HARAPPAN

CIVILISATION
MADE BY:
VISHAKA GHUMBRE
SUNNITI PEDNEKAR
SNIGDHA SINGH
SHREEYA SHINDE
INTRODUCTION
Also known as Indus valley civilization

Was discovered between 2600 BCE

and 1900 BCE
There were earlier and later cultures
often called’ Early Harappan’ and
‘Late Harappan’

Major sources :archaeological findings

 AGRICULTURAL STRATEGIES
Cattle, sheep,
goat, buffalo
They ate fish,
and pig were
meat, wheat,
domesticated
maize, millet
pulses, rice and
other edibles
Trade was well
Main occupation : agriculture and developed.
domestication of animals.
AGRICULTURAL
TECHNOLOGIES
Seals and Terracotta sculptures
indicate that oxen were used for
ploughing
The fields at two sets of furrows to
grow two different crops together
stone blades were used which were
set in wooden handles.
Canals were found in Shortughai
 MOHENJO DARO

First and most well-known site to be

discovered among the Harappan sites

The settlement is divided into two sections

one is smaller but higher and the other much
larger but lower. They were separated by a
wall boundary
 LOWER TOWN
DOMESTIC ARCHITECHTURE
Consisted of residential buildings.
Bigger but at lower level and walled
Houses were centered on a courtyard
No windows on the ground level
The main entrance does not give a direct view of
the interior or the courtyard
The domestic drains connected through the
street drains
Many houses had wells, often in the room that
could be reached from outside, perhaps for the
passers- by.
CITADEL Constructed on mud-brick platforms
Smaller but at a higher level and walled
These include the administrative
buildings, the Great bath and the
Warehouse
DRAINAGE
SYSTEM
The roads and streets were laid out
along an approximately ‘grid pattern',
intersecting at right angles.
Each house was well-connected with
the main drain.
Drains were bricked and covered.
Manholes were built at regular
intervals for cleaning purposes.
 BURIALS

Some graves contain pottery ornaments and copper mirrors.

Some other sights have couple of burials, it might be the practice or maybe
lack found in of space.
Some areas have smaller sizes and more than one burial in close proximities
any layered burials without any luxurious items
LOOKING FOR CRAFT
LUXURIES PRODUCTION

Chanhudaro was famous for craft production.

Utilitarian means daily use of objects Grinding, polishing, and drilling was done to make
like pottery, needles, and body beads.
scrubbers. Nageshwar and Balakot were specialized centres
Luxurious means costly objects like’ for making shells.
Faience’[a mixture of silica or sand Materials used to make beads like carnelian
jasper, crystal, quartz, copper, bronze, gold, shell,
color and gum then fired] these
and faience.
miniature pots were perhaps used as
They were in numerous shapes like cylindrical,
perfume bottles. spherical, and barrel shapes.
 SEALS SCRIPT WIEGHTS

Used to facilitate a long- The Harappan script remains Exchanges were regulated
distance communication undeciphered to date. by a precise system of
Conveyed the Identity of Had many signs between weights
the sender 375 and 400 Usually made of a Stone
Often contain animal The script was written from called ‘chert ‘with no
motifs and signs right to left. marking.
Metal scale pans have also
been found.
ANCIENT AUTHORITIES
A large building found at Mohenjo-Daro was
labeled as a palace by archaeologists.
A stone statue was labeled and continues to
be known as the ‘priest-king ‘.
Some archaeologists think that Harappan
society has no ruler, while others feel there
was no single ruler but several. Yet others
argue that there was a single state because
of the similarity in the artefacts.

 END OF THE CIVILISATION

After 1900 rural way of life what was known as the late Harappan or’
successor cultures emerged.
Writing, long-distance trade, craft specialization, and construction of
public structures began to disappear
Epidemic, Aryan invasion, climate change, deforestation, change in
the course of the river Indus, earthquake, etc may be the main reason
for the decline of this civilization
DISCOVERING THE HARAPPAN
CIVILIZATION
Cunningham used the accounts left by Chinese Buddhist
pilgrims who did not fit very neatly within his framework of
Investigation.
A Harappan seal was given to Cunningham by an Englishman.
He noted the object but was unable to find the significance of
the Harappan Civilization and thought that Indian history
began with the first cities in the Ganga valley
Daya Ram Sahni discovered the first Harappan civilization in
1921 and Rakhal Das Banerjee discovered Mohenjo Daro in
1924.
Marshall tended to excavate along regular horizontal units,
not in stratigraphic layers.
 NEW TECHNIQUES AND QUESTIONS
Some archaeologists are often keen
to obtain a cultural sequence, while
others try to understand the logic,
location, and function of the objects.
Since the 1980’s specialists from the
subcontinent and abroad have been
jointly working at both Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro. They are using
modern scientific techniques and
minute analysis of every scrap.
 PROBLEMS OF PIECING TOGETHER
THE PAST

Classified finds
One simple principle of
classification is in terms of material
In terms of functions
The resemblance with the present-
days things like beads, stone-
blades, pots, etc.
Investigating the place of artefacts

PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION
Most artefacts are usual or unfamiliar like figurines of
women -these were regarded as mother goddess.
Statuary of men -such as ‘priest- king’ great bath and
fire altars have been assigned ritual significance.
‘Proto-Shiva' seals-The major deities of Hinduism.
Conical stone objects have been classified as ‘Lingas ‘.
The earliest religious text, ‘The Rigveda ‘(1500 -1000
BCE) mentions a god named Rudra (Shiva), neither
Pashupati nor Yogi. it is possibly Shaman who claims
magical and healing powers, who communicates with
another world.

 CONCLUSION
The Indus Valley people gave to the world its earliest
cities, its town planning, and its architecture in stone
and clay, and showed their concern for health and
sanitation.