Forum Pakistan

Harappan Civilization (also Indus Valley Civilization)
Contemporary with Sumer and ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley was home to a well developed urban culture that appeared approximately in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC in the west of Pakistan. It covered an area from Sutkagen-Dor in southern *Balochistan in the west to Alamgirpur in Uttar-Pradesh (India) in the east and from Mandi in *Kashrnir in the north to Daimabad in Mahatashta (India) in the south. With about 2 million sq. km. it was twice as large as the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization combined. It was discovered in 1921; the first studies were conducted by Indian (R.B. Sahni and R.D. Banerji) and British (J. *Marshall, EJ.H. *Mackay, and R.E.M. Wheeler) archaeologists. The Archaeological Service of India conducted diggings after 1947 (B.B. Lal, S.R. Rao, B.K. Thapar, S.A. Sali, RS. Bisht, S. Bhan, J.P. Joshi, U.M. Chitalwala), the Department of Archaeology and Museums of Pakistan (FA Khan, A.H. *Dani, F.A. Durrani, M.R. Mughal) and archaeologists from other countries (J.M. Casal, vr»: *Fairservis, G.F. Dales, I.F. Jarrige, G.L. Po sel) carried out their investigations. Diggings were carried out in *Harappa, *Mohenjo-Daro, *Chanhu-Daro, Allahdino, Balakot, *Ganeriwala, *Mehargarh in Paki tan; and-Lothal, Rangpur, Kalibangan, Surkotada, Banawali and Mandi in India. More than 700 settlements were discovered.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro cover over 50 hectares, other sites are smaller. They are represented by fortified outposts, centres of handicrafts and trade, ports (from 2 to 12 hectares) and smaller settlements (up to 1 hectare). They can be divided into several types by their layouts: 1. Settlements divided into parts-the so-called citadel and the lower city. The rectangular citadel with its longer north-southern axis orientated towards the river occupied the western tell. The lower city was in the ea t. 2. Settlements with two equal parts divided with a wall into nearly square parts (Surkotada, Banawali, Balakot). 3. Rectangular settlements with a square citadel in the southwestern comer (Lothal). All of them stood on platforms (418 x 195 x 15 metres in Harappa, 119 x 127 x 7 metres in Lothal); there were walls with counterforces and comer towers (in Harappa they were 13 metres thick at the foundation, in Surkotada 3.6-4 metres). 4. Non-fortified settlements without platforms and walls (Allahdino). Different construction materials were used in different geographical zones: burnt and adobe bricks in the Indus valley, adobe bricks and stone with pebbles in Kathiawar, adobe bricks in Hariana and stone blocks in Ali-Murad. All of them had regular layouts. In *Mohenjo-Daro, the main street (9 metres wide) divided the city into rectangular parts (363 x 242 metres), divided with smaller streets into living quarters.

Sewerage pipes made of burnt bricks ran along the streets; houses and other buildings were made of these bricks as well. A house generally had a central court with a well around it, where living rooms, a kitchen, a room of ablutions and a toilet were arranged. A smaller hou e in Mohenjo-Daro had two to four rooms and a court; on the average, however, a house had eight or nine rooms with 355 sq. m. of floor space. A house of nine rooms was discovered in Surkotada. In the lower city the houses had five rooms. In Allahdino the houses of five or six rooms covered an area of 80 to ]40 sq. metres, while industrial complexes were from 375 to 780 sq. m. The former were discovered in the dig's southern part, the latter were found in the northern part where a furnace, grain storage, a stone paved road that led to a pool, and some smaller storage rooms were found. Household and industrial constructions were found in Harappa to the north of the citadel: round platforms for making flour, houses of craftsmen and a large granary with a floor space of more than 800 sq. m.

In Mohenjo-Daro there were some public houses in the citadel: an ablution pool (11.7 x 7 metres and 2.4 metres deep) surrounded with a colonnade and rooms for dressing, a building (81 x 23 metres) with the central court, several rooms and two stairs, a granary, and a square hall with columns. In Lothal, a granary was found in the citadel with a pool nearby (214 x 37 metres, 4.5 metres deep). In the lower city, archaeologists discovered a shop that specialized in ceramic beads; the kiln was found nearby. A similar shop was discovered in Balakot; kilns for firing pottery and bricks and smelting metals were found in Alamgirpur, Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, *Chanhu-Daro, and Kalibangan. Fireplaces plastered with clay (probably of cultic nature) were found in Kalibangan. They belonged both to the citadel and the houses of the lower city. The Harappan burials were placed outside the settlements (Harappa, Lothal, Kalibangan, Surkotada). The burial rite differed from place to place: 1. supine placing of the body, orientated to the north, in a rectangular grave the walls of which were faced with adobe bricks. Remnants of a wooden coffin were found in one of the graves. There are also double burials (of a man and a woman); 2. burials in a vessel placed in a grave (in one ca e it was covered with a stone slab); 3. pottery alone was placed in the grave. Grave goods comprised from fifteen to twenty vessels; ornaments such as bangles, necklaces, beads, rings and earrings were rare.

Crafts and applied art reached a high level. There were copper and bronze tools (knife blades, sickles, chisels, fishing hooks, saws, blades and other similar objects, arrowheads, short swords, spears and other weapon types). Clay ware was varied and richly ornamented. It was made on fast wheels and burnt in special kilns. The art of stone sculpture ('King Priest') and ceroplastics (figurines of people and animals) were widely known. They also made stone seals with carved animals, men and deities in them. Trade was widespread-weights and measuring rods made of ivory are an evidence of this. Cylinder seals and imported Indian objects found in western Asia illustrate the wide-flung international trade. Sea routes were probably used together with the caravan routes. The possibility of sea trade is supported with seals from the Persian Gulf found in Lothal and also a pool used probably as a dock, drawings of ships on one of the seals and on a shard from Mohenjo-Daro. The economy was based on agriculture. High yields of wheat, barley, millet, and peas (rice at the later stages), melons and banana were possible thanks to the rich alluvial soils, numerous rivers and the mild climate (much more favourable than now). People were breeding buffalos, sheep and pigs; they had already domesticated dogs, cats and, probably, elephants and camels. There is evidence that they used oxen and camels- as draught animals. In Kalibangan people knew how to till land; cotton was grown. People dressed in dhoti and shawls; bronze, silver and gold jewellery with semi-precious stones was popular; as al 0 necklaces, earrings, rings, belts and bangle .
The anthropological composition was varied.

Mediterranean, Alpine and Negro-Australoid racial types have been identified. We have some general ideas about the Harappan population's religious beliefs: they worshipped trees, animals, the Mother-Goddess (female figurines), fire (altars), water (pools) and practiced the fertility cult. Some archaeologists believe that the 'homed god' seen on seals is a prototype of Shiva. The calendar had been already invented. The Harappan civilization's chronological frames are determined by the seals found in Mesopotamia (Ur, Kish, Tell Asmar) related to the period between Sargon of Akkad to the end of the Isin Larsa period (c. 2370 BC to 1900 BC and later). At this time the Harappan civilization had already reached its peale The radiocarbon dates place it c. 2500-1700 BC; there is a lot of discussion about its origins. The pre-Harappa or early Harappa complexes of *Amri, *Kot Diji, Kalibangan, Harappa demonstrate the origins and development of the Harappan civilization's main elements first in the Indus Valley (4th-3rd millennium BC) and c. 2000 BC (at the later states): a shift of Harappan migrants to the east, into the valley of the Saraswati and Drisadwati rivers (*Punjab and Hariana) and to the south (Kathiawar peninsula and the Deccan). Probably, the people came into motion because of an ecological crisis in the Indus Valley (aridity, salinization and bogging of soils and devastating floods), relative overpopulation, epidemics; probably an internal social crisis was one of the reasons. The recent studies have failed to support a popular hypothesis of an * Aryan invasion as a cause of destruction of the Harappan cities. There is a temporal gap between these two events; the stratigraphic sequences of Lothal, Rangpur, Daimabad (in central India) and the evidence from Banawali and Bhagvanpur (in eastern India) testify that complexes of the late Harappa civilization existed synchronously with a wide range of the culture of the Late Bronze Age and their co-operation in the genesis of the early historical cultures of the contemporary peoples of India and Pakistan.

Until the inscriptions are deciphered, it is hard to tell what the civilization's social and political system was like. If one surmises that it had some common features with Sumerian society (where important economic archives have been found), one can admit to an early class system in the Harappan civilization. Social inequality was quite noticeable and, obviously, slave labour was used. The poor lived in small houses while the rich occupied two and three-storey homes.

The economic structure rested on efficient land tilling that used irrigation: in Lothal, archaeologists discovered a canal 2.5 km, long. Land yielded two crops a year. Even one crop allowed people of MohenjoDaro to build up state grain reserves.
One can imagine that the political organization resembled that in other countries of the Ancient East. Not only rulers but also the clergy enjoyed real power.
Attempts to decipher the written language related to the proto-*Dravidian language continue

BIBLIOGRAPHY: G.M. Bongard-Levin, G.F. Ilyin, 'India in Ancient Times', Moscow, 1985 (in Russian); V.M. Masson, The Earliest Civilizations', Leningrad, 1989 (in Russian); J. Marshall, 'Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization', Vols. 1-3 London, 1931; M.S. Vats, 'Excavations at Harappa', Vols. 1-2, Delhi, 1940; E.J.H. Mackay, 'Further Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro', Vols. 1-2, Delhi, 1937-38; 'Chanhu-Daro Excavations 1935-6', New Haven, 1943: REM. Wheeler, 'The Indus Civilization', Cambridge, 1968; S.A. Sali, 'Daimabad 1976-9', New Delhi, 1986; A.H. Dani, 'Recent Archaeological Discoveries in Pakistan', Tokyo, 1988; F.A. Durrani, 'Excavations in the Gomal Valley: Rehman Dheri Excavations Report No.1' 'Ancient Pakistan', in: Vol. 6, 1988; M.R. Mughal 'Archaeological Explorations in Cholistan', Islamabad, 1989.