Pre historic India and Indus Valley Civilization

Lower Palaeolithic tools are found in most parts of India, except in a few regions of the Ganges valley, southern Tamil Nadu and in the hilly areas of the Western Ghats.
Athirampakkam, Pallavaram and Gudiyam near Chennai, Hunsgi valley and Isampur in Karnataka, and Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are some important Palaeolithic sites where the Acheulian tools are found.

The Neolithic period marked the beginning of agriculture and animal domestication.

It is an important phase in Indian history.
• Early evidence of Neolithic culture is found in the Fertile Crescent region of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Indus region, the Ganges valley of India and also in China.
• Between 10,000 BCE to 5000 BCE, agriculture emerged in these regions, which led to several cultural developments.

Archaeologists have found numerous seals of different shapes and sizes all across the excavation sites.
• While most seals are square, it was found that triangular, rectangular and circular seals were also used.
• Steatite, a soft stone found in the river beds, was although the most common material used to make seals, yet agate, chert, copper, faience and terracotta seals have also been found.
• Some instances of copper, gold and ivory seals have also been found.
• Most seals have inscriptions in a pictographic script that is yet to be deciphered.
• The script was written mostly from right to left, but, bi-directional writing style i.e right to left on one line and left to right on another line has also been found.

Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan), Mohenjo-Daro (Sindh, Pakistan), Dholavira, Lothal, and Surkotada (Gujarat, India), Kalibangan and Banawali (Rajasthan, India), and Rakhigarhi (Haryana, India) are the major cities in the Harappan period.
• Fortification, wellplanned streets and lanes and drainages are noticed in the Harappan towns.
• A civic authority perhaps controlled the planning of the towns.
• The Harappans used baked and unbaked bricks, and stones for construction.
• The towns had a grid pattern and drainages were systematically built.
• The houses were built of mud bricks while the drainages were built with burnt bricks. Houses had more than one floor.

The burial system followed by the people of Neolithic period continued into the Megalithic period.
• A circular tomb using big stone slabs built upon the place of burials known as a megalith. Such megaliths have been found in many parts of Tamil Nadu.
• The urn burial system was another type of practice and is evidenced in Adichanallur (present Thoothukudi district).
• Black-ware is peculiar to burial sites in Tamil Nadu.
• Interestingly, black-ware is found mostly in burial mounds and not in human habitations. In a majority of urn burials, the use of stone is almost non-existent.
• However, urn burials are grouped under megalithic because the materials – the pottery, iron objects, beads of semi-precious stones kept in them – are identical to those found in the stone burials.

The Indus Civilisation.
• The Indus Civilization represents the earliest manifestation of urban development in the plains of the Indus valley and its extension along the Arabian sea-coast.
• The four principal settlements so far excavated provide the material to reconstruct the cultural content of the civilization.
• Two lie in Pakistan: Harappa, usually identified with Hariyupiya of the Rigveda, is situated on an old bed (sukbrawa) of the river Ravi in Sahiwal District of Punjab, and Mohenjo-daro (literally ‘mound of the dead’) is on the right bank of the Indus river in Larkana District of Sind.
• The other two sites are in western India; Lothal is situated on the Sabarmati river at the head of the gulf of Cambay on the west coast of India, and Kalibangan (literally ‘black bangles’) lies some 310 km north-west of Delhi along the left bank of the now-dry Ghaggar (old Sarasvati) river in northern Rajasthan.

Pottery development in Harappan Civilization.
Statement 1 is correct: The potteries found at the excavation sites can be broadly classified into two kinds – plain pottery and painted pottery. The painted pottery is also known as Red and Black pottery as it used red colour to paint the background and glossy black paint was used to draw designs and figures on the red background. Trees, birds, animal figures and geometrical patterns were the recurring themes of the paintings.
Statement 2 is incorrect: Most of the potteries that have been found are very fine wheel-made wares, with a very few being handmade. Some examples of polychrome pottery have also been found, though very rare.

The inferences about Harappan Economy have been derived from its
flourishing trade relations with its contemporary Mesopotamian and Persian civilisations•Seals hold a special significance in the Harappan context. Every merchant
probably had a seal bearing an emblem, often of a religions character and a
name / brief description on one side.
•The standard Harappa seal was a square / oblong plaque made of steatite stone.
Though its primary purpose is inferred to mark the ownership of property,
they may also have served as amulets.
•They carried out internal and external trade. There was no metallic money in
circulation and trade was conducted by means of barter.
•Inland transport primarily employed bullock carts. Harappans seals have been
found in Mesopotamian cities like Susa and Ur.
•In Nippur, a seal has been found bearing Harappan script and a unicorn. Recently,
some ancient sites in the Persian Gulf like Failaka and Bahrain have also yielded
Harappan seals.

First discovery of rock paintings in the world was made in India (1867-68) by
an Archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle, and twelve years before the discovery of Altamira in
Spain (site of oldest rock paintings in the world).
•In India, remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls of caves situated
in several districts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,
Karnataka, Bihar, and Uttarakhand.
•Some of the examples of sites early rock paintings are Lakhudiyar in Uttarakhand,
Kupgallu in Telangana, Piklihal and Tekkalkotta in Karnataka, Bhimbetka and
Jogimara in Madhya Pradesh etc.

The art of bronze-casting was practised on a wide scale by the Harappans.
Their bronze statues were made using the ‘lost wax’ technique in which the wax figures
were first covered with a coating of clay and allowed to dry.
•Then the wax was heated and the molten wax was drained out through a tiny hole
made in the clay cover.
•The hollow mould thus created was filled with molten metal which took the original
shape of the object. Once the metal cooled, the clay cover was completely removed.
•In bronze we find human as well as animal figures, the best example of the former
being the statue of a girl popularly titled ‘Dancing Girl’.
•Amongst animal figures in bronze the buffalo with its uplifted head, back and
sweeping horns and the goat are of artistic merit.
•Bronze casting was popular at all the major centres of the Indus Valley
Civilisation.
•The copper dog and bird of Lothal and the bronze figure of a bull from Kalibangan
are in no way inferior to the human figures of copper and bronze from Harappa and
Mohenjodaro.
•Metal-casting appears to be a continuous tradition.

Past human cultures used various raw materials found from the natural
context, for example, shell species of Turbinella pyrum from the Gulf of Kachchh,
agate-carnelian from Khandak near the Harappan site of Surkotada and other locations in
Gujarat, lapis lazuli from the Badakshan mines of Afghanistan, high quality steatite
from northern Rajasthan, and turquoise from Central Asia.

The Indus Civilisation and the contemporary cultures covered nearly 1.5 million sq. km area in India and Pakistan. The settlements of Sutkagen-dor in the west on the Pakistan– Iran border; Shortugai (Afghanistan) in the north; Alamgirpur (Uttar Pradesh, India) in the east and Daimabad (Maharashtra, India) in the south are the boundaries of this civilisation. Its core area was in the regions of Pakistan, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 11.

Meralbhavi in Karnataka, Kurnool caves and Godavarikhani in Telangana, Baghor I and Baghor III of Son Valley in Madhya Pradesh and Patne in Maharashtra are some of the Upper Palaeolithic sites of India.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 5.

The period before the development of script is called the pre-historic times. It is also referred to as the Stone Age. Archaeological sources form the bedrock of information to understand span of time in Indian history. They include archaeological sites, geological sediments, animal bones and fossils, stone tools, bone tools, rock paintings and artefacts. There is no written evidence for this period. Although the Harappans used a script, it is yet to be deciphered.
Floral evidence found in the form of charred seeds, pollens and phytoliths (plant stones) helps us to gain knowledge of farming practiced by Stone Age people.
The human genes also constitute an important source for understanding prehistoric migrations. The mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) studies provide information on pre-historic migrations. Scientists are trying to extract ancient DNA from the bones of the pre-historic era to understand human dispersals.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 1.

One of the sources of Harappan economy was trade and exchange activities. Harappans had close trade contacts with the Mesopotamians and also with various cultures of India. The Harappan seals and materials have been found in the Sumerian sites in Oman, Bahrain, and Iraq and Iran. The cuneiform inscriptions mention the trade contacts between Mesopotamia and Harappans. The mention of “Meluhha” in the cuneiform inscriptions refers to the Indus region.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 14.

Neolithic culture in Kashmir region was contemporary to the Harappan civilisation. Burzahom, an important site of this culture, provides evidence for the Megalithic and Early Historic Periods. In this place, people lived in pit houses (about four metres in depth) in order to escape the cold weather.
The first Palaeolithic tools were identified at the site of Pallavaram near Chennai by Robert Bruce Foote in 1863. He found many prehistoric sites when he extensively surveyed different parts of South India. Since then, numerous Palaeolithic sites have been identified and excavated all over India.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 2 and 9.

Craft production was an important part of the Harappan economy. Bead and ornament making, shell bangle making and metalworking were the major crafts. They made beads and ornaments out of carnelian, jasper, crystal, and steatite, metals like copper, bronze and gold and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt clay. The beads were made in innumerable designs and decorations. They were exported to Mesopotamia and the evidence for such exported artefacts have been found from the excavations in Mesopotamian sites.
Certain Harappan sites specialized in the production of certain craft materials. The following table presents the major centres of craft production.
MaterialSite or Source
ShellNageshwar and Balakot
Lapis lazuliShortughai
CarnelianLothal
SteatiteSouth Rajasthan
CopperRajasthan and Oman

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 13.

Pastoralism was also practised by the Harappans. They domesticated sheep, goat and fowl. They had knowledge of various other animals including buffalo, pig and elephant. But horse was not known to them. The Harappan cattle are called Zebu. It is a large breed, often represented in their seals. They also ate fish and birds. Evidence of boar, deer and gharial has been found at the Harappan sites.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 13.

The map below shows the location of major harappan sites with respective rivers.

Source: Themes in Indian History-1 page 2

Unlike Africa, evidence of hominin [immediate ancestor of Homo Sapiens] fossil is rare in India. There is a report of a fossil fragment discovered by Robert Bruce Foote from Athirampakkam. Its whereabouts are not known now. The only well-known hominin fossil of India was found at Hathnora near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh. The cranium is named Narmada human. A partly preserved hominid skull cap was found in a basal conglomerate deposit in 1982. It is considered to represent the Archaic Homo sapiens. It is the only existing fossil find of human ancestors in India.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 3.

In north-eastern India, Neolithic culture appears at to a very late period. The Neolithic cultures of north-eastern India generally date from 2500-1500 BCE or even later. Shouldered axes and splayed celts have been found at the sites in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Daojali Hading and Sarutaru are the Neolithic sites in the Assam region. This region bears evidence for shifting cultivation. Cultivation of yams and taro, building stone and wooden memorials for the dead, and the presence of Austro-Asiatic languages are the marked features of this region, which shows cultural similarities with South-east Asia.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 11.

Both statements are correct.

The Archaeological Department of India carried out excavations in the Indus valley post

1920s wherein the ruins of the two old cities; Mohenjodaro and Harappa were unearthed.

The ruins of buildings and other things like household articles, weapons of war, gold and

silver ornaments, seals, toys, pottery wares, etc., show that some four to five thousand

years ago a highly developed Civilization flourished in this region.

The Indus valley civilization was basically an urban civilization and the people lived in wellplanned

and well-built towns, which were also the centers for trade. They had wide roads

and a well-developed drainage system. The houses were made of baked bricks and had two

or more storeys.

The highly civilized Harappans knew the art of growing cereals, and wheat and barley

constituted their staple food. Evidences also show that they wore cotton as well as woollen

garments.

By 1500 BC, the Harappan culture came to an end. Among various causes ascribed to the

decay of Indus Valley Civilization are the recurrent floods and other natural causes like

earthquake, etc.

# The year 2020 marks 100 years of discovery of Indus Valley Civilisation, and a new study

has shown that dairy products were being produced by the Harappans as far back as 2500

BCE.

Ropar is located in Punjab, Kalibangan in Rajasthan, Dholavira and Kuntasi

both located in Gujarat.