NCERT Class 12th History (chapter/Theme-1) NOTES & Solutions Bricks, beads, and bones ❖ The harappan civilization • The indus valley civilization is also called the harappan culture.

• Harappan culture – archaeologists use the term “culture”

for the group of objects, distinctive in style, that are usually found

together within a specific geographical area and period of time.

• The harappan culture, their distinctive objects include seals,

beads, weights, stone blades and baked bricks were found from

Afghanistan,jummu, Baluchistan(Pakistan) and Gujarat.

• Named after Harappa – first site discovered –(c.2600 and

1900 BCE.)

❖ Early and mature harappan culture SIND CHOLISTAN

Total number of sites

106 239

Early harappan sites

52 37

Mature harappan sites

65 136

Mature harappan settlements on New sites

43 132

Early harappan sites abandoned

29 33

Beginnings ❖ Several archaeological cultures in the mature harappan, which were associated with distinctive

pottery, evidence of agriculture and pastoralism, and craft, settlements were generally small,

and there were virtually no large buildings. The harappan civilization evident from large – scale

burning at some sites.

• Father of Indian archaeology -Alexander cunningham

BP -stands for before present

BCE- stands for before common era

CE- stands for the common era.

c.- stands for the latin word circa and means “approximate.”

Subsistence strategies • Shared certain common elements including subsistence strategies.

• The harappans ate a wide range of plant and animal products, including fish.

• Archaeologists have been able to reconstruct dietary practices from finds of charred grains and

seeds.

• Wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and sesame were found at harappan sites ( Gujarat ).

• Animal bones of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo, and pig were found.

• Bones of wild species such as boar, deer, and gharial were found.

Agricultural technologies

• Seals and terracotta sculpture (cholistan and Banawali -haryana) indicate that the bull was

known, and archaeologists extrapolate from this that oxen were used for ploughing.

• Archaeologists have also found evidence of a ploughed field at -kalobangan (Rajasthan).

• Traces of canals have been found at the harappan site of shortughai in afghanistan.

• Water reservoirs found in Dholavira ( Gujarat )

Mohenjodaro – A planned Urban Centre

• Development of urban centres- mohenjodaro

• Divided into two sections, one smaller but higher and the other much larger but lower.

• Archaeologists designate these as the citadel and the lower town respectively.

• Citadel owes its height to the fact that buildings were constructed on mud brick

platforms.

• Lower town was walled, several buildings were built on platforms, as foundations.

• Mobilising labour on a very large scale.

• All building activities within the city was restricted to a fixed area on the platform.

• Planning of settlements include bricks, which whether sun-dried or baked.

Laying out drains

• Roads and streets were laid out along an approximate grid pattern, intersecting at right angles.

• Streets with drains were laid out first and then houses built along them.

• Domestic waste water had to flow into the street drain, every house had one wall along with

street.

Domestic architecture

• Lower town at mohenjodaro – many were centred on a courtyard, with rooms on all sides.

• Courtyard was probably the centre of activities such as cooking and weaving, particularly during

hot and dry weather.

• Every house, had its own bathroom paved with bricks, with drains connected through the well

to street drains.

• Some houses have remains of staircases to reach a second storey or roof.

• Many houses had wells.

The Citadel

• Used for special public purposes.

• A massive structure of which the lower brick portions remain, while the upper portion of wood ,

decayed long ago—and the Great Bath.

• Great bath was a larger rectangular tank in a courtyard surrounded by a corridor on all four

sides.

• Two flights of steps on the north and south leading into the tank, which was made watertight by

setting bricks on edge and using a mortar of gypsum.

❖ Tracking social differences

Burials • Archaeologists use studying burials to find out whether there were social and economic

differences amongst people living within a particular culture.

• Burials in harappan sites the dead were generally laid in pits.

• There were differences in the way the burial pit was made – in some instances, the hollowed –

out spaces were lined with bricks.

• Some graves contain pottery and ornaments, perhaps indicating a belief that these could be

used in the afterlife.

• Jewellery has been also found in burials

• Harappans did not believe in burying precious precious things with the dead.

Looking for “luxuries”

• Easily out of ordinary materials such as stone or clay includes querns, pottery, needles, flesh-

rubbers.

• Rare objects made of valuable materials are generally concentrated in large settlements like

mohenjodaro and Harappa and are rarely found in smaller settlements like kalibangan.

• Gold also was rare all the gold jewellery found at harappan sites.

❖ Finding out about craft production • Chanhudaro is a tiny settlement exclusively devoted to craft production, bead-making, shell-

cutting, metal-working, seal-making and weight- making.

• Stones like carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite were used.

• Metals like copper, bronze, and gold.

• Shell, faience and terracotta and clay also used.

• Decorated by incising or painting, designs onto them.

• Different techniques were used to make beads of different material.

• Specialised drills have been found at Chanhudaro, Lothal and Dholavira.

• Nageshwar and Balakot were specialised centres for making shell objects.

❖ Strategies for procuring materials • Riverine routes along the indus and its tributaries, as well as coastal routes were also probably

used.

Materials from the subcontinent and beyond

• Established settlements such as nageshwar and balakot in areas where shell was available.

• Shortughai, best source of lapis lazuli(a blue stone).

• Khetri area for what archaeologists call the ganedhwar-jodhpur culture.

Contact with distant lands

• Capper war brought from oman, chemical analyses have shown that both the omani copper &

harappan artefacts have traces od nickel.

• Harappan jar coated with a thick layer of black clay has been found at omani sites.

• Mesopotamian texts datable to the third millennium BCE refer to copper coming from a region

called Magan.

• Magan and Meluhha, :- products- carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and varieties of wood.

• Mesopotamian texts refers to meluhha as a land of seafarers.

Seal and sealings

• Seals and sealings were use to facilitate long distance communications.

• Sealing also conveyed the identity of the sender.

Enigmatic script

• Seals have a line of writing containing the name and tittle of the owner.

• Motif (an animal) conveyed a meaning to those who could not read.

• Inscriptions are short, the longest containing about 26 signs.

• Seals show a wider spacing on the right and cramping on the left, as if engraver began working

from right and then ran out of space.

• Writings have been found on – seals, copper tools, rims of jars, terracotta tables, jewellery, bone

rods.

Weights • Made of stones called chert and in cubical shape.

• Lower denominations of weights were binary.

• Higher denominations of weights were decimal system.

• Smaller weights were used for weighing jewellery and beads.

• Metal scale-pans have been also found.

❖ Ancient authority • Extraordinary uniformity of harappan artefacts as evident in pottery, seals, weights, and

bricks.

• Bricks not produced in any single centre, were of a uniform ratio throughout the region,

from Jammu to Gujarat

Palaces and Kings • A large building found at mohenjodaro was labelled as a palace by archaeologist but no

spectacular finds were associated with it.

• A stone statue was labelled and continues to be known as the ‘priest-king’.

• The ritual practices of the harappan civilisation are not well understood yet nor are there any

means of knowing whether those who performed them also held political power.

❖ The End of The Civilisation • There is evidence that by c. 1800 BCE most of the mature harappan sites in regions such as

cholistan had been abandoned.

• There was an expansion of population into new settlements in Gujarat, Haryana and western

uttar Pradesh.

• Few harappan sites that continued to be occupied after 1900 BCE there appears to have been a

transformation of material culture.

• House construction techniques deteriorated and large public structures were no longer

produced.

• Artefacts and settlements indicate a rural way of life in what are called “Late Harappan” or

“successor culture”.

• Range from climate change, deforestation, excessive floods, the shifting and/or drying up of

rivers, to overuse of the landscape.

❖ Discovering the Harappan civilisation

Cunningham’s confusion • The first director- general of the ASI, began archaeological excavations in the mid nineteenth

century.

• Cunningham’s main interest was in the archaeology of the early historic and later periods.

• He used Chinese buddhist pilgrims who had visited the subcontinent between the fourth and

seventh centuries CE.

A new old civilisation

• Daya ram sahni in early decades of 20th century discovered seals at Harappa.

• Rakhal das banerji found seals in mohenjodaro, leading to the conjecture that these sites were

part of a single archaeological culture.

New techniques and question

• The partition of the subcontinent and the creation of Pakistan, the major sites are now in

Pakistani territory.

• Indian archaeologists to try and locate sites in india.

• Harayana,kalibangan, lothal, rakhi garhi and most recently dholavira have been discovered.

❖ Problems of interpretation • Early archaeologists thought that certain objects which seemed unusual or unfamiliar may have

had a religious significance.( terracotta figurines of women, heavily jewelled, some with

elaborate head-dresses )- mother goddesses.

• Priest-king structures have been assigned ritual significance.

• Great bath and fire altars found at kalibangan and lothal.

• The one-horned animal, often called the “unicorn” -depicted on seals seem to be mythical,

composite creatures.

• Yogic posture also shown on some seals, has been regarded as a depiction pf “proto-shiva”.

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS

1. List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these. Ans:

2. How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the differences that they notice? [Delhi, All India 2009, 2011] Ans: (a) Archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society in the following ways:

• Burials • Looking for “luxuries”.

(b) The archaeologists have noticed the following differences in the socio-economic conditions in Harappan society :

• In the Harappan society, the dead were generally laid in pits. In some burial pits the hallowed-out spaces were lined with bricks.

• Some graves contain pottery and ornaments. • In some instances the dead were buried with copper mirrors. • Artefacts are divided into two categories – utilitarian and luxuries. The utilitarian

objects are of daily use. These are made of ordinary materials such as stone and clay. These are found in all settlements. Luxury items are found in large settlements of Harappa and Mohenjodaro. These are made of valuable materials like faience. Gold too was rare and precious as all the gold jewellery has been found at Harappan sites.

3. Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer. Ans: Yes, I agree with that the drainage system in Harappan cities which indicates the town planning. I can cite the following reasons in support of my answer.

• The drainage system needed a planning for its execution. It seems that first drainages were laid out and then houses were built along with the drains. Every house was supposed to have at least one wall along a street to allow the domestic waste water to flow out in the street drains. The plans of the lower town show that roads and streets were laid out along an approximate grid pattern, intersecting at right angles.

• It appears that human settlement was made by planning from the beginning. The city was restricted to a fixed area on the platforms.

• Bricks, sundried or baked, were of standard ratio. The length and breadth of bricks were of four times and twice the height respectively These bricks were used at all the settlements of the Harappan Civilisation.

4. List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan Civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made. Ans: Making beads was an important craft of the Harappan people. It was mainly prevalent in Chanhudaro.

Materials for making beads included beautiful red coloured stone-like camelian, jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite. Besides these, use of copper, bronze, gold, shell, faience, terracotta or burnt clay was also used.Process of making beads Making of beads differed as per the materials used. Beads had variety*of shapes. They did not make geometrical shapes like one made of harder stones. Nodules were to be chipped for making rough shapes. They were finally flaked into the final form.

By firing the yellowish raw material, the red colour of camelian was obtained. Grinding, polishing and

drilling constituted the last phase. Chanhudaro, Lothal and Dholavira were famous for specialized drilling.

5. Look at figure 1.30 (See NCERT page-26) and describe what you see. How is the body placed? What are the objects placed near it? Are there any artefacts on the body? Do these indicate the sex of the skeleton? Ans: Following observations can be obtained after looking at the figure:

• Body has been kept in North-south direction in a pit, • Many graves contain pottery and ornaments which include jar. • Yes, jewellery like bangles are there on the body. • Yes, this indicates towards the sex of the skeleton, Le. it is the body of a woman.

It is concluded that there were great social or economic differences among the people living within the area of the Harappan Civilisation. But as a whole it appears that the Harappan did not believe in burying precious things with the dead.

• 6. Describe some ofthe distinctive features of Mohenjodaro. [Delhi 2013] Ans: Planned City: Harappa as a planned urban centre. It had two parts. One part of the city was small. It was built on a higher place.

The second part was comparatively large. It was built on a lower place. The first part was designed as citadel and the second part was as lower town. The citadel owed its height to the fact that it was built on mud brick platforms. It had walls on all sides and these walls were separated from the lower town.

• Lower Town: It was also a walled town. Most of the buildings were built on platforms. In fact, these platforms were considered as foundation stones. It required huge quantity of labour force to build these platforms. It is obvious that settlement was first planned and then implemented as per the building plan. Quality of sun-dried bricks or baked bricks also prove the concept of planning. All the bricks were of standard ratio. The length and width was four times and twice the height of the bricks respectively. These bricks were used in the settlements of the Harappan Civilisation.

• Drainage System: The drainage system was well planned. All the roads and streets were laid out on a grid pattern. They intersected one another at the right angles. It seems that streets featuring drains were laid out first and houses were built thereafter along with them. To make the flow of domestic water, every house had at least one wall along the street.

• The Citadel: There were many buildings in the citadel. These buildings were used for many special public purposes. The Warehouse and the Great Bath were

the two most important constructions.

7. List the raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan Civilisation and discuss how these might have been obtained. Ans: (a) The raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan civilisation was as given below:

• Stones like camelian, jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite; • Metals like copper, bronze and gold, and • Shell, faience and terracotta, or burnt clay.

(b) The above raw materials might have been obtained as mentioned below :

• They established settlements such as Nageshwar and Balakot in areas where shell was available. Other places were Shortughai, in far-off Afghanistan, near the best source of lapis lazuli, a blue stone and Lothal near the sources of camelian, steatite and metal.

• The second way was to send expeditions to areas such as the Khetri region of Rajasthan for copper and south India for gold.

• The third way to have contact with distant lands. For example, copper was brought from Oman, on the south-eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula. Mesopotamian texts mention contact with Meluhha, possibly the Harappan region. It is likely that communication with Oman, Bahrain or Mesopotamia was by sea.

• 8. Discuss, how archaeologists reconstruct the past. Ans: Archaeologists excavate the sites of the ancient past related to culture or civilization. They find out the art and craft such as seal, material, remains of

houses, buildings, pots, ornaments, tools, coins, weights, measurements and toys, etc.

• Skulls, bones, jaws, teeth of the dead bodies and materials kept with these dead bodies are also helpful for archaeologists. With the help of the botanists, and zoologists, archaeologists study the plants and animal bones found at different places.

• Archaeologists try to find out the tools used in the process of cultivation and harvesting. They also try to find out traces of wells, canals, tanks, etc. as they served means of irrigation.

• Different layers of sites are observed to find out different things. These things give the picture of socio-economic condition such as religious life and the cultural life of the people.

• Tools, unfinished products, waste materials, help in identifying the centres of craft production. Indirect evidences also help the archaeologists in reconstructing the past.

• Archaeologists develop frames of references, It can be better understood by this fact that the first Harappan seal that was found could not be understood till archaeologists had a context in which to place it-both in terms of cultural sequence in which it was found and in terms of a comparison with finds in Mesopotamia.

• Examination of seals help in constructing the concept of religious belief of the period. Seals depict religious scenes. Some animals such as the one-homed animal, often called the unicorn depicted on the seals appear mythical, composite creatures. In some seals, a figure has been shown sitting crossed legs in a yogic posture. All these represent the religious concept of the period.

9. Discuss the functions that may have been performed by rulers in Harappan society. Ans: There are different views on the Harappan society. One group of archaeologists suggest that the Harappan society had no rulers and so everybody enjoyed equal status. The other group of archaeologists are of the opinion that there was no single ruler but several ones. The third theory seems the most suitable. It suggests that it is unlikely that entire communities could have collectively made and implemented such complex decisions.

• Evidences show that complex decisions were taken and implemented in the Harappan society. Extra ordinary uniformity of Harappan artefacts as evident in pottery, seals, weights and bricks show the complex decisions.

• Plans and layouts of the city were prepared under the guidance and supervisions of the rulers. Big buildings, palaces, forts, tanks, wells, canals and granaries were constructed.

• Cleanliness was the responsibility of the ruler. Roads, lanes and drains were also constructed.

• The rulers also looked after the welfare of the economy. They hsed to inspire the farmers to increase agricultural production. They also motivated the craftsmen to promote different handicrafts. External and internal trade were both promoted by the ruler. The ruler used to issue common acceptable coins or seals, weights and measurements.

• Rulers were expected to provide relief during natural calamity. During flood, earthquake, epidemics, the ruler provided grains and other eatables to the affected people. During foreign aggression, the rulers defended the city.

10. On the given map, use a pencil to circle the sites where evidence of agriculture has been recovered. Mark an X against sites where there is evidence of craft production and R against sites where raw materials were found. Ans: (i) Sites of agriculture: Harappa, Banawali, Kalibangan, Mohenjodaro, Dholavira (Gujarat). (ii) Sites of craft production: Chanhudaro, Nageshwar, Balakot.

(iii) Sites of raw material: Nageshwar, Balakot, Khetri.