Harappan Sites Research Articles

RELEVANCE OF HARAPPAN GEMS IN PRESENT ASTROLOGICAL CONTEXT

This paper examines the relevance of Harappan gems in the present astrological context. The Harappan Civilization, the first urban civilization in the Indian subcontinent, thrived in the Indus and Saraswati basin and is also known as the Indus-Saraswati Civilization. More than seventy Harappan sites have been excavated in India since its discovery in 1922, revealing abundant semiprecious stones, artifacts, and other archaeological remains. The Harappan traders brought exotic raw materials to the city workshops, where skilled artisans crafted ornaments and tools for both common people and the elites. These gems are rare, smooth, hard, beautiful, and natural, holding astrological significance. There are a total of eighty-four varieties of precious and semi-precious stones, with nine being precious stones (Navratna) and the rest categorized as semi-precious stones (Upratna). This paper explores the historical and cultural importance of Harappan gems and their continued significance in astrology today

Assessing the palaeohydrology of the lost Saraswati River in the Punjab-Haryana plains, Northwest India from satellite data

It has been suggested over a century ago that the Saraswati was a large river that flowed in the Sutlej-Yamuna interfluve, a region that is now devoid of any such large river system. This large river was commonly related to the Saraswati River described in the Rig-veda, and was correlated with the discovery of several Harappan sites in the region. Presently, there is only the ephemeral Ghaggar River that flows here with its limited discharge along the abandoned course of the ‘lost’ Saraswati. Also, it was hypothesised earlier that this region was drained by the waters from the drainage basins of both the glacier/monsoon-fed Sutlej and Yamuna rivers. It therefore stands to reason that this region should preserve evidence of the record of the past discharge variability that impacted this region prior to the major drainage reorganisation. This study is an attempt to reconstruct the palaeohydrology of the Saraswati River. We investigate the hypothesis, that the ancient Saraswati River used to carry a combined flow of the Sutlej, Ghaggar and Yamuna river catchments. To examine this important question, we use the channel belt width, catchment area and average annual discharge of different rivers presently flowing on Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains in the Himalayan Foreland. We use these variables to establish the empirical scaling relationships between the channel belt width and average annual discharge to the catchment area. We observed rivers having a larger catchment usually carry a higher discharge and have a wider channel belt. Finally, we use these empirical scaling relationships to estimate the channel belt width and average annual discharge of the lost Saraswati River at the time when it possibly carried the combined flow of the Sutlej, Ghaggar, and Yamuna rivers catchments. We obtained the average annual discharge of the Saraswati River of an order of 3000 m3s−1 and channel belt width of about 11 km at the location downstream of the postulated confluence of the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers at Suratgarh.

Preliminary Studies on Exploration in Middle Reaches of Ghaggar River Basin

The Ghaggar river which is also known as ancient Sarasvati river is noted for her mysterious disappearance. The scholars from different field are studying the river channel since the 18th century. Archaeologists were intrigued by the Ghaggar river channel due to the presence of archaeological sites all along the river basin. Explorations in the past resulted in locating hundreds of archaeological sites, particularly Harappan culture sites. A large number of Harappan sites along Ghaggar banks is evidence that Harappan culture flourished richly on Ghaggar river than on Indus river. The present research focuses on the middle reaches of Ghaggar river where the author conducted a systematic exploration to revisit previously reported sites and report new sites in the process. The main objective of this research paper is to discuss the site distribution pattern of explored sites in the region and to come up with probable explanations for the distribution pattern of the sites.

Nationalising the Harappan Past

The Harappan civilisation that was discovered in the early 1920s became a matter of intense debate in the decades following the partition of India in 1947. As the boundaries of the newly created nation-states, Pakistan and India were drawn, almost entire excavated area associated with the Harappan civilisation went to Pakistan. And it inaugurated an era of academic politics in which Pakistani scholars and politicians claimed a five thousand years old antiquity for their nation-state based on the Harappan civilisation. On the other hand, the Indian archaeologists began searching for the Harappan sites in the valley of the Ghaggar (identified with Rigvedic Sarasvati River) – now dry, to justify India’s linkages with the same civilisation. In this academic politics, one British archaeologist, R. E. Mortimer Wheeler (the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India; from 1944 to 1948, and Archaeological advisor to Pakistan ministry; from 1948 to 1950) played a central role. Both, colleagues and several erstwhile students of this Englishman in India and Pakistan, this paper argues that participated in this academic politics. As they formulated a new national historical framework, the Harappan civilisation was transformed into a first civilisational landmark in the history of their respective countries.

EarliestMusabanana from the late Quaternary sequence at Fahien Rock Shelter in Sri Lanka

The domestication and the time of arrival of bananas in South Asia and Africa are unresolved issues. We provide banana seed and leaf phytolith evidence from the archaeological sequence at Fahien Rock Shelter, located in southwest Sri Lanka, to help understand the geographical configuration of hybridization, dispersal, cultural association and chronology of banana domestication. Phytoliths from this sequence indicate that Musa accuminata subspecies and M. balbisiana existed in the south western lowland rainforest of Sri Lanka from 44,952-47,854 cal. BP., and rock shelter occupants exploited those taxa, possibly for starchy food. Edible diploid (AA) bananas may have introduced from elsewhere, possibly from Indonesia or PNG before 5,994-6,194 cal. BP. From this time onwards, phytoliths morphologically identical with those from triploid banana cultivars (AAB and ABB) appeared in the lowland rainforest of south western Sri Lanka. This precocity appears unique to Sri Lanka. Dispersal of these triploids to the east coast of Africa may have followed maritime trade networks in the Indian Ocean from the first half of the sixth millennium BP. Northward dispersal, e.g. to urban Harappan sites, happened in the middle of the fifth millennium BP. Sri Lanka’s location in the Indian Ocean is thus important for understanding banana domestication and dispersal. This discovery shows the interconnection of prehistoric cultures and their engagement with the management of starchy staples in the lowland rainforests of Sri Lanka.

Revisiting the contemporaneity of a mighty river and the Harappans: Archaeological, stratigraphic and chronometric constraints

Abstract The role of major northwestern Indian rivers in sustaining the Harappan civilisation has been a much-debated topic in Indian archaeology. Reconstruction of palaeo-river courses using remote sensing images and their association with the mighty rivers (viz. Sarasvati and Drishadvati) mentioned in ancient Indian literature, has long been contested. The relationship of these rivers to the Ghaggar and Chautang channels, believed to be the former course of the glacially fed Sutlej and Yamuna rivers respectively, has also been debated. A mighty river of glacial origin has been hypothesised to have sustained the Harappan civilisation, and yet the spatial and temporal associations between palaeo-river courses and the Harappans are poorly understood. We provide new quartz optically stimulated luminescence dates from stratigraphically controlled samples from the palaeo-river bed and adjacent floodplain of the Chautang River near Hissar in Haryana, to elucidate the timing of glacially derived fluvial activity and examine its synchronicity with the Harappan cultures. Our results disprove the proposed link between ancient settlements and large rivers from the Himalayas and indicate that the major palaeo-fluvial system traversing through this region ceased long before the establishment of the Harappan civilisation. These results are further corroborated through a review of archaeological data to assess the spatial and temporal variation in the abundance of Harappan sites along a perennial and ephemeral riverine corridor. This synthesis of archaeological data also urges caution over the linear association of the number of ancient settlements with the strength of rivers.

A Study of Burial Patterns and Symbolism With Reference to Harappan Sites in India

A Study of Burial Patterns and Symbolism With Reference to Harappan Sites in India

A critical view of Marshall’s Mother Goddess at Mohenjo-Daro

There has been a tendency since the time of initial excavation of Mohenjo-daro by John Marshall to apply some familiar notions about early religions to the finds at Harappan sites, so that clay figurines of women found in various domestic structures were taken to represent the seemingly universal ‘Mother Goddess’. We are now learning that bronze-age ‘religions’ could have assumed immensely varied forms of ritual, belief and physical representations. There could have been varieties of shamanistic or other forms of ritual to ward off evil spirits or sources of harm. The female clay figurines were, therefore, likely to have been home-made representations of women of the house kept to ward off evil forces, rather than being idols of the Mother Goddess, as has been so far largely accepted.

Human Skeletal Remains from Ancient Burial Sites in India: With Special Reference to Harappan Civilization

Harappan Civilization is well known for highly sophisticated urban society, having been flourished in extensive regions of northwestern part of Pakistan and northeastern part of Afghanistan as its heyday around 4500 years ago. Most archaeologists agree on the periodization of this civilization as three different phases (Early, Mature and Late), which represent its cultural process of origin, development and decline. From the Harappan sites, one can note that there were about more than fifty burial sites discovered so far related with the civilization. In this article, we are trying to introduce the brief picture of the Harappan burials from the archaeological as well as anthropological perspectives.

Characterization and comparison of the copper-base metallurgy of the Harappan sites at Farmana in Haryana and Kuntasi in Gujarat, India

Copper-base metallic artifacts excavated from two Indus settlements at Farmana in Haryana and Kuntasi in Gujarat, India, were examined for their microstructure and chemical composition. The two sites were approximately contemporaneous and belong to the mature Harappan phase of the Indus Civilization, spanning the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The microstructural data revealed that almost every object examined was substantially worked during fabrication. The composition data showed that arsenic served as the single alloying element in about 60% of the Farmana artifacts, with the rest of them made of either unalloyed copper or brass. Tin was not added deliberately in any of the Farmana artifacts. In the Kuntasi assemblage, however, tin as well as arsenic played a key role and most artifacts were alloyed with either arsenic or tin or both. Nevertheless, the two Harappan sites seem to have established a similar technology based on forging as the key fabrication method and circulation of product intermediaries as the primary means for metal acquisition. This article will present a detailed account of the mentioned results to characterize the technological status achieved by the two Indus communities. The results will then be compared with those of other Indus sites to gain insight into factors representing the general Indus bronze tradition.

Shikarpur lithic assemblage: New questions regarding Rohri chert blade production

Recent excavations at Shikarpur, a fortified Harappan site situated near the Gulf of Kuchchh in Gujarat, Western India, brought to light a large collection of Rohri chert blades. Chert found in the Rohri hill near Sukkur in Sindh, central Pakistan is distinctive and easily identifiable. The wide distribution of standardized Rohri chert blades is often regarded as a testimony to the Harappan efficiency in long distance trade and craft production. The possibility of localized production of Rohri chert blades in Gujarat is often negated due to the constraints of raw-material availability. The absence of Rohri chert working debitage from most of the sites in Gujarat, has lent support to this position. The Shikarpur Rohri blade assemblage however incorporates more than 650 blades, a large fluted blade-core and a few Rohri chert debitage. These have led the excavators to suggest that some of the blades found at Shikarpur were locally produced from raw materials brought to the site from the Rohri hills. Typo-technological features of the Rohri chert assemblage from Shikarpur have been analysed in this background. These along with metrical features of the assemblage are compared with Rohri chert assemblages from other major Harappan sites in the region to check the validity of the proposed ‘limited local production’.

NEW OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGE AND CONTEXT OF SOANIAN TOOLS FOUND IN POST-URBAN HARAPPAN SITES AND ALONG WTH SE ASIAN TYPE TOOLS ON THE MID-HOLOCENE TERRACES IN THE NW SUB-HIMALAYAS

ABSTRACT Most of the alluvial fan surfaces in the northwestern sub-Himalayas were laid down during terminal Pleistocene to late mid-Holocene times and so were the cusp terraces of the streams cutting through Siwaliks and the joining perennial Himalayan rivers. Though the stone tools and other prehistoric artefacts found on a surface have to be younger than the age of that surface but in the absence of any dates, almost all the earlier workers in this region determined the chronology of lithic sites by mere speculations. We have recently made surface collections from almost 30 stream-terrace sites and alluvial fan surfaces in the sub-Himalayas and have excavated two in buried state, all were in dated contexts. We have observed that the Soanian type stone implements existed in the sub-Himalayas up to late mid-Holocene times. This inference is also confirmed by the discovery of such tools from post-Urban Harappan sites and also in association with Harappan potsherds on young terrace surfaces. The discovery of many new tool-types, especially the pitted cobbles and edge-ground lithic specimens known from the mid-Holocene sites elsewhere, especially of Southeast Asia, also hints at the influence of those lithic industries in this region. We briefly present here the lithic assemblages from five sites with new evidences and conclude that the Soanian and many new tool-types were in use in the northwestern sub-Himalayas until the late mid-Holocene times.

The vanishing millets of the Indus civilization

The importance and influence of small millets during the Indus civilization is increasingly evident. The presence of both wild and cultivated millet seeds recovered from Harappan sites suggests that they played an important role in some regions of the civilization. Yet many of these small-grained cereals are rarely used today. This paper explores the role of small millets during the Indus civilization and attempts to explain why the use of these crops has declined so significantly over the last 5,000 years.

Geo-electric resistivity evidence for subsurface palaeochannel systems adjacent to Harappan sites in northwest India

It has been proposed that a major palaeo-river channel course, the Ghaggar-Hakra, flowed in the interfluve between the modern Yamuna and Sutlej rivers in the western Ganges basin during the Late Quaternary. This palaeochannel course has been associated with extensive Bronze-age Harappan civilisation archaeological sites that are located with the channel. The abrupt abandonment of urban centres at ∼3500 BP has been explained as a consequence of river diversion, although alternative explanations for cultural decline have also been offered. A major problem with earlier interpretations has been that little information exists on the geology of the palaeochannel system. Electrical resistivity soundings were used to map the large-scale geometry and architecture of the palaeochannel system. A thick and extensive sand body is present in the subsurface in parts of north-western Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. The dimensions of the palaeochannel bodies imply that these are the deposits of a large river system, though detailed sedimentological analysis is necessary to validate this. Two of the resistivity transects are close to important Harappan sites, Kalibangan and Kunal, suggesting a possible link to archaeological site distribution. However, detailed chronological constraints are required to establish such links. Nevertheless, this study reports the first geophysical evidence for the subsurface geometry of the palaeo-Ghaggar-Hakra river system.

Potential of satellite based sensors for studying distribution of archaeological sites along palaeo channels: Harappan sites a case study

A large number of remote sensing based studies have shown evidence of a prominent river system, which has become buried under sand cover of Thar Desert sometime during late Holocene. This major river has been identified as Sarasvati, a legendary river mentioned in ancient Indian texts. This region is rich with archaeological sites of Harappan civilization (2500–500 BC). The present study has utilised digital image processing and enhancements techniques on multisensor satellite data followed by field investigations to reconfirm known traces and detect hitherto unknown traces of palaeochannels of Sarasvati river through parts of Indus alluvial plain in Thar desert. Potentials of IRS-P4 OCM (Primarily an Ocean Color Sensor, with eight narrow spectral channels, high radiometric resolution of 12 bits and large swath of 1420 m) could be exploited for the first time to detect hitherto unknown traces of palaeochannels of Sarasvati river through sand dune topography of Thar desert in parts of Western Rajasthan in India and adjoining parts of Pakistan by applying Principal Component Analysis technique. Pattern of palaochannels indicate westward migration of the Sarasvati river in parts of Indus alluvial plain. Database of more than 1000 archaeological sites compiled from various published sources, prepared in GIS environment could be utilised to understand their relationship with identified courses of the Sarasvati palaeochannels. Through this study it was found that there is a large spread of Mature Harappan (2200–1700 BC) sites along the palaeochannel of the Sarasvati and its tributaries in north-west India, but late Harappan (1700–1500 BC) sites are limited to further west in adjoining regions of Pakistan indicating that the shift of cluster of settlements have followed the pattern of river migration towards west. Digital terrain modelling by superimposing archaeological sites on SRTM DEM along with draped satellite data (Resourcesat-1 AWiFS and IRS-1D LISS-III) has helped in identifying geomorphological guides for archaeological investigations such as presence of relict natural levees seen as raised mounds and coincidence of known archaeological sites over them. It is suggested that other relict natural levees or raised mounds adjoining the identified palaochannel courses may be taken up for further archaeological exploration.

Holocene environmental changes and cultural patterns in coastal western India: A geoarchaeological perspective

Geomorphological studies carried out around coastal sites at Hazira, Kanmer, Padri and Sanjan in Gujarat, and Chaul, and Kelshi in Maharashtra indicate human activity throughout the Holocene. The offshore site at Hazira, of early Holocene age, is the only submerged prehistoric site at a depth of 20–40 m below the present sea level in the entire 7000 km long coastline of India. Protohistoric Harappan sites at Kanmer and Padri are of mid-Holocene age. The sites of Sanjan, Chaul and Kelshi represent an Early Historic cultural phase belonging to the Late Holocene age. The site of Hazira was located on the banks of a buried channel adjusted to the low sea level phase of the Early Holocene. Cultural development of the Harappan site at Kanmer in the present semi-arid rocky landscape of Kachchh was closely related to the existence of 2–5 m deep water in the presently dried up part of Rann of Kachchh throughout the mid-Holocene. On the other hand the economy of the Harappan site of Padri depended on salt manufacturing in a stable estuarine environment close to the present sea level of the Gulf of Cambay. Sanjan, Chaul and Kelshi appear to have depended on a trading economy. These sites are situated in estuarine environments involving lateral transgressive–regressive phases more or less within the present intertidal zone of Arabian Sea in a humid environment.

North Indian Protohistory and Vedic Aryans

During the last two decades, some eccentric attempts have been made to identify the Indus Civilization with the Rig Vedic culture. Their conclusions are based on wrong assumptions claiming that (1) the Harappan sites have recently yielded the evidence of fire altars, sacrificial pits and true horse, so well known to the Rig Veda, (2) that the Rig Vedic Saraswati was a mighty perennial river system parallel to the Indus and was the nucleus of Indus Civilization, (3) that the date of the Rig Veda goes back to the third millennium BC, the era of the Indus Civilization before the desertion of Kalibangan around 1900 BC and (4) that the Rig Vedic Aryans knew fortified cities, sea trade and state- based society. The protagonists of the thesis are selective in using only a fragment of the Vedic literature and comparing it with untested archaeological evidence. Their interpretation of the Rig Veda is based on distorted understanding of myths and metaphors of the ritual text. The present article is an attempt to take a holistic view of Proto historic archaeology of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent and of the Vedic literature as a whole for a broad and more trustworthy cultural correlation. The approach here is to give an over view of the protohistoric cultural manifestation in the sub-continent and to outline the cultural pattern known from the Vedic literature. It will be followed by a discussion to correlate the Vedic evidence with archaeological cultural evidence in chronological, geographical and cultural context.

Spatial Analyses of Harappan Urban Settlements

The Harappan Civilization occupies a unique place among the early civilizations of the world with its well planned urban settlements, advanced handicraft and technology, religious and trade activities. Using a Geographical Information Systems (GIS), this study presents spatial analyses that locate urban settlements on a digital elevation model (DEM) according to the three phases of early, mature and late. Understanding the relationship between the spatial distribution of Harappan sites and the change in some factors, such as topographic features, river passages or sea level changes, will lead to an understanding of the dynamism of this civilization. It will also afford a glimpse of the factors behind the formation, development, and decline of the Harappan Civilization.

Harappa et Mohenjo-Daro : deux zones de production de jarres à engobe noir au Pakistan à la Période Indus

Black slipped jars from the Indus, containers used to transport commodities of an as yet unknown nature, are important tracers of exchange with the neighboring regions of the Oman Peninsula and the Gulf during the second half of the 3rd Millennium B.C. Chemical analysis of samples of these jars recovered at several habitation sites in Pakistan and on the Oman Peninsula, has identified at least two potential zones of production in Pakistan. One of these production zones is located in the northern Indus Valley at or in the region surrounding Harappa; the other zone is located to the south at or around Mohenjo-Daro. Based on the chemical data, the jars sent to the Oman Peninsula come from the « Mohenjo-Daro » production zone, with none identified with the « Harappa » zone. The results of our analysis have begun to document the complexity of production and exchange of these jars in the heart of the Indus territory. Using archaeometric and geologic arguments, it appears that Harappan sites such as Nausharo (Baluchistan) and Miri Qalat (Makran) were not the production sites of black slipped jars. With rare exceptions, the jars from these two sites, the object of this study, came from the « Mohenjo-Daro » zone of production. The same is true for sites on the Oman Peninsula. The results of the chemical analysis indicate that other zones of production may have existed in the Indus Valley, but these zones remain to be identified.

If the Threshing Floor Could Talk: Integration of Agriculture and Pastoralism during the Late Harappan in Gujarat, India

Cultivation of crops as a distinct economic activity is a complex human behavior that needs to be clearly demonstrated in archaeological contexts, particularly to determine whether crop grains were obtained through trade and exchange. The article presents the results of ethnoarchaeological studies focused on the development of crop processing models tailored to aid paleoethnobotanical reconstructions. These newly developed ethnographic models of crop processing and usage were then rigorously applied to the questions of cultivation, economic role, and use of millet crops at two Late Harappan sites in Gujarat, India. The results demonstrate the interpretive potential of identifying the presence or absence of the economic activity of cultivation at a wide range of site types, and such modeling has far reaching implications for interpreting the settlement organization and subsistence orientation of a culture.