Origin and development of Harappan Civilization –The Earliest Urbanisation in South Asia

1. Harappan Civilization –The Earliest
Urbanisation in South Asia
Dr. A.Asthana

2. EARLY CIVILIZATIONS OF THE OLD WORLD

4. Harappan Archaeology
• The Beginnings: pre-identification phase

5. The Beginnings: pre-identification phase
• Earliest recorded visit to the mound at Harappa – by Charles
Mason, an antiquarian, in 1829 – identified it with Sangla, an
ancient city visited by Alexander the Great.
• Lt. Col. James Todd noted the site of Kalibangan, as “Kali-
Bang” in 1829.
• Sir Alexander Burnes, a British Lieutenant in 1831 visited the
site of Amri and described it as an archaeological site.
• Burnes also visited Harappa, 4 years after Mason.
• Although many remains were found by him, he could not fix
any chronology to them.
• Alexander Cunningham, the first Director General of
Archaeological Survey visited Harappa on 3 occasions, in
1853, 1856 and 1875

6. • Reports the site as 4 km in circumference, 12 – 18 m in height, noted with
regret that many of the features noted during his earlier visits removed to form
ballast for the railway
• Ballast for nearly 100 km of Lahore-Multan railway was laid with the bricks
from Harappa
• Carried out a small excavation, prepared the first site plan, christened
principal divisions at Harappa as A-B, C, D and E, still used today
The first known Indus seal; drawing by A. Cunningham (1875); the impression is modern

7. • At least five seals of Harappan civilization were published prior to
the identification, but their significance not understood.
• Two more seals, from the private collections, known; one was
purchased in Cairo in 1912, but probably from Damascus or from
nearby region (Bissing 1927).
• Other important sites reported are: Sutkagen-dor (1875 & 1876);
Dabarkot (1898); Periano Ghundai (1897); Rana Ghundai (1898).
• Sir John Marshall, who was appointed as DG of ASI in 1902 was
attracted towards the publication of three Harappan seals, being
studied them at British Museum.
• Two assessments of Harappa were made; one in 1909 by Pandit
Hira Nanda Sastri and the other in 1914 by Harold Hargreaves. The
latter eventually led to its excavation in 1920.
• Kalibangan was visited in 1917 by Luigi Pio Tessitori, an Italian
scholar, who carried out a small excavation in 1918.

8. • Excavation at Harappa started in 1920-21; in 1923-24
excavation at Mohenjodaro started.
• The huge site of Mohenjodaro was discovered by D.R.
Bhandarkar in 1911-12.
• R.D. Banerji later explored Mohenjodaro and brought to light
the significance of the site.

9. Harappan Archaeology
• The Beginnings: identification phase

10. • R.D. Banerji noted the relationship between the finds from
Harappa and Mohenjodaro.
• In 1924, Marshall compared the finds from both the sites,
published an account in the Illustrated London News.
• Immediately after that news, Prof. Sayce pointed the close
similarity of the finds with some Sumerian antiquities from
Southern Mesopotamia.
• Later, Gadd and Sidney gave similarity of pictographic and
other antiquities found in the two countries.
• E. Mackay working at Kish, also noted similarity of some
ceramic wares at Mohenjodaro and at Kish and seal found in the
debris beneath a temple of Hammurabi’s time.
• Appearance of seals, some with script, from Mesopotamian sites
like Ur, Kish, etc., established the contacts between the two
great civilizations.
• A general chronology of the Harappan civilization emerged
based on the dates available from Mesopotamia.

11. • These discoveries led to several explorations, of particular interest was
in Sindh.
• Several sites were discovered by N.G. Majumdar during 1929-30 and
1930-31: Chanhudaro, Amri, Ghazi Shah, Lohumjo-daro, Ali Murad,
Pandi Wahi, etc.
• The excavation at Harappa continued up to 1940-41; at Mohenjodaro
ended in 1938.
• In 1937, the large Harappan period cemetery was discovered at
Harappa, known famously as Cemetery R-37. After Independence of
India in 1947, there were only a few sites of Harappan origin.
• Prolonged explorations carried out in various parts of the country – dry
bed of Rivers Ghaggar, Drisadvati; Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat
brought to light a large number of sites.
• This includes two of the five largest Harappan sites in the Indian sub-
continent – Dholavira and Rakhigarhi.
• Other prominent sites that were excavated include Kalibangan,
Banawali, Lothal, Surkotada, Alamgirpur, Hulas, Kunal, etc.
• These excavations brought to light the early, mature and late Harappan
phases.

12. Chronological framework of
the Indian subcontinent
from the early farming
culture onwards
Bhirana (P-I)
Saraswati
Bhirana (P-II)
Saraswati system

13. Mehrgarh, Pakistan - 9000 BP (7000 or
6500 BC) seasonal settlement at the base
of the Bolan pass
Early food producing era:
beginnings of the long term
processes that provide the stable
foundation of a state level society

14. Mehrgarh,Pakistan mud brick houses, burials
with ornaments traded from great distances,
domesticated plants and animals, including
barley, wheat, cattle (zebu - Bos indicus),
sheep and goats.

15. Mehrgarh house types

16. Mehrgarh, houses from the end of the
pre-pottery Neolithic

17. Wheat impressions
in mud brick
Sickle with chert blades
set in bitumen - the
wood handle is not
preserved
Barley impressions
in mud brick

18. Mehrgarh wild animals
Mehrgarh domesticated animals

19. Burials with bitumen
coated baskets, ornaments
and tools as offerings
Mehrgarh burials, pit with side
chamber closed up with mud
bricks

20. Mehrgarh - ground stone adzes, mortar and pestle with red ochre

21. Shell, limestone, turquoise, lapis
lazuli beads as burial offerings

22. Mehrgarh burial, with young goats, and
ornaments of exotic materials - marine
shell, turquoise, lapis lazuli, steatite

23. Mehrgarh - beads and ornaments of copper, carnelian, marine
shell, fired and unfired steatite and jasper stone drills

24. Mehrgarh - blades rejoined but missing core, soft stone inlay, and bone tools

25. Mother of Pearl
from Oman
Engina mendicaria - Makran
Turbinella pyrum,
from Karachi coast
Marine shell bangles and other marine shell beads
from different coastal areas indicate two different
trade networks

26. Mehrgarh, Chalcolithic period (5500-
3300 BC) - goods interred with the
dead decrease, very few ornaments or
utensils, - terracotta figurines show
increasing amounts of ornaments
Regionalization Era: beginning
of the short term changes that
define the nature of integration
and the dominant communities
who maintain social order

27. Terracotta figurines reveal
distinctive personal
ornamentation and clothing,
and headdress styles
Mehrgarh, Baluchistan

28. increasingly sophisticated
pottery production and copper
working
Grey ware, fish motif bowl
Polychrome jar, with geometric
designs

29. Early Harappan Sites
Regional Settlement patterns
- two or three levels of settlement
hierarchy, large regional centers,
smaller villages, and camps of
pastoral communities or traders
Sothi / Kalibangan
Kot Dijian
Amrian
RSW / B&RW
Nal
Faiz Mohd. Grey

32. Mature Harappan Sites
Integration Era:
period of state level
control and
stratification, major
changes in social
organization, bringing
together diverse
populations in cities or
large settlements.

35. WELL PLANNED CITY LAYOUT OF HARAPPAN CITIES AND TOWNS

36. Harappa, Pakistan
+150 hectares
Mohenjo Daro, Pakistan
+250 hectares

37. Mohenjodaro, Great Bath area

38. Mohenjodaro, A part of the city

39. Rakhigarhi, Dist. Hissar,
Haryana, India +107 hectares
Harappan mounds RGR 1-6

40. Ganweriwala, Cholistan,
Pakistan, 80 hectare
spread of pottery on
several large sand
dunes, few baked bricks
and wedge shaped well
bricks on the surface or
in section

41. Dholavira, Gujarat, +70 hectares

42. Standardisation of bricks and
monumental architecture

43. Well planned streets

44. Toy carts
Wide streets, with
drains and traffic
controls

45. Narrow streets and drains

46. (i) latrines in each house with water
pot for washing
(ii)small jars for dipping water are
often found in the latrines

47. Private wells, oval and
pipal leaf shapes

48. Standardisation of pottery

49. Standardisation of pottery

50. Standardisation of pottery

51. Standardisation of pottery

52. Copper Metallurgy,
based on multiple
sources of copper, and
tin
Copper Metallurgy, crucibles and
slag

53. Copper tools and weapons: Copper
arrow points and bone link shafts
Bagasara mounted copper blades
and steatite cutting saw from
Harappa

54. Copper tools and weapons

55. Copper objects

56. Plate, canister, and kohl jar
Copper bangles

57. Use of copper and bronze

58. Harappa
Chagai Hills
N. Gujarat
N. Waziristan
N. Rajasthan
Lead isotope plot for copper ores and artifacts
2.37
2.39
2.41
2.43
2.45
2.47
2.49
0.82 0.84 0.86 0.88 0.9 0.92
Pb207/206
Pb208/206
200 km
Arabian Sea
Oman
error bars

59. Weights, base unit of 13.63 gms
Bone tools Chert blades

60. Weights double as they
increase from
1:2:4:8:16:32 etc
16th ratio = 13.63 grams

61. Truncated
spherical weights
and chert weight
manufacture

62. Acquiring of
banded chert
from Rohri Hills

63. Antiquities of shell, faience, ivory

64. Bangles

65. Dancing girl,
bronze figurineFemale burials
with shell bangles

66. Nagwada ladles,
bangles, inlay

67. Gola Dhoro (Bagasra)
shell bangle
manufacturing areas,
finished and unfinished
bangles and other shell
artifacts

68. Over fired bangles and
canisters
Stoneware Bangle making in restricted
area of the site of Mohenjodaro

69. Stoneware Bangle
making-control at all
stages of
manufacture

70. Hypothetical reconstruction
by Halim and Vidale, based
on workshop debris, but the
technology for making the
clay and for firing the bangles
is still unknown

71. Bangles were inscribed after firing, grey
black or red, cracked discarded bangle
with no inscription from Harappa

72. Faience Bangles
Harappan compact Faience, partly
vitrified quartz, made from reground
frit, <30 micron grain size, fired at 940
C high to low porosity and different
degrees of vitrification

73. Faience Vessel and ornaments

74. Faience moulded
animal figurines
and button seal
from Harappa

75. Bead making starts with Agate nodules
unheated and heat treated

76. Ernestite and chert drills -
and specialized grinding
stones for shaping the
drilled beads

77. Ernestite and chert drills
and manufacturing debris
related to the production of
carnelian and jasper beads

78. Tapered Cylindrical drills
and constricted cylindrical
drills

79. Bead Drill holes studied using
silicone impressions

80. Harappan Period, 2600-1900 BC
Straight and stepped drilling with constricted
cylindrical drills of Ernestite

81. Carnelian belt from Mohenjodaro and other gold and agate jewelry

82. Carnelian belt from Mohenjodaro
Long carnelian and agate
beads from royal burials
at Ur, Mesopotamia

83. Impressions from carnelian bead from royal burial
at Ur and one from Harappa compared to a local
Mesopotamian cylinder seal drill hole
Ur bead Harappa bead

84. Drill bits and Long Carnelian Beads

85. Raw Material for drill bits
Drill bit from Dholavir

86. Guneri, Kutch

87. Exquisite jewelry

88. Allahdino Hoard

90. Modern bead making at Khambhat

91. Etched carnelian beads - white design
made with alakali and organic glue
made from the kirar - caper tree
Bleaching breaks down
the surface and looks
etched after thousands
of years in the soil

92. Silk thread inside wire necklace from
Harappa, 2450 BC
SEM of modern tussar
silk from India
SEM of ancient silk

93. Gold jewelry, made with highly specialized
techniques of soldering and joining
Amulets

94. Beads, gold & silver jewellery from Mandi, U.P.

95. Jewellery from Mandi, U.P.

96. Steatite necklace and
bead pot with variety
of beads

97. Steatite

98. Raw steatite

99. Acquiring of steatite
from various sources

100. Limestone pillar
elements
Harappa
Mohenjodaro
Dholavira, in situ
Dholavira Dholavira
Dholavira, various examples

101. Ancient Banded Limestone Quarry near Dholavira

103. Acquiring of
limestone
from various
sources

104. Harappan Script
• Objects carrying Harappan script – 4 to 5,000 on over a dozen
media – steatite, faience and metal seals; clay seal
impressions, pots & potsherds, copper plates, incised shells,
ivory cones and rods, stone and metal bangles, copper
weapons, stones, etc.
• Longest inscription has 17 symbols.
• Estimated number of symbols 300-400.
• Written from right to left, other types also found, e.g.,
boustrophedon.

105. Standardised seals with Harappan script

106. more than 65% with unicorn
motif - most widespread
community or officials -
possibly merchants
Seals with animal motifs
and Indus script, may
represent ruling elites -
landowners, merchants,
ritual specialists

107. Mohenjodaro, double staircase building

108. Small and large seals
Four different unicorn seal impression on
a clay sealing indicates corporate
ownership or centralized bureaucracy

109. Seal making at Mohenjodaro
outline of unicorn and seal with
erased script

110. Seal making at Harappa

111. Seal carving styles and
regional variations
(cf. Rissman 1989)

112. SEM of seal carving to
show distinctive crafting
and different tool types

113. Harappan script

114. Harappan script

115. Terracotta antiquities

116. Terracotta antiquities
Sandstone figures

117. Mesopotamian Contacts
• Early Dynastic Period – a land knows as Meluhha – attested by Cuneiform
records.
• Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 B.C.)
• The ships from Meluhha
• The ships from Magan
• The ships from Dilmun
• He made tie-up alongside quay of Akkad.
• Dilmun – Island of Bahrain and the near shores of the Arabian Peninsula.
• Magan – Oman, and perhaps part of the Iranian coast around the Straits of
Hormuz.
• Meluhha – Greater Indus region including the Harappan Civilization.
• Cuneiform documents of this period contains 76 citations to Meluhha,
mentioning it beyond Magan and associated with Harappan Civilization.
• Objects of elite use were imported from Meluhha.

118. ROYAL INSCRIPTION COMMEMORATING DEFEAT OF MAGAN, MELUKHAM, ELAM(?),
AND AMURRU, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF REGULAR OFFERINGS TO HIS STATUE;
SCHOOL TEXT?
MS in Neo Sumerian and Old Babylonian on clay,
Sumer, 2100-1800 BC
The text was copied from a Sargonic royal inscription on
a statue in the Ur III or early Old Babylonian period. This
is one of fairly few references to the Indus civilisation on
tablets.
The 3 best known references are:
Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BC) referring to ships from
Meluhha, Magan and Dilmun;
Naram-Sin (2254-2218 BC) referring to rebels to his
rule, listing the rebellious kings, including "(..)ibra,
man of Melukha (Meluhha)"; and
Gudea of Lagash (2144-2124 BC) referring to
Meluhhans that came from their country and sold
gold dust, carnelian, etc.
There are further references in literary texts. After
ca.1760 BC Melukha is not mentioned any more.

119. Dilmun
Magan
Meluhha
AGADE

120. Mesopotamian Contacts
• Evidences
• Presence of Harappan artefacts, especially some seals with
script from Ur, Kish and other sites.
• Mature Harappan Pottery is common at sites in Oman, the
Emirates and on Bahrain.
• Also a number of Harappan style cubical weights occur.
• Recent excavation at Ra’s al-Junayz – abundance of Harappan
fine Red Ware pottery, some with Harappan script, a copper
stamp seal of Harappan type with unicorn motif.
• Many such sites are awaiting for the archaeologists spade to
uncover the numerous evidences for intercourse of these two
great civilizations.

121. Cuneiform attestations to imports from Meluhha (Indus Valley)
Early Dynastic (c. 2500 B.C.) to Isin-Larsa Period (c. 1900-1800 B.C.)

122. Sealing from Umma
Seal from Kish, Akkadian
Seal from Nippur, Kassite
Seal from Ur
Etched carnelian beads
from Mesopotamian sitesImpression of a round
stamp seal, Mesopotamia

123. Persian Gulf type seals from Susa
Harappan artifacts from Ur

124. Harappan weights are found
from:
1. Ras al Qal’a, Persian Gulf
2. Shimal in Oman
Larsa period text from Ur:
• 13,100 mana of Dilmun is
equivalent to 611 gin 6 2/3
mana of Ur standard
• Hence it was possible to
calculate the Dilmun mana to
be equivalent to 1,371.5 to
1,376.8 gms
• Surprisingly, this is equivalent
to multiple of hundred in
Harappan weight system
• And a Harappan weight of the
exact measurement found
from Ras al Qal’a

125. Contacts with Mesopotamia

126. COPPER BUN
INGOT

127. Sur
Ra’s al-Hadd
Ra’s
al-Jinz

129. Queen Puabi’s gold flower headdress and carnelian,
gold and lapis lazuli bead cap and belts
(Early Dynastic Period c. 2500 B.C.)

130. Queen Puabi’s male attendants
wore, one gold earring, and
headbands or necklaces with
gold, lapis and carnelian beads
(the long carnelian beads are of
the Harappan types)

131. Allahdino
Mari
Dholavira
Harappa
Mohenjodaro
Ur

133. Long barrel
cylindrical beads
from Mari, Syria
Reserved Slip
Ware, Mari

134. Akkadian Period
2350 (2371) -2200 (2150)B.C. - FIRST EMPIRE,, Sargon of
Akkad (Agade), son of a priestess and pastoral-nomad,
north central Mesopotamia, Semitic speaking rulers
bronze mask of Naram Sin - last major king

135. Impression of an Akkadian cylinder
seal, the inscription states that it
belonged to “Su-ilisu, Meluhha
interpreter”

136. Harappan beads from Akkadian burials at Ur, 2200-2100 BC

137. Mari
Ebla
Qatna
Damascus
Major trade networks

138. Lothal
Dholavira
Mohenjodaro
Harappa

139. SANAULI: Late Harappan
Tradition continues

140. Burial Pottery
Burial Pottery, early burials with
elaborately painted pottery that was
covered with a plain slip and plain
pottery, and later burials with
banded designs

141. Burial Pottery, plain
undecorated vessels, late
phase

142. -plain pottery filled with food offerings,
some wooden bowls with offerings for
men and women
- no seals or inscribed objects, no high-
value objects such as copper tools and
ornaments of gold and long carnelian
beads, no pointed base goblets, cooking
pots or heavily decorated storage jars

143. women buried with
two shell bangles and
five carnelian beads at
her waist

144. men buried with
beads and in one
case a shell bangle

145. women buried with anklets, copper ring, copper mirror,
antimony rod, conical amulet

146. Dholavira
Burial Types

147. Dholavira
Burial Types

148. Dholavira
Burial Types

149. Dholavira

150. Bone
Copper antenna
sword
Copper sheath
Sanauli

151. Sanauli

152. Sanauli

153. Kalibangan
Juni Kuran
Rakhigarhi
Bhirrana
Banawali
Tarkhanawala
Dhera
Suktagendor
Lothal
Baror
Kunal
Surkotada
Important
excavated
Harappan sites
in India since
1947

154. Aerial view of the excavations - LOTHAL

155. Site Plan and Layout - LOTHAL

156. Reconstruction of the site - LOTHAL

157. Warehouse
Dockyard
Lothal

158. Lothal

159. Sealings
Lothal

160. Sealings
Lothal

161. Sealings
Lothal

162. LOTHAL ‘Door-lockers’ & ‘Square-locker Type’
“peg-in-wall”

163. Lothal

164. Pottery
Lothal

165. Jewelry
Copper ingot indicating
contacts with west Lothal

166. Seals
Lothal

167. Burial
Lothal

168. Kalibangan – Plan and Layout

169. Kalibangan

170. Kalibangan – Ploughed field

171. Kalibangan

172. Kalibangan

173. Kalibangan

174. Kalibangan

175. Kalibangan

177. Banawali – Fortification Wall

178. Banawali

179. Banawali

181. Surkotada

184. Computer generated image

185. Dholavira

186. Dholavira

188. Dholavira

190. Dholavira

191. Kunal

192. Kunal

193. Kunal

194. Kunal

195. Kunal

196. Rakhigarhi

197. Rakhigarhi

198. Rakhigarhi

199. Bhirrana

200. Bhirrana

201. Bhirrana

202. Bhirrana

203. Tarkhanawala Dhera

204. Baror

205. Baror

206. Baror

207. Baror

208. Baror

209. Juni Kuran

210. Juni Kuran

211. Juni Kuran

212. Decline of Harappan Civilization and dissipation into local cultures

213. Late / Post Harappan Sites
Localization Era:
breakdown of initial phase of
integration and a period of
restructuring of social relations
Rangpur
Jhukar / Late Kulli
Cemetery H
Gandhara Grave

214. Any Questions?
Mohenjodaro (2500 B.C.) Fatehpur Sikri (1569-1584 A.D.)