Bricks, Beads And Bones

The Harappan people were vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian. They used to have various types of food like grains, plant products, milk products, flesh, etc.

The food items available in Harappan cities were –

(a) A variety of plant products,

(b) Animal products like meat, fish, and eggs,

(c) Grains of various types like Wheat, barley, rice, millets, pulses, chick pea, & sesame

(d) Milk products like curd, ghee, and perhaps honey.

In Harappan cities or civilization, the food providers were divided into three groups –

a) Food gatherers – They were those who take products from plants

b) Hunter groups – Those who provide food like flesh and fish

c) Agricultural group – Those who provide eatables like Wheat, Maize, Millet, Pulses, Rice etc

There are few shreds of evidence available through which the archaeologists' could trace that the social and economic differences were present in Harappan society. The very important one among them is – The study of the burials of Harappan society.

• It has been observed that the deads were usually laid in pits but there were certain differences in the way in which these pits were made like some pits had hollowed out spaces which were lined with bricks.

• In some graves, pottery and ornaments were found, which was the basis to point out the social and economical differences in the society

• The burial artefacts have been classified into two categories - utilitarian and luxurious. Utilitarian means the daily utilities like querns, pottery, flesh rubber, and needles viz, the goods made up of clay and stone which were commonly used in the society. Objects of luxuries were made up of precious and non-local materials using advanced and complicated Technology

• As the archaeologist have studied they have reached to the point that presence of utilitarian and luxurious objects in the burials are evidence of social and economical differences existing in Harappan society

To conclude, the burials with luxury objects and those which were bricked lined would be of rich and renowned people

The drainage system in Harappan cities is the best example to indicate that how very planned the towns and cities were.

On the study of the drainage system, it has been found that –

• The drainages were laid out before the construction of houses and then the houses were built along with those drains.

• Every house was supposed to have at least one wall along the street which allowed the waste domestic water to flow out into the street drains.

• The lower town planning shows that the roads and streets were laid out in a grid pattern which intersected each other at right angles.

• It also has been found that the human settlement was very much planned and the City was restricted to a fixed Area on the platform.

• Two types of bricks were used in the standard ratio where the length and breadth of the bricks were of four times and twice the height respectively.

• The two types of bricks used were - Sundry bricks and baked bricks.

Beads making was an important occupation of the Harappans. They were the skilled bead makers.

Material used for beads making:

(a) Stones --Carnelian, Jasper, crystal, Quartz and steatite,

(b) Metals--Copper bronze and gold and shell and Terracotta or burnt clay were used to make beads

The process of bead making differed according to the materials used the beads had a variety of shapes but not the geometrical shapes like the hardest stone have.

I. First Stage – It was related to shaping the beads, which differed from material to material.

II. Second Stage – It was about colouring the beads, like yellowish raw material was converted into red colour of carnelian by use of Fire.

III. Third Stage - The nodules were chipped for making rough shapes and then they were given the final form.

IV. Final Stage – It included grinding, polishing, and drilling. Chanhudaro, Lothal, and Dholavira specialised in drilling.

From the given figure we can make the following observations

• The body has been laid in north-south direction

• The grave contains pottery and some ornaments including a jar, which shows it has both utilitarian and luxurious objects

• It has bangles in hand which indicates the gender of The Skeleton

• The pottery and ornaments present in graves show that the Harappan believed that there is life after death

• A small stool can be seen near the dead body with a plate on it, it indicates that it might have been placed for serving food.

The distinctive features of Mohenjo Daro can be summarised as

• Planned City

• Lower town

• Drainage system

• The Citadel

1. Planned City - Though Harappa was also planned urban centre, but the distinctive feature of Mohenjodaro was also planned city having two parts. One part was small which was built on a higher place and was designed as Citadel whereas another was comparatively large which was built on a lower place as a lower town. The Citadel was built on mud and break platforms having walls on all the sides which were separated from the lower town

2. Lower town - It was also called walled town because most of the buildings were built on platforms which were considered as Foundation stones. It required huge quantity of labour and at first, the plans were made and then implemented. The proof of planning can be found by observing the quality of bricks. Sometimes Sun-dried bricks were used and sometimes baked bricks. These breaks word of the standard ratio where the Length and width were four times and twice the height of the bricks respectively. This type of bricks was also used in Harappan civilization.

3. Drainage system - It had a well-planned drainage system where all roads and streets would lead out on a grid pattern and then they intersected each other at right angles. It seems that streets featuring drains were laid out before building the houses so that the domestic water from every house good at least have one wall along the street.

4. The Citadel- It consisted of various buildings which were used for special public purposes like warehouses, great bath, etc

The raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan civilisation are –

• Stones like carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite

• Metals like copper, bronze and gold; and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt clay

Methods of procuring materials for craft production

• They procured materials for crafts in many ways, like they established settlements at Nageshwar, Shortughai and Balakot, the areas where shell was available.

• Another method for procurement was to send expedition to different places.

Therefore, some raw materials were locally available and some were purchased from distant places.

Reconstructing past is not an easy process; with the help of archaeologist this could be done.

• They execute the sights at which they think that they could discover something related to the culture or civilization of ancient past.

• All the remains found in the process of excavation are deeply studied with help of botanists and zoologists.

• The findings in the process of excavation maybe related to art and craft, skulls, bones, teeth, x-ray of dead bodies, plants, animal bones, etc.

• They try to find out the tools that were used in that era of past for cultivation and harvesting and other means of irrigation.

• Different layers of sites are studied to find different things including the social economic condition, religious life, cultural life, and other parts of the life of the people.

• On the basis of the remains, they frame their own views which help in reconstructing the past.

As regarding the rulers of Harappan society, there are different views of the archaeologist -

1) No Ruler:- One group of archaeologists suggest that the Harappan society had no rulers and everybody enjoyed equal status.

2) Multiple Ruler Theory:- Another group of archaeologists suggested that there were several rulers.

3) Single Ruler Theory:- The third theory, which seems the most suitable was single ruler system. There are several pieces of evidence of some complex decisions in the Harappan society which is the evidence that there existed some ruler to make such complex and decisions and implement them.

The functions of the rulers can be categorized as

• To plan the layout of the cities, constructions of building, palaces, foods tanks, Wells canals, and granaries

• Cleanliness of the society

• Construction of roads lanes brains

• To look after the Welfare of economy

• To inspire farmers to increase agricultural production

• To motivate craftsman for promoting handicraft

• To promote external and internal trade

• To issue commonly accepted coins or seals weights and measurements

• To provide relief during natural calamities

• Last but not the least to defend the city at the time of foreign aggression