or things requiring really complex time-consuming technologies to produce got an example those small pots made of fance like the beautiful blue green one shown in figure 1.12 fance is a man-made material basically ground quartz fused together tricky to make so these pots were likely considered quite precious due to the specialized skills and materials needed right access to rare materials or specialized craft skills probably indicated higher status or wealth but I imagine it’s not always clear-cut what about say a tool like a spindle whirl for spinning thread but made out of a rare material like failance is that utilitarian or luxury that’s exactly the kind of complication archaeologists face classifying isn’t always straightforward and the context where something is found becomes really crucial so how do they tackle that one way is to look at the distribution patterns of these potentially valuable artifacts where do they turn up are they found everywhere or only in certain places okay what we generally see is that rare and valuable objects things made of non-local materials or requiring complex tech tend to be concentrated in the large urban centers like Mohenadaro and Harapa and they’re much less common sometimes completely absent in the smaller more rural settlements so the fancy stuff is in the big cities largely yes for instance those delicate little fans pots maybe used for perfumes or cosmetics they’re found almost exclusively in Mahenjadoro and Harappa none for example have been discovered at Calabenan which was a smaller town that distribution strongly suggests they were indeed high status items not available to everyone makes sense what about gold was that common gold was definitely known but it seems to have been quite rare and interestingly almost all the gold jewelry that has been found comes from hordes collections of valuable items deliberately buried perhaps for safekeeping hidden treasure sort of the fact that it was hoarded suggests it was extremely precious and maybe carefully controlled so yeah gold was almost certainly a marker of wealth okay so distribution patterns of rare goods give us valuable clues about wealth and possibly social status now let’s shift focus to what people were actually making what can we learn about their craft production the skills they possessed this is a really rich area and one site in particular Chonhuaro gives us amazing insight chonadaro where’s that if you look at map one you’ll find it it’s a much smaller settlement compared to Moenjadaro or Harapa quite tiny actually but it seems to have been almost exclusively devoted to craft production a whole town basically working as a factory almost the evidence points to specialized activities like bead making shell cutting intricate metal working carving those seals we talked about and also making the standardized weights a real industrial hub in ancient terms wow what kind of materials and techniques were these artisans using let’s take beads for example the variety of materials used just for making beads is incredible it really showcases their knowledge of different resources and some pretty sophisticated techniques like what materials they used all sorts of stones beautiful semi-precious ones like carnelon that red stone jasper crystal quartz and also the softer stone steotite they used metals copper bronze even gold and organic materials like shell from the coast plus man-made materials like that fance we mentioned and terracotta or burnt clay a huge range absolutely some beads were even composite made of two or more different stones carefully cemented together or decorated with delicate gold caps the shapes were incredibly varied too discshaped cylindrical spherical barrel-shaped segmented you name it and decoration decorated through techniques like insizing lines painting patterns or etching designs onto the surface figure 1.13 shows a great selection of tools and some of these beautifully finished beads how do they make them did the technique vary yes the techniques definitely vary depending on the material steotite for instance is a very soft stone so it was relatively easy to carve or shape they even figured out how to make a paste from powdered steotite a paste yeah which could then be molded into almost any shape before being fired hard this allowed for mass production of certain bead shapes though how they made the incredibly tiny steotype micro beads some less than a millimeter across that still remains a bit of a puzzle the level of skill is amazing micro beads wow what about harder stones like carnelon you said that was red right carnelon is known for its beautiful red color archaeologists have actually done experiments to figure out how the harapens achieved that vibrant hue it seems they started with yellowish raw carnelian material or maybe roughed out beads and then carefully fired them in kils at specific temperatures during different stages of production to bring out the red color so heat treatment was part of the process yes the overall process for making stone beads like carnelon involved several steps first chipping the raw stone nodule roughly to size then carefully flaking it to get closer to the desired shape then grinding the surface smooth followed by polishing to get that final shine and finally the really tricky part drilling the hole through the bead for stringing drilling through hard stone must have been tough extremely tough they developed specialized drills probably made of even harder stone maybe tipped with something abrasive we found evidence of these specialized drills at Chonhuaro Lothal and even Doe Vera it points to a high level of technological skill and specialization and beyond beads were there other specialized crafts concentrated in certain places yes definitely we mentioned Nagashwar and Balacott earlier if you find them on map one again you’ll see they are both located right on the coast ah coastal sites exactly and the evidence is clear that these were specialized centers for working with marine shells making things like bangles ladles for pouring liquids and decorative inlay pieces from shell these finished shell objects were then traded inland to other herppen settlements so geographic location driving specialization precisely and it’s highly likely that finished products from other specialized centers like those intricate beads from Chanhudaro and Lothal followed similar established trade networks moving towards the larger urban centers where demand would have been highest how do archaeologists actually identify these places as centers of production it’s not like they left behind signs saying bead factory Rick yeah no unfortunately not identifying these specialized centers relies on carefully looking for a specific combination of clues in the ground archaeological indicators like finding lots of finished products that’s part of it but actually the process of making things is often more revealing so archaeologists look for the presence of raw materials in various stages of being worked for example unworked stone nodules waiting to be shaped whole sea shells or lumps of copper ore okay raw materials what else the specialized tools that would have been used like those drills we talked about or specific types of chisels or hammers also finding unfinished objects things that were started but maybe broke or were abandoned before completion uh mistakes and rejects exactly rejects or broken pieces that didn’t meet the quality standard and maybe most importantly the waste material generated during the crafting process the rubbish precisely waste like the little flakes chipped off when shaping a stone bead or the discarded fragments left over from cutting shapes out of a sea shell this waste material is often the clearest indicator that craft activity was happening right there on site you can see examples of nice finished pottery and a terracotta figurine in figures 1.14 and 1.14 but the real clues to where they were made often lie in the discarded bits and pieces why is waste such a good indicator because while larger pieces of waste might sometimes be picked up and reused for making smaller objects the really tiny minuscule bits of debris would typically just be left behind in the immediate work area trampled into the floor finding concentrations of this specific kind of waste tells you manufacturing was happening there and this suggests that craft production wasn’t only happening in those specialized towns like Chonhuaro but also occurred within designated areas of the large cities like Mohenjabaro and Harapa as well so local workshops within the cities plus these specialized production centers elsewhere and of course they needed to get the raw materials in the first place especially things not locally available in the indis valley itself how did they manage that procurement getting materials from sometimes very distant places procuring those diverse raw materials was a major undertaking absolutely and it really highlights the extensive networks that harapens must have developed and maintained what kind of materials are we talking about well while clay for pottery was readily available pretty much everywhere in the fertile aluvial plains of the Indis many other essential resources weren’t things like various types of stone suitable for tools or beads timber for construction and fuel and of course metals like copper gold tin for bronze all these had to be brought in sometimes from considerable distances how did they transport this stuff overland by river probably both we have evidence for land transport from those charming terracotta toy models of bullet carts like the one in figure 1.29 they clearly knew and used wheeled carts pulled by oxen so established land routes were likely important yeah however given the geography the huge Indis River system and its many tributaries plus the long coastline it’s also highly probable that riverine routes and coastal sea routes played a crucial role transporting heavy bulky goods like timber or metal ore is often much more efficient by boat than overland makes sense waterways as highways so trade networks were absolutely essential for the Harapen economy to function where did these vital materials actually come from the Harapens seem to have used several key strategies to secure these materials one very important strategy was actually establishing settlements in or very near the resourcerich areas setting up colonies or outposts kind of yeah we already mentioned Aeshwar and Bellote right on the coast specifically for access to marine shell right another example is Shortorkai way up in what is now northern Afghanistan its location seems strategically chosen because it’s very close to some of the best sources of lapis lazuli that highly prized deep blue stone so they went right to the source for lapis seems like it and similarly Lothal’s location down in Gujarat likely provided easier access to local sources of carnelon for beads steotite another useful stone and possibly metals from the surrounding regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat figure 1.16 shows some examples of the copper and bronze vessels they were making needing that raw metal setting up these resource focused settlements seems like a very direct and effective way to control the supply chain what other methods did they use maybe for things further away or where they couldn’t set up a whole town another important strategy appears to have been organizing specific expeditions or perhaps establishing longerdist trade relationships with regions known for particular resources without necessarily settling there permanently like trade missions possibly for example the Ketri region of Rajasthan which is famously rich in copper deposits was almost certainly a major target for such efforts and similarly South India known for its gold sources seems to have been another area they were in contact with how do we know they were in contact occasionally distinctive harapen artifacts may be a seal or pottery turnup in these distant areas it’s not a lot but it provides tangible evidence of these connections ah harapen goods traveling far a field exactly and interestingly in that Ketri copper region there was a contemporary culture archaeologists call the Ganeshwa Jumpura culture they had their own distinctive type of pottery but crucially they seem to have had a remarkable abundance of copper objects far more than other contemporary cultures in the area so they were copper specialists it looks like it and the thinking is that they may have been a key supplier of copper to the Harapens perhaps through trade or some kind of regular exchange relationship okay so internal networks resource outposts and expeditions or trade with neighbors within the subcontinent what about contact even further away across the sea maybe absolutely this is where it gets really fascinating recent archaeological discoveries have provided compelling evidence for contact with lands even more distant for example it now seems very likely that copper was also being imported from Oman across the Arabian Sea oman how do they know through chemical analysis scientists have looked at the trace elements present in copper ores found in Oman and compared them with the trace elements in copper artifacts found at Harapen sites and they found a distinctive shared chemical signature specifically traces of nickel nickel yes both Omani copper and many Harapen copper artifacts contain traces of nickel which isn’t common in copper from other potential source areas like Rajasthan this strongly suggests that at least some of the copper used by the Harapens originated in Oman that’s pretty convincing evidence anything else supporting this Oman connection yes there is archaeologists working in Oman have found a very distinctive type of harapen pottery jar at several sites there it’s large and coated with a thick layer of black clay on the inside and outside a specific harapen jar type found in Oman why the black coating the coating seems to have been applied to prevent liquids from seeping through the porous earthnware this suggests these jars were used for transporting something valuable probably liquids maybe oils wine who knows from the Indis Valley to Oman you can see one in figure 1.1.7 so Harapens were exporting something in these jars and maybe getting Omani copper in return that’s the hypothesis it looks like a two-way trade across the sea wow and does this connect with anything else we know from other ancient cultures it does actually ancient Mesopotamian texts written in ununiform script on clay tablets from the 3rd millennium B.CE so contemporary with the Harapens make several references to importing copper from a land they called Megan megan yes and based on geographical clues and other evidence scholars widely believe that Megan was the ancient name for the region of modernday Oman okay so Mesopotamians were getting copper from Omen Megan too seems so and interestingly some of those Mesopotamian texts also mention the presence of nickel in the copper coming from Megan which fits perfectly with the archaeological findings it ties it together nicely what other long-distance relationships did the Harapens have maybe with Mesopotamia itself oh yes there’s clear evidence of contact between the Harapen civilization and Mesopotamia besides the possibility of shared copper sources archaeologists have found other unmistakable Harapen objects at Mesopotamian sites like what things like harapen seals those distinctive cubicle weights made to the harapen standard harapen style dice and beautiful carnelian beads especially the long barrel-shaped ones which were a Harapen specialty so harapen goods were definitely reaching Mesopotamia no doubt about it and again the Mesopotamian texts help fill out the picture they explicitly mention contact with three key regions to their east one is Dilman dilman generally identified with the island of Bahrain and nearby coastal areas in the Persian Gulf a major trading hub then Milan which we just discussed as likely Oman and finally a place called Malua malua and that’s that’s now almost universally accepted by scholars as the Mesopotamian name for the Harapen region the Indis Valley civilization wow so the Mesopotamians knew them by name did the texts say what they got from Malua they did the texts list specific products coming from Malua things like valuable carnelon those beads again lapis lazuli probably traded through the indis from Afghanistan copper gold and various kinds of exotic timbers a shopping list from the Indis pretty much there’s even a fascinating Mesopotamian myth that mentions a distinctive bird from Malua called the Haja bird many scholars think this refers to the peacock which is native to the Indian subcontinent and would have seemed very exotic in Mesopotamia a peacock that’s amazing detail did the text say how they traveled between Mesopotamia and Malua the texts strongly imply sea travel they often describe Malua as a land of seafarers and complementing this we find numerous depictions of ships and boats on harapen seals themselves figure 1.20 shows a good example this all points towards maritime trade being crucial for these long-distance connections so ships sailing between the Indis Oman Bahrain and Mesopotamia that seems to be the picture and we even find interesting hybrid artifacts figure 1.8 shows a Mesopotamian cylinder seal but it’s carved with a bull motif that looks very much derived from Indis Valley art style and figure 1.19 shows a round Persian Gulf type seal typical of Dilman Bahrain but it features harapen style animal motifs andy was found with weights that conform to the Harapen standard it really illustrates the complex cultural mixing and economic interactions happening across this whole region map 3 gives a good overview of these interconnected sea so a sophisticated world of interaction and trade facilitated by sea travel how did they manage the practicalities of this long-distance trade making sure goods arrive safely identifying senders seals that script the weights they must have been key right absolutely crucial seals and the practice of making ceilings played a vital role in facilitating this long-distance communication and ensuring the security of traded goods how did ceilings work imagine you have a bag or maybe a container of goods you tie it shut with rope then to make sure nobody tampers with it during its long journey and also to show who sent it you’d press a lump of wet clay over the knot okay and then while the clay is still soft you firmly press one or more seals into it the seal leaves its unique impression maybe an animal motif and that line of script like sealing wax on a letter exactly the same principle if the bag arrived at its destination say in Mesopotamia and the clay sealing was still intact unbroken and showed the expected seal impressions the recipient knew the contents hadn’t been opened or messed with along the way tamperproof packaging pretty much and the seal impression itself likely conveyed the identity or the authority of the sender figure 1.22 shows a really interesting example a fired clay ceiling found at Rupar and it has impressions from multiple different seals pressed into it can you make out how many looking closely it looks like maybe three at least three distinct designs pressed into that one lump of clay right so it served as a kind of ancient authenticated label ensuring security and identifying the source a vital tool for trade and the script on these seals we keep coming back to it being undeciphered what do we actually know about it even if we can’t read it well as you see on the seals heron inscriptions are typically quite short often just a line of symbols usually placed above one of those finely carved animal motifs the bull the rhino the famous unicorn elephants tigers do we know what the script represented names goods we can only guess really some scholars think the script might have recorded the owner’s name maybe their title or affiliation the animal motif itself might have also carried meaning perhaps symbolic or maybe it served as a visual identifier for people who couldn’t read the script itself how many signs are there is it like an alphabet definitely not alphabetical most inscriptions are very brief the longest one known only has about 26 signs but archaeologists have identified a large number of unique signs in total somewhere between 375 and 400 different symbols wow that many so not an alphabet more like probably logo salabic that means each sign might represent either a whole word or perhaps a syllable similar to some other ancient scripts like Egyptian hieroglyphs or Mesopotamian ununiform in their early stages okay do we know which way they wrote left to right right to left based on careful study of how the signs are sometimes spaced or overlap on the seals particularly when a line runs out of room the general consensus is that it was normally written from right to left interesting like Hebrew or Arabic yes and we find this script not just on seals it appears on other things too like what we find it inscribed on some copper tools on the rims of large pottery storage jars on small tablets made of copper or terracotta sometimes on pieces of jewelry like bangles on bone rods and remarkably there’s evidence of what might have been a large public signboard found near a gateway at Doe Vera which seems to have had large symbols inlaid possibly with gypsum figure 1.21 shows a reconstruction a sign board like ancient advertising or directions maybe or a town name who knows and of course it’s highly probable that writing also existed on perishable materials things like palm lives bark maybe cloth which simply haven’t survived for us to find right so we might only be seeing a fraction of their writing which leads to the question how widespread was literacy could most people read and write that’s another huge unanswered question given the complexity of the script and the context where writing is found mostly seals trade goods maybe administration some scholars suspect literacy might have been restricted to certain groups merchants administrators maybe priests others argue it might have been more widespread we just don’t know an undecipited script it must hold so many secrets about their language their beliefs maybe their history frustrating now what about those standardized weights we’ve mentioned a few times how did they work and how did they ensure fair trade across such a huge area exchange and trade seem to have been meticulously regulated by a really precise and highly standardized system of weights the standardization is another hallmark of their organization what were they made of what do they look like they were typically made of a type of very hard dense stone called shirt usually carefully cut into a cubicle shape like little dice figure 1.2 shows some typical examples and interestingly they generally have no markings or inscriptions on them at all just plain cubes how did they represent different weights then by size exactly by size and mass and the system they used is fascinating the lower denominations the smaller weights followed a binary progression binary like computers in a way the sequence goes 1 2 4 8 16 32 up to maybe 12,800 units though the higher ones are rare each weight is double the previous one huh why binary good question maybe it was useful for specific types of calculations or divisions but then the higher denominations of weights seem to follow a decimal system like 160 200 320 640 multiples related to that base unit of 16 perhaps but using decimal steps a dual system binary for small stuff decimal for big stuff that’s one possibility perhaps the smaller lighter weights in the binary system were used for measuring really precise valuable things like jewelry beads maybe precious metals or spices while the heavier weights in the decimal system were used for bulkier commodities like grain or metal ingots makes sense do they have scales to use with these weights yes we found metal scale pins at some sites usually made of copper or bronze so they definitely had the balances to go with the weights allowing for accurate measurement and trade and exchange and again the fact that this exact system of weights was used across the entire vast Harapen territory it really points to a strong degree of central oversight or at the very least incredibly widely accepted conventions governing economic life it all paints a picture of a remarkably organized and complex society clear standards for building for sanitation for weights and measures so the big question who is in charge what can we infer about ancient Harapan authority about their government given the archaeological evidence well that striking uniformity we keep seeing in pottery styles and the seals the weights that standard brick ratio used everywhere from Afghanistan down to Gujarat it absolutely indicates that complex decisions were being made and were being implemented across a huge area right the strategic placement of settlements near key resources the sheer scale of labor mobilization needed for building those massive platforms and city walls it all points towards some form of effective central authority or at least highly efficient coordination but who are these organizers do they have kings emperors where are the palaces the royal inscriptions this is honestly one of the biggest puzzles and most debated topics in Harapen archaeology because unlike so many other early civilizations Egypt Mesopotamia China the Harapen archaeological record has yielded surprisingly little clear unambiguous evidence for a distinct ruling class or a centralized political power structure in the way we usually imagine it no giant statues of rulers no tombs overflowing with gold declaring I was king exactly there is a large substantial building in the citadel at Mohenjadaro that early excavators tentatively labeled a palace but crucially no particularly spectacular or definitively royal artifacts were found inside it that would confirm that function nothing that screams king lived here h okay what about that famous statue the priest king ah yes the small but beautifully carved stone statue of a bearded man wearing an embroidered robe and a headband figure 1.23 shows it it’s often called the priest king partly because it bears some resemblance to figures from Mesopotamian art that are thought to represent priests or rulers but is he definitely a priest or a king we have absolutely no idea really it’s just a label based on an external comparison we don’t understand her and ritual practices well enough to know if they even had priests in the Mesopotamian sense or how religious authority might have connected to political power it’s an iconic artifact but its true meaning is uncertain so a lack of clear evidence for rulers what theories do archaeologists have then how could such an organized society function without obvious kings well this lack of evidence has led to several different interpretations one perspective is that maybe herapin society didn’t have traditional rulers in the way we think of them perhaps it functioned along more egalitarian lines or maybe power was distributed differently perhaps among councils or kinship groups less centralized an egalitarian state or maybe city states that’s another possibility some scholars propose there might have been multiple rulers perhaps separate rulers for different major cities like Mohenjadaro Harapa Deviraa maybe reflecting regional centers of power rather than one single empire okay but then a third viewpoint argues for a single unified Harapen state proponents of this view point back to all that uniformity we discussed the artifacts the planned settlements the standardized bricks the strategically placed resource colonies as strong evidence for some kind of overarching central authority that manage this vast territory so the uniformity argues for a single state but the lack of palaces argues against it it’s a paradox some have even speculated about more complex forms of governance maybe even some form of early democratic system though that’s highly speculative or perhaps the large public structures like the great bath or the warehouses served crucial civic or economic functions that help bind society together rather than just being symbols of elite power so the nature of harpen authority remains very much an open question lots of compelling arguments on different sides but no definitive answer yet not yet it’s one of the great ongoing debates okay now let’s move towards the end of this fascinating civilization around 1,800 B.CE CE maybe a bit earlier we start to see major changes the decline of those great urban centers what happened how did it end the archaeological evidence becomes quite clear on this shift around 1800 B.CE maybe starting a bit before 1900 B.CE in some areas many of the major mature Harapen sites especially those in the core regions like Kalistan along the Gaga Hakura River seem to be gradually abandoned people just left the cities it appears so over time and interestingly at roughly the same time we see a noticeable expansion of population into new often smaller settlements in other areas particularly eastward and southward into regions like Gujarat Harana and western Uda Pradesh map four illustrates this shift in settlement patterns pretty well so a decline in the old core areas but growth in new peripheral areas a kind of dispersal exactly it suggests a significant demographic shift people moving away from the large established urban centers and what about the material culture in the sites that did remain occupied after 1900 B.CE or in these new smaller settlements did life continue as before did they still make the same Harapen stuff no and that’s a crucial point in these later sites there’s a clear transformation in the material culture many of the distinctive hallmark artifacts of the mature Harppen period start to disappear like what those distinctive standardized weights we talked about gone the intricately carved seals with their unique script they vanish the specialized types of beads like etched carnelon or long barrel beads much rarer or absent wow the key markers disappear they do long-distance trade seems to shrink dramatically the high degree of craft specialization that characterized the urban phase also declines in general you see less use of exotic imported materials pottery styles become simpler more localized and the cities themselves the buildings there’s often a noticeable deterioration in the quality and planning of house construction no more meticulous grid layouts or elaborate drainage in most places and significantly they stop building large public structures like the Great Bath or those massive warehouses so it sounds like a shift away from urbanism towards something else precisely it indicates a significant move towards a more localized rural way of life archaeologists often refer to this phase as the late Harapen period or sometimes talk about the emergence of various regional successor cultures the urban system had clearly broken down so a major decline and transformation what are the main theories trying to explain why these dramatic changes happened why did the cities fade there’s no single universally accepted answer and it was likely a combination of factors may be hitting different regions at different times or with different intensity but several major potential causes have been proposed like climate change climate change is definitely a leading candidate evidence suggests shifts in monsoon patterns potentially leading to prolonged periods of drought in some areas or changes in river flows which would have devastated the agriculture that underpinned the cities environmental factors yes alongside climate change things like widespread deforestation maybe for fuel for firing bricks or smelting metal could have led to soil erosion and environmental degradation excessive floods paradoxically could also have been devastating disrupting farming and destroying settlements and the rivers themselves the Indis is huge exactly the Indis and its major tributaries like the Gagger Hakra which supported many Harapen sites are known to shift their courses over time if a major river shifted away from a city or if a key water source dried up it could have been catastrophic so natural causes seem plausible very plausible there’s also the possibility of overuse of the landscape maybe intensive agriculture depleting soil fertility over centuries or overg grazing it’s important to remember though that some of these causes might explain the decline in specific areas but maybe not the collapse of the entire system across such a vast region right but something systemic seems to have happened given the widespread disappearance of those unifying elements we discussed the seals the script the weights exactly that widespread disappearance strongly suggests the collapse of whatever strong unifying element held the mature Harapen system together perhaps it was the sophisticated administrative structure the economic networks maybe what we could loosely call the Harapen state when that collapsed the markers of that integrated system vanished and society fragmented into more localized entities a system collapse leading to localization that seems to be the broad picture and it was a profound change it would take over a thousand years a full millennium before new large urban centers would emerge again in the Indian subcontinent and they would arise in a different region primarily the Ganga Valley now we also have those somewhat dramatic stories and archaeological findings about skeletons discovered at Mohenadaro early on these were sometimes linked to a violent end maybe an invasion weren’t they yes that’s a famous though now largely discounted part of the story early excavations particularly those by John Marshall did uncover skeletons in unusual contexts he famously described finding several scattered in a lane he dubbed dead man lane and later another group of 16 skeletons was found huddled together some still wearing ornaments sounds pretty grim how is it interpreted well this discovery combined with some interpretations of later ancient texts led to considerable speculation about a violent end for the city in 1947 the prominent archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler who we mentioned earlier made a very influential connection oh connection he linked this archaeological evidence the skeletons the fortified nature of the citadel with certain passages in the Rigveda which is a very early collection of hymns in Sanskrit associated with the arrival of Indo-Aryan speakers in the subcontinent what did the rigid say the Rigveda mentions battles describes fortified settlements called Purr and refers to the war god Indra as puddara meaning the destroyer of forts or fort destroyer ah so Wheeler connected Indra destroying forts with the end of the fortified Harapen cities precisely based on this Wheeler proposed a hypothesis that the decline of the Harapen civilization might have been caused by a large-scale invasion and deliberate destruction carried out by these incoming Indo-Aryan groups the skeletons were seen as victims of a final massacre a dramatic Aryan invasion theory but that idea has been seriously challenged since then hasn’t it it has very seriously starting in the 1960s another archaeologist Professor George Dales conducted a thorough re-examination of all the skeletal evidence from Mohenjadaro and the context in which they were found and what did he find dales raised significant questions about the massacre interpretation he pointed out that the skeletons weren’t actually all found in the same archaeological layer or level they likely didn’t all belong to a single catastrophic event in time so maybe deaths over a longer period possibly furthermore the actual positions and circumstances of many of the bodies suggested more casual even sloppy burials rather than the unburied victims of a widespread battle some seem to be tucked away in abandoned buildings or streets not a battlefield scene not really and crucially Dales emphasized the absence of what archaeologists call a destruction layer a thick layer of burning rubble and weapons that you’d expect to find across the city if it had been violently sacked and destroyed in a major conflict there was no evidence of widespread burning or signs of a final desperate defense in the citadel or the lower town so the archaeological evidence didn’t really support a massive invasion and massacre dale’s argued convincingly that it didn’t his re-evaluation significantly weakened the invasion hypothesis as the primary explanation for the Harppen decline it pointed towards more complex possibly internal or environmental factors a classic case of re-examining the evidence leading to a very different interpretation and more recently haven’t there been advances in genetics in ancient DNA studies that shed even more light on this absolutely this is where some of the most exciting recent developments have happened groundbreaking archiogenetic research particularly work done on skeletal remains from the site of Rakagari in Hana which is now recognized as possibly the largest Harapen city rocky okay what did the DNA show researchers from institutions like Deken College CCMB Hydrobad and Harvard Medical School managed to successfully extract and analyze ancient DNA from these harapen individuals and the results are fascinating what did they find about who the Harapens were the findings strongly indicate that the Harapen populations were largely indigenous to the region their genetic ancestry can be traced back within South Asia for millennia possibly as far back as 10,000 B.CE linked to earlier hunter gatherer and farming groups in the area indigenous so not migrants from somewhere else the primary ancestry seems deeprooted in South Asia and the research shows a strong genetic continuity between these harapen individuals and the modern populations of South Asia what does that mean for the invasion theory critically these genetic findings largely rule out the theory of a massive demographically significant intrusive migration of step pastoralists often associated with early Indo-Aryan speakers that simply overwhelmed and replaced the harapen population or destroyed their civilization through conquest the genetic signal doesn’t support that model so no big invasion wave showing up in the genes not in the way the old theory proposed instead the genetic evidence suggests a much more complex picture of gradual population mixture and cultural change over a long period it suggests assimilation of people from neighboring regions maybe some gene flow from the west over time but without a major population replacement or a sharp break in the underlying genetic ancestry of the subcontinent interesting and did the genes move the other way too yes the studies also indicated some spread of Herapen related ancestry westward into Iran and Central Asia suggesting Herapen people were also moving and mixing beyond the Indis Valley and they even reconstructed faces didn’t they they did using the skeletal data advanced 3D facial reconstruction techniques were applied and the reconstructed faces of these Harapen individuals from Rakiari show a remarkable physical similarity to the modern-day people living in the same region of Hariana wow so visible continuity over 5,000 years it strongly suggests a long period of unbroken biological continuity in that region source three in our material provides more details and some visuals of this really significant research that’s truly revolutionary stuff so the narrative of a sudden violent end caused by invaders seems largely refuted now by both careful reanalysis of old evidence and this powerful new genetic data it points back towards those more complex internal and environmental factors for the decline that’s the current understanding yes much more complex much less dramatic perhaps but likely closer to the truth okay let’s shift our focus one last time away from the rise and fall and towards how we actually came to know about this amazing civilization in the first place it was lost for so long what was a process of rediscovering this forgotten world the story of the rediscovery is almost as fascinating as the civilization itself it involves accidental finds initial misunderstandings and then the gradual piecing together of clues so after the cities were abandoned they fell into ruin were gradually buried by silt sand and later occupation debris over millennia all knowledge of their existence their name their history just faded away later people living in the region might occasionally have come across strange artifacts maybe a finely carved seal turned up by plowing or unusual patterns of bricks eroding out of a mound but they would have had no idea of their true age or who made them just mysterious relics from an unknown past until modern archaeology began enter Alexander Cunningham right the first director general of the archaeological survey of India in the mid- 19th century he was crucial in early explorations how did he encounter these herap and remains cunningham was a real pioneer mapping and surveying ancient sites across India but his approach was heavily influenced by his deep respect for written historical texts like what text particularly the detailed accounts left by ancient Chinese Buddhist pilgrims like Sununzang who had traveled through India centuries earlier and described the locations of important Buddhist monasteries and cities so he used those texts like a guide map very much so as a result his early archaeological investigations tended to focus primarily on sites that were mentioned in these historical records mostly dating to the early historic period starting around the 6th century B.C.E and later medieval times and Harapa Harapa the site itself wasn’t mentioned by the Chinese pilgrims it wasn’t known as an early historic city so it didn’t really fit neatly into Cunningham’s established framework of what constituted an important historically documented ancient site so you overlooked it not entirely harapen artifacts were actually found during his surveys in the Punjab most famously a distinctive Harapen seal was brought to his attention he even sketched it did he realize how old it was no that was the problem he didn’t recognize its immense antiquity he largely believed based on the texts he trusted that significant urban history in India really began much later with the rise of cities in the Ganga Valley which is the focus of chapter 2 in our source material so he tried to place this strange Harapan seal within his familiar time frame of later historical periods misinterpreting its unique script and animal motif figure 1.24 shows his sketch and his attempts to date it incorrectly so his reliance on known historical texts actually blinded him in a way to the significance of something entirely new and much much older it highlights a common challenge in discovery our existing knowledge frameworks can sometimes prevent us from recognizing the truly unexpected and speaking of finding things these sites often appear as mounds in the landscape right how do those form how do archaeologists read the layers yes archaeological sites especially those occupied for long periods often form physible mounds sometimes called tells in the Middle East these mounds are built up gradually over centuries or millennia through the accumulation of human occupation debris debris like rubbish rubbish yes but also collapsed buildings ash from hearths bits of broken pottery lost tools food remains basically the physical remnants of living when people live in the same spot they build houses often of mud brick which eventually decays or collapses they discard things they rebuild this continuous cycle creates distinct layers of soil and cultural material layers like a cake exactly like a layer cake these layers or strata build up over time and if a site is abandoned for a while you might get a layer of windblown sand or sterile soil forming before people move back in and how do archaeologists use these layers this is the fundamental principle of strategraphy in an undisturbed mound the lowest layers are the oldest and the layers above are progressively younger like reading the pages of a history book from bottom to top by carefully excavating these layers one by one and meticulously recording the artifacts and features found within each specific layer archaeologists can reconstruct the chronological sequence of occupation at the site and understand how life there changed over time figure 1.25 gives a simple illustration of strategraphy so later archaeologists presumably paying closer attention to these layers started to realize that Cunningham’s mysterious seals were coming from the bottom layers the really old ones precisely in the early decades of the 20th century archaeologists like Diaramani were excavating at Harapa and they began uncovering more of these distinctive seals along with unique pottery and other artifacts consistently from layers that were clearly much older than the known early historic levels this gradually forced the realization that they were dealing with something entirely different a previously unknown and very ancient civilization and then Muhenjidaro came into the picture yes around the same time another archaeologist recalled Das Banerjee was working hundreds of miles away at Mohenjidaro in Sind and he started finding remarkably similar artifacts more seals similar pottery the fact that these unique items were turning up in two such distant locations strongly suggested they belong to a single widespread archaeological culture the pieces started clicking together they did and the director general of the ASI at the time John Marshall put it all together in 1924 he made a dramatic announcement to the world the discovery of a major new ancient civilization in the Indis Valley it was a bombshell as one historian noted Marshall effectively made India 3,000 years older overnight wow and how was this new civilization received was it immediately accepted a key factor in its acceptance was the discovery shortly after of similar unmistakably harapen seals at archaeological sites in Mesopotamia in contexts that were already welldated this provided crucial external confirmation that this newly found Indis civilization was indeed contemporary with the wellestablished civilizations of Mesopotamia dating back to the 3rd millennium B.C.E okay so Marshall announced it he’s often seen as bringing a more modern approach to Indian archaeology compared to Cunningham how did his methods differ marshall was indeed the first professionally trained archaeologist to lead the ASI he brought valuable field experience from working in Greece and Cree and while he was definitely interested in finding spectacular objects he also had a broader interest in understanding the patterns of everyday life in ancient societies not just the elite aspects that sounds like a step forward it was in many ways however his actual excavation technique while systematic in one sense had a significant flaw by modern standards he tended to excavate large horizontal areas of a site digging down in uniform levels across the whole area rather than following the natural contours of the individual stratographic layers what’s wrong with digging in flat layers the problem is that the actual layers of occupation in a mound are rarely perfectly flat or horizontal they slope they dip they get cut into by later pits so by digging in arbitrary horizontal slices Marshall often inadvertently mixed artifacts together from different real layers from different time periods within the same excavation unit this meant a lot of valuable contextual information exactly which objects were found together in which specific layer was lost ah so he recognized this civilization but his digging method potentially blurred some of the finer historical details within it it sounds like archaeological techniques kept evolving after him wheeler for instance yes sir Mortimer Wheeler who became director general in 1944 brought a much more rigorous almost military precision to excavation methodology he strongly advocated for the importance of meticulously following the natural strategraphy of a site digging layer by layer following their actual shape exactly rather than imposing artificial horizontal levels he emphasized carefully recording the precise three-dimensional context of every single artifact and feature within its specific layer this allowed for a much more accurate understanding of the site’s development over time and the relationships between different periods and activities a more scientific approach definitely and his tenure coincided with another major event the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 this left the two most famous Harapen sites Harapa and Mohenjadaro in the newly formed nation of Pakistan so India lost the main known sites yes which understandably spurred Indian archaeologists to intensify their search for and excavation of Harapen sites within the borders of India this led to a wave of important discoveries and excavations at sites like Kalibangan in Rajasthan Lfal and Dolivera in Gujarat Raki Gari and Harana and many others exploration and excavation continue actively in both India and Pakistan today and has the focus of research changed over the decades yes significantly early work was often focused on establishing cultural sequences which pottery types came before others etc now while that’s still important research questions are much broader archaeologists are trying to understand the logic behind settlement locations the functions of different types of artifacts and buildings trade networks social structures environmental interactions a more holistic approach much more and since the 1980s there’s been a welcome increase in international collaboration teams from different countries often work together especially at major sites like Harapa and Mohen Shadaro bringing diverse expertise and employing the latest modern scientific techniques like residue analysis on pottery isotopic analysis of bones remote sensing and of course the ancient DNA work we discussed they aim for detailed analysis of all available evidence not just the fancy artifacts wheeler’s own account of his first visit to Harapa gives a vivid sense of both the potential and the challenges archaeologists faced even then it sounds like piecing together the past is this ongoing complex process with methods always improving but there must still be inherent problems and limitations when trying to understand a civilization like the hurapan especially with an undeciphered script oh absolutely huge challenges remain one of the most fundamental is that our understanding is still overwhelmingly based on the material evidence that happens to survive pottery stone tools metal objects buildings bones because the script is silent because the script is silent yes and also because organic materials things like wood textiles basketry leather most food remains rarely survive for thousands of years especially in the climate of the Indis Valley these are the things that can tell us so much about clothing daily activities diet details but they’re mostly gone so we have an incomplete picture bias towards durable materials exactly and another bias to consider is what actually gets left behind to be found most of the objects archaeologists find were probably things that were broken worn out and discarded as rubbish or perhaps things that were accidentally lost not the best stuff probably not valuable intact objects were likely cherished repaired reused passed down through generations or perhaps they were deliberately hidden in hordes and never recovered so the archaeological record might not always be fully representative of what was typical or most important to the people themselves it’s often the trash of the past we’re studying that’s a good point and even with the objects we do find figuring out what they were used for must be tricky sometimes you mentioned classifying them how complex is that it can be very complex classifying signs by the material they’re made of stone clay metal bone shell that’s usually straightforward but determining their original function that’s much harder how do you tell if something was a tool or an ornament or maybe had some ritual purpose it’s often based on a combination of factors we look at the object’s shape anywhere marks on it that might indicate how it was used we compare it to similar objects found in other ancient cultures where the function might be better understood or even to tools and implements used in the present day that principle of analogy again and where it was found matters too right the context context is absolutely crucial was the object found in the ruins of a house a workshop a public building like the great bath a burial that context provides vital clues about its potential use and significance sometimes we have to rely on indirect evidence like seeing depictions of clothing in terracotta figurines or sculptures to get an idea of textiles because actual fragments of cotton cloth are incredibly rare developing these frames of reference comparing finds understanding context it’s essential remember Cunningham and that first seal he couldn’t understand it because he lacked the necessary cultural and comparative context right and I imagine the problems of interpretation become even more difficult when you try to reconstruct things like religious beliefs or social structures the more abstract parts of culture definitely this is where archaeology often treads onto more speculative ground reconstructing religious beliefs and practices is particularly challenging without supporting texts how have archaeologists tried to do it for the harapens early archaeologists sometimes interpreted unusual or striking objects as having religious significance often by drawing parallels with later Indian traditions or with beliefs from other ancient cultures which as we’ve said can be risky like the mother goddesses exactly numerous terra cotta figurines of women often heavily ornamented were found early excavators widely labeled these as mother goddesses assuming they represented fertility cults similar to figures found in the ancient New or Mediterranean figure 1.26 shows a typical example but is it really a goddess or just a doll or portrait we don’t know for sure and the priest king statue again yes that stone statuary of a seated bearded man figure 1.23 was interpreted as a priest king based on perceived similarities to Mesopotamian figures but again it’s an interpretation imposed from outside structures like the Great Bath or certain platforms found at sites like Kabangan that had pits containing ash and charcoal were often interpreted as having clear ritual significance maybe for ritual purification or fire worship fire altars what about the seals did they look for religious clues there yes the seals are a major focus for trying to understand beliefs some seals depict scenes that look like rituals or ceremonies many show plant motifs which has led to suggestions of nature worship and then there are the mythical or composite animals especially the famous unicorn which appears on so many seals what did that represent and the protoshiva seal yes that’s one of the most famous and debated seals figure 1.27 shows it it depicts a figure seated in a cross-legged yogic-like posture wearing a horned headdress and surrounded by animals an elephant a tiger a rhinoceros a buffalo and deer below the seat marshall interpreted this as a prototype of the later Hindu god Shiva specifically in his aspect as Pashupapati the lord of animals the three-headed figure it might appear so or it could be a central face with horns or elaborate headdress elements to the sides and along with this archaeologists also found numerous small conicle stone objects at various sites which some classified as linga’s abstract phallic symbols also associated with the worship of Shiva in later Hinduism but you said drawing parallels with later traditions is problematic it is many of these reconstructions rely heavily on this strategy of moving from the known later Hinduism to the unknown Harapen beliefs while this might be plausible for understanding basic tools or maybe some social structures that have continuity applying it directly to religious symbols and complex deities across thousands of years is much more speculative beliefs change symbols change their meaning so the protosha interpretation might not be correct it’s definitely debated for example while the Rigveda the earliest Hindu text does mention a god called Rudra who is considered a precursor to Shiva the description of Rudra in those hymns doesn’t really match the figure on the seal rudra isn’t typically described as Pashapati or as a meditating yogi in the Rigveda so the connection is not straightforward any alternative ideas about the figure on the seal some scholars have suggested it might represent a shaman a figure believed to mediate between the human and spirit worlds often associated with animals and trans states or perhaps it represents something else entirely a dity or spirit whose identity is now lost to us and those conicle stones lingus or something else that’s another example of ambiguity figure 1.28 shows some of these small polished conicle stones early interpretations often jump to classifying them as lingus but as Ernest Mckai himself pointed out in an excerpt provided in our source material they could just as easily have been used as game pieces perhaps for board games or maybe they were weights or architectural ornaments or something else entirely practical without context it’s hard to be sure so it really highlights the challenges we have the objects but deciphering their meaning especially religious meaning is incredibly difficult without text exactly it requires careful consideration of context comparison and acknowledging the limits of our interpretation so wrapping up this deep dive into the Harapen civilization what have we actually managed to achieve in understanding them and what are the big remaining questions i think it’s fair to say we’ve achieved a pretty good understanding of the Harapan economy their subsistence strategies craft production trade networks we have valuable insights into their urban planning their technological skills and some clues about social differences even if the exact nature of their social and political structure remains hazy we have a general picture of how the civilization functioned on a practical level but huge gaps remain huge gaps remain the biggest of course is the undeciphered script if we could read it how much more would it reveal about their language their history their beliefs their own perspectives that’s the million-doll question but even beyond the script many reconstructions remain somewhat speculative the precise function of the great bath the actual extent of literacy the degree of social differentiation or lack thereof reflected in burials the specific roles and status of men versus women gender roles seem particularly hard to get at very difficult from the material evidence alone there’s definitely a need for more focused research on questions of gender and also on the complex relationship between the late harapen cultures and the emergence of the Vadic traditions that followed how much continuity was there how much change and definitions matter too like shaman you mentioned right just to clarify a shaman is generally understood by anthropologists as a type of religious or spiritual specialist found in many cultures who is believed to have the ability to enter altered states of consciousness to interact with the spirit world often for purposes like healing divination or communicating with ancestors or nature spirits whether that concept accurately applies to any herppen figures is again speculative The timelines timeline one and two in our resources give a good summary of the major periods and discoveries we’ve touched upon so to sum up our journey through the Harapen world we’ve seen a civilization that flourished for millennia covering a vast area they built incredibly wellplanned cities with sophisticated infrastructure they managed complex subsistence systems and engaged in specialized crafts and extensive trade connecting with distant lands like Oman and Mesopotamia they left behind unique artifacts seals weights pottery and that tantalizing unread script and the story of how we know about them is just as important the evolution of archaeology the re-evaluation of evidence like the massacre theory and the impact of new science like archenetics absolutely it highlights how archaeology allows us to reconstruct surprisingly detailed pictures of the past even without written records but also how our interpretations are constantly evolving as new discoveries are made and old data is looked at with fresh eyes and new techniques it’s a dynamic process there are clearly still so many unanswered questions so much more to learn about this fascinating lost civilization definitely the research continues and who knows what future discoveries might reveal and on that note here’s a final thought for our listeners to ponder given the impressive sophistication we’ve seen in the planning and organization of Harapen cities what underlying societal values or core beliefs do you think might have been most crucial for enabling their long period of success and stability and conversely what combination of factors be their environmental shifts internal social changes or external pressures might have ultimately proved most critical in contributing to the transformation and decline of the unique urban way of life something to think about thanks for joining us.
Overview
The Harappan Civilization, also known as the Indus Valley Civilization, is a significant yet often overlooked ancient culture that thrived in the Indus River Valley. This study guide will cover key aspects of the civilization, including its timeline, geography, subsistence strategies, urban planning, social structure, trade networks, and the ongoing challenges in understanding this ancient society.
Key Topics
1. Timeline of the Harappan Civilization
- Early Harappan Period (6000 BCE – 2600 BCE): Characterized by gradual development from small farming communities.
- Mature Harappan Period (2600 BCE – 1900 BCE): The peak of urbanization, marked by large cities and sophisticated infrastructure.
- Late Harappan Period (1900 BCE – 1300 BCE): Decline and transformation of the civilization.
2. Geography
- The civilization spanned parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, including regions like Punjab, Sindh, and Gujarat.
- The Indus River Valley was crucial for agriculture and trade.
3. Subsistence Strategies
- Agriculture: Cultivation of wheat, barley, lentils, chickpeas, and millets. Evidence of intercropping techniques.
- Animal Husbandry: Domesticated animals included cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Evidence of hunting and fishing.
- Food Processing: Use of grinding tools and cooking vessels made from stone, metal, and terracotta.
4. Urban Planning and Infrastructure
- Cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were well-planned with a grid layout, raised platforms, and advanced drainage systems.
- The Great Bath and warehouses indicate public and administrative functions.
5. Social Structure
- Evidence of social stratification is limited; burials were generally simple with few grave goods.
- Artifacts suggest a degree of social organization, but the exact nature of governance remains debated.
6. Trade Networks
- Extensive trade connections with regions like Mesopotamia and Oman, facilitated by maritime routes.
- Standardized weights and seals were used for trade, indicating a regulated economic system.
7. Artifacts and Craft Production
- Harappan seals, weights, pottery, and intricate beadwork showcase advanced craftsmanship.
- Specialized production centers, such as Chanhudaro for bead-making, highlight economic specialization.
8. Writing and Language
- The Harappan script remains undeciphered, with around 375-400 unique symbols.
- The script appears on seals, pottery, and possibly other perishable materials.
9. Decline of the Civilization
- The decline around 1800 BCE is attributed to various factors, including climate change, environmental degradation, and possible internal social changes.
- Theories of invasion have been largely discounted by recent archaeological and genetic evidence.
10. Rediscovery of the Civilization
- The civilization was rediscovered in the 19th century through archaeological surveys, leading to significant excavations in the 20th century.
- Key figures in the rediscovery include Alexander Cunningham, John Marshall, and Mortimer Wheeler.
Important Questions to Consider
- What were the core societal values that enabled the Harappan civilization’s success?
- How did environmental changes contribute to the decline of urban life in the Indus Valley?
- What implications does the undeciphered script have for our understanding of Harappan culture and society?
Conclusion
The Harappan Civilization represents a complex and sophisticated society with advanced urban planning, trade networks, and subsistence strategies. Despite the challenges in interpreting their culture due to the undeciphered script and limited archaeological evidence, ongoing research continues to shed light on this fascinating ancient civilization.