Blade Learner Humanities Digital Notes

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Class 12th HISTORY

Chapter - 1

Bricks, Beads and Bones

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1 Some Basic Abbreviations
BC Before Christ
BC, BCE AD, AC, CE
BCE Before Common Era

AD Anno Domini

AC After Christ
3000 1000 1 BC 1 AD 500 AD 1947 AD 2023 AD
BCE BCE CE Common Era

BP Before Present

2 Harappan Civilization Timeline

3300-2600
BCE Early Harappan
Mature Harappan Phase
Phase 2600-1900
Or The Harappan BCE
Civilization
1900-1500
BCE Late Harappan
Phase

3 Overview of Indus Valley Civilization

Map of Harappan Civilization

 Basic Info Geography

▪ First site to be Discovered was

▪ Core areas - Punjab, Rajasthan,
Harappa
Haryana, Gujarat, Kashmir,
▪ Dated between 2600 BCE-1900
Pakistan, Afghanistan
BCE
▪ This was an Urban Civilization

Major Sources Famous Centres

▪ Pakistan - Harappa, Mohenjodaro,

▪ Archaeological Remains
Chanhudaro
▪ Burials
▪ India – Dholavira, Rakhigarhi,
▪ Terracotta toys & Pottery
Lothal, Kalibangan, Banawali,
▪ Beads and Jewllery
Nageshwar
▪ Charred Grains
▪ Afghanistan - Shortughai
▪ Seals

4 Subsistence Strategies
Agriculture Pastoralism

▪ Major Evidences- ▪ Animals used for domestication -

• Goat, sheep
▪
Remains of Charred Grains
• Buffalo, Pig
▪
Remains of a Ploughed
Field ▪ Animals used for Consumption -
▪ Remains of Millet were
found in Gujarat • Boar, deer, ghariyal, fish, fowl
▪ Crops Grown - Wheat, Barley Lentil,
Sesame Chickpea, Millets and Rice

5 Agricultural Technology
Plough Agriculture Irrigation

▪ Harapans used to do Plough ▪ Canals and Reservoirs were used

agriculture
▪ Major Evidences
▪ Major Evidences - Furrowed
fields in Kalibangan, terracotta • Traces of canals in Shortughai
models of ploughing Banawali • Remains of reservoir in Dholavira

▪ Besides, bull was probably used for

the plough agriculture
6 City of Mohenjodaro
Introduction

• Mohenjodaro is one of the most

well known Harappan site

• It is also one of the largest Harappan

site (area- 125 hectares)

• It was located on the banks of

Indus River

Town of Mohenjodaro

Lower Town

• It was but lower in height larger

in area
• Walled and Protected
• Several buildings were built
on mud brick platform
• Physically Separated from
Citadel
• Used for general purposes –
residence, trade, craft
production etc.

Citadel

• It was smaller in area but higher

in height
• Walled and Protected
• Whole area was built on mud brick
platforms
• Physically Separated from Lower
town
• Famous structures – warehouse,
great bath, pillared hall etc

• Probably used for specific

ceremony and rituals
 7 Drainage System of IVC
Important Features

• Drains were made adjacent to roads

• Roads as well as drains were made in
grid pattern

• It is likely that drains and road were made

prior to the construction of houses

• Each house was connected to street

drains from
• They were covered with loose bricks
(sometimes made of Limestone) for
the cleaning purpose Drains of Mohenjodaro

8 Domestic Architecture
Important Features Concern for Privacy Features of Town Planning

• Residential buildings were • Courtyard was not directly

located in lower town connected to main entrance • Well managed drainage system
• Main component of houses • No windows at ground floor
• Standardized bricks i.e.
• Courtyard
dimensional ratio of 1:2:4
• Kitchen
• Bathroom
• Use of Burnt as well as mud bricks
• Staircases
• Well
• Separation of Towns
• Courtyard was used for
common activities – cooking, • Large scale buildings i.e.
weaving Warehouse, great bath etc.
• Kitchen and Bathroom was
directly connected to street
drains Domestic architecture of IVC

9 Social Differences

Study of Burials Analysis of Objects

 Study of Burials

Features of Harappan Graves Conclusion

• Dead were buried in Normal graves • Harappans believed in afterlife

unlike Egypt • Graves did not have much variation
• Some graves have pottery and to indicate any social differences
ornaments
• Jewellery has been found in graves
of both men and women
• Sometimes dead were buried with
copper mirror too
• During 1980s, a special ornament
and hundreds of micro beads were
found near a male skull in cemetery

Analysis of Objects

Utilitarian Objects Luxury Objects Conclusion

• Upper class lived in large

• They were daily use objects.
• Ex- Pottery, needles, body
scrubbers
• They were found throughout
the Harappan settlements
• They were made up of either settlements i.e. Harappa,
very rare or non local material or Mohenjodaro
made via complicated process
• Ex- Gold, pots of faience
• They were found only in big
settlements like Harappa,
Mohenjodaro etc.

10 Craft Production
 Raw Material for craft production

Other
Stones Metals
Materials

Carnelian Quartz Jasper Lapis

Bronze Copper Gold Shell Faience Burnt Clay
Lazuli

Shortughai Source – Source –

Crystal Steatite Procured Locally
(Afg) Oman and Nageshwar
Source –
Khetri Region & Balakot
Lothal Southern
Rajasthan and Source Source –
Northern – Local South India
Gujarat

Features of Harappan Crafts

• Usually Beads were made up of steatite

as it was very soft stone

• Beads were made up of various shape –

cylindrical, spherical, barrel shaped.

• There were specialized centres for craft

production i.e. Chanhudaro, Lothal.

Centers of Craft Production

Major Centres Methods of

Identifying centres

Evidence of Raw
Chanhudaro Lothal & Nageshwar & Material
Dholavira Balakot
➢ Bead Making Evidence of Tools
➢ Shell Cutting ➢ Drilling of ➢ Making of
➢ Metal Working Beads Shell Objects Evidence of
➢ Seal Making Unfinished Objects
➢ Weight Making Evidence of Waste
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11 Foreign Trade

Oman Mesopotamia Bahrain

➢ Harappans procured ➢ Evidences -

copper from Oman ➢ Goods traded - Carnelian, • Harappan Motifs in
lapis lazuli, copper, gold, seals of Bahrain
➢ Evidences –
and varieties of wood • Bahrain weights
• Traces of Nickel in
Harappan and Omani followed Harappan
➢ Evidences- standard
Copper
• Harappan Jar found in ➢ Bahrain was called as
Oman •
Harappan seal, dices,
“Dilmun” in
beads in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamian texts
➢ Oman was called as “Magan” ➢ Harappa was called as
in Mesopotamian texts “Meluha” in
Mesopotamian texts

12 Harappan Seals
Component of
Harappan Seal

• A motif – animal, plant etc.

• Harappan script

Why seals were used ?

• They were used in long distance

communication
• They were used for two purposes
–
➢ Convey the identity of sender
A Harappan Seal
➢ Ensure the safety of goods
13 Harappan Scripts

Features

• It has signs

• Total number of signs are in between

375-400

• The script is still undeciphered

• The script was written from right to left

• Script was used on – seals, copper tools,

Harappan Script
rims and jars, tablets

14 Harappan Weights

Features

• Made up of stone called “Chert”

• Cubical in shape with no markings

• Lower weights followed binary denominations

• Higher weights followed decimal denominations

• Metal Scale pans have also been discovered

15 Authority in Harappan Civilization

1st Opinion 2nd opinion 3rd opinion

• No ruler • Several rulers • Single ruler for all the

• Harappan society was an • Every city had different Harappan state
equal society rulers
16 End of civilization

Signs of End Probable reasons

• By 1800 BCE, most mature harappan Deforestation

sites of Rajasthan, Sindh had been
abandoned Earthquakes
Drying of Rivers
• Population started migrating to Gujarat,
Haryana and Western UP Climate change
Excessive Floods
• Mature harappan period artefacts
started disappearing External assaults

• Weights, seals, special beads, writing,

craft specialization also disappeared.

17 Story of Discovery

Cunningham’s Confusion

• He became the director-general of ASI in 1856

• In 1870s, Harappan seals reached Cunningham.
• He failed to recognize the Harappan seals and the
significance of Harappa.

Reason

• He tried to fnd the Harappan seals in the texts of

Early historic period (600 BCE-600 CE)
• He believed Indian history began after 600 BCE

Alexander Cunningham

Dayaram Sahni

• The first detail excavation of Harappa was

done under the supervision of Dayaram
Sahni in 1920-21

• This excavation and the findings was

overseen by the then Director-general of
ASI John Marshall.

Dayaram Sahni
 Rakhal Das Banerjee

• The site of Mohenjodaro was discovered

by Rakhal Das Banerjee in 1922.

• The seals found here were similar to the

seals found in Harappa
R D Banerjee

Role of Sir John Marshall

• Director General of ASI from 1902-1928

• He was the first professional archaeologist to
become the director general of ASI
• Pioneer in discovery of Harappan civilization
• Based on findings of Harappa and
Mohenjodaro, he announced the discovery of
Harappan civilization in 1924

Major highlights of his tenure

Sir John Marshall

• First professional to work for ASI
• Had vast experience of working in Greece
and Crete
• He implement the uniform horizontal
excavation and ignored stratigraphy

Role of R E M Wheeler

• He became DG of ASI in 1944

• He is known for implementation of
stratigraphy

R E M Wheeler

18 Problems in Archaeological Interpretation

Process of Interpretation

Recovering Classifying Making

Artefacts them Conclusion

In terms of In terms of
material function
 Problems of Interpretation

• In artefacts of religious or political

significance

Why this problem occurs?

• Harappan script is still undeciphered

• Nothing is mentioned about

Harappan civilization in later texts
(Vedas, Puranas)

19 Conclusion

What we have figured out?

• Harappan Economy
• Trade
• Social Differences

Still A Lot to
Know
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