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ARCHAEOLOGY
Eternal India
encyclopedia
Pre-Harappa Cultures
The origin of the Harappa Culture is traced to the pre-Harappa
Culture in Kalibangan I where the east-west run of streets is com-
parable to the alignments in the Harappan levels of the succeeding
phase. The pottery of Period I continues to occur in Period II also.
The pipal leaf, fish scale and other motifs painted on pottery are
common to both the periods. In Banawali the pottery of Period I is
similar to that of pre-Harappan pottery of Kalibangan period I and
survives in Period II. Siswal in District Hissar is another pre-Har-
appan site where all the six fabrics of KBGI occur in Period A and
continue in Period B (Harappa). Mature Harappan ceramic types
such as the scoured goblet, beaker and dish have their origin in the
pre-Harappan levels. In Pakistan the pre-Harappa cultures of
Amri and Kot Diji (Sind), Jalilpur (Punjab), Ghumla (NWP) and
pre-Defence level of Harappa have certain elements like pottery,
decorative motifs and terracotta figures common with the mature
Harappan artefacts. But in the absence of other essential elements
such as seals, weights and writing it is too early to label these pre-
Harappan cultures as early Harappan or as the ancestor of Harappa
Culture.
Harappa Culture (Mature)
The urban discipline and homogeneity of its products are fac-
tors that distinguish the mature Harappa Culture from the pre-
Harappa and Harappa cultures on the one hand and the Egyptian
and Sumerian Civilisations on the other. Careful planning of towns,
provision of maximum civic amenities, inculcation of a high civic
sense among the citizens, introduction of a uniform system of
weights and measures, standardization of goods and services
throughout the vast territory, the development of the science of
yoga and invention of a simplified alphabetic system of writing
which facilitated quick communication and recording of thought are
among the major contributions of the Harappans to the progress of
man.
Town planning
(Fig-8)
The Harappan towns were divided into two main parts namely
the Acropolis or the Citadel and the Lower Town or lower city. In
Lothal and Kalibangan both the parts were protected by mud brick
walls while in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro the fortification was
limited to the citadel. The danger from floods to the settlements in
the flood plains of the Indus, Sarasvati (Ghaggar) and Sabarmati
rivers necessitated construction of public and private buildings
within the citadel and Lower Town on artificial platforms of mud
bricks, 1 to 2 or 3 metres in height. They served as the second line
of defence against inundation, but the peripheral walls and the inner
terraces were mistaken by Marshall, Wheeler and Mackay for de-
fences against the enemy. In Lothal, Kalibangan, Harappa,
Mohenjo-Daro and Chanhu-Daro houses had to be reconstructed
after every major flood on still higher platforms.
Major floods occurred in 2300 B.C., 2200 B.C.,
2000 B.C. and 1900 B.C. in the Mature Harappan
Period of Lothal. The grid-iron plan of the Indus
cities at Harappa, Mahenjo-Daro, Lothal, Kali-
bangan was maintained for more than 300 years
despite reconstruction 4 or 5 times. The streets
running east-west and north-south and the in-
terconnecting lanes and by lanes provided access
to all the blocks of houses which were well
served interconnected by a network of under-
ground and surface drains. The houses had a flat
roof and in most cases they were windowless.
The use of kiln-fired bricks was limited to the
construction of the ruler’s mansion, dockyard,
drains and a few public buildings in Lothal,
whereas in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro most
houses in the citadel and a few in the Lower Town
were also of kiln-fired bricks. All else were of
mud-bricks.
LOTHAL
(23°31'N; 72
0
-15'E) in Saragwala vil-
lage of Limdi Taluk in Surendranagar District of
Gujarat was discovered by S.R. Rao in November
1954 in the course of a systematic exploration of
the lower reaches of the Sabarmati and Bhogavo
rivers undertaken with a view to tracing mature
Harappan sites within the political boundaries of
post-partition India. The excavations conducted
by him on behalf of the Archaeological Survey of
India from 1955 to 1962 at Lothal have brought to
light two periods of the Indus Civilization, namely
the Mature Harappan in Period A and the Late