mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Emergence of Civilizations / Anthro 341: Class "15c" Not covered in class - Not included in the final exam These are last semester's notes, posted in case you are interested The emergence of civilization in the Indus valley: Mature Harappan period ã Copyright Bruce Owen 2002 * Mature Indus Period (also called Mature Harappan, or just Harappan) 2600 - 2050 BC * contemporary with * started about the same time as the Sumerian Early Dynastic III (Royal burials at Ur) * and continued to the collapse of the Ur III state about the same time as the beginning of the Old Kingdom in Egypt (building of the pyramids) * and continued through the Old Kingdom and the subsequent First Intermediate Period That is, the Mature Harappan period was roughly contemporary with the full flowering of Sumer and Egypt Possehl sees the appearance of Mature Harappan culture as a very rapid (200 year?) growth and development out of Early Indus Period society * He ties this to Sumerian trade shifting from Iranian plateau to sea routes around 2600 BC * we will look at the evidence and arguments surrounding this suggestion later there may have been a dramatic change from the Early Indus period * possibly by conquest, conversion, or ??? * Orderly town plans were imposed on top of earlier, less organized town plans * one example: Kalibangan At the end of the Early Indus period, several settlements suffered site-wide fires, then were rebuilt * the new construction was in more orderly Harappan style * after the fires, the pottery styles were mixed, with old styles continuing, but mostly the new Harappan style * suggesting conquest and occupation by the makers of Harappan pottery For example, Kot Diji suffered two massive fires around 2500 BC * evidence of widespread fire at Amri and Kalibangan, also possible that Kot Diji and the other sites were sacked and then rebuilt by Harappans but some archaeologists (like Kenoyer) do not believe that there really was widespread burning in peripheral areas, Harappan pottery coexisted with local styles * suggests that Harappan people (or goods) moved into regions that already had their own independent development * in those areas, Harappan culture is "intrusive" * may indicate * conquest * newly started or increased trade * Harappan outposts or colonies * or...? subsistence: not much different from Early Indus period * some irrigated wheat and barley * impressions of rice in ceramics at two sites, but apparently rare * most of the population probably lived outside the city and farmed wheat and barley without formal irrigation * animals * cattle, sheep, and goats * cattle of several distinct varieties also possibly domesticated Indian boar (pig) seals show domesticated Indian elephants Rise of really big cities and complex settlement pattern * Used to say there were just two major cities or capitals: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro * Thanks to a lot of survey work in recent years, now there are over 70 other sites known, albeit mostly smaller * Wenke says "over 800" * counting sites depends on what you consider to be a site Two of these "new" sites are almost as big as Mohenjo-daro * Ganweriwala * Rakhigarhi so there were probably at least four "primary" centers * that is, the Indus region probably contained several competing states, rather than one huge one Secondary sites seem to be smaller versions of the same model * Kalibangan * Kot Diji * Sandhanawala, Judeirjo-daro, etc. * numerous others There are also some possibly special-purpose sites * example: Lothal was apparently a port and trade/manufacturing center * reservoir or docking area (debate about which it was) * stone bead workshop * bronze and ivory workshops * a trading center? We don't know what proportion of people lived in cities vs. rural areas, but people are assumed to have been largely rural cities were walled, although maybe for flood control as much as defense Very uniform artifacts, planning, architecture * So much so that it is hard to distinguish artifacts or building plans of one site from another * A recent study was made to prove that it was at least possible: but mostly by relative proportions of ceramic types, not by variations in the types themselves * that such a project was even necessary shows how uniform the pottery was Many have commented on this extreme homogeneity as a feature of Harappan civilization * standardized styles of pottery, jewelry, seals, etc. over a vast area * standardized brick proportions and sizes (1:2:4) * 7 X 14 X 28 cm supposedly a standardized pattern of laying bricks: "English bond" * alternating rows of all headers and then all stretchers * although looking at photos suggests that the bricklaying pattern was not really that consistent standardized length units; several graduated rulers have been found * two basic units * a "cubit" of around 52 cm * varies from 51.8 to 53.6 cm, according to Allchin and Allchin a "long foot" of 33.5 cm * Allchin and Allchin say 37.6 cm one ruler is divided into subunits of 1.7 mm, with each 10th mark emphasized, much like a modern metric ruler standardized weight system * cubical weights of various stones * basic unit is 13.6 grams * about 1/2 ounce come in sets that include weights of 1 unit, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 units; then 160; then multiples of 16 (320, 640, 1600, 3200, 8000, 128,000) etc. balances on which the weights were used have also been found the weights and balances suggest a concern with exact measurement of amounts of materials maybe associated with exchange standardized city plans, as discussed below various interpretations of all this standardization and uniformity: * centralized production of standardized goods that were then widely distributed? * strong control of production in many different places (through training, oversight, or ???) in order to ensure standardization? * extreme cultural conservatism that led people to make things in the same way even without formal controls? * an ideology that promoted conformity? Typical Harappan city features * size and population * Mohenjo-daro 2.5 square km (250 ha) * over 2.5 times the size of the entire SSU campus * estimates from 35,000 - 41,000 people Harappa population estimates range from 23,500 to about the same as Mohenjo-daro Most towns had a "citadel" * on west side of site * raised, rectangular platform running north-south * they are consistent in shape, being about twice as long as wide * but they vary in size from 65 X 130 m at Kalibangan (a bit bigger than Stevenson hall), to 215 X 460 m at Harappa (about 4 times as long and 4 times as wide as Stevenson!) * smaller at little sites like Lothal as high as 12 m these are bland looking but very large! citadel typically enclosed by a wall with big corner buttresses/bastions, and buttresses along length of wall used to be thought that these were artificial platforms * now seems that they are just the oldest sectors of towns that had walled, enclosed neighborhoods * so the oldest neighborhood would have formed the greatest accumulation of debris, like a tell * they kept the edges supported by retaining walls, producing a platform-like appearance * these oldest neighborhoods were apparently also the most prestigious and wealthiest big, presumably administrative buildings on top of the "citadel" * at Mohenjo-daro, one big 27 m square courtyard was filled with rows of pillar bases... to hold up a roof, or ?? * also at Mohenjo-daro, a sunken rectangular bath (more like swimming pool), wide steps leading down into it... * 12 X 7 m, 3 m deep (36 x 21 feet, 9 feet deep) * Two skins of sawn fired brick in gypsum mortar, with a layer of bitumen (naturally occurring asphalt or tar) between them * has a drain * presumably filled with water carried from a large well in an adjacent room * surrounded by porticos and rooms * staggered for privacy? * some with toilets generally argued that it related to ritual bathing, as was important in later times in India and still is today only known from Mohenjo-daro; if other sites had similar baths, they have not been found yet... many towns also had a "granary" * may be located on citadel or next to it * an elevated solid brick base with crossing channels on top, hints of a wooden superstructure, and a ramp-like entrance or "loading dock" * originally thought to be foundations for a wooden grain storage warehouse * built to allow air flow underneath to prevent rot and spontaneous combustion * because some known Roman granaries were built this way may or may not actually be granaries, still uncertain * not much evidence of wooden superstructure or grain in the foundations * although that could be due to chances of preservation * and to old-fashioned excavation techniques used in early Harappan excavations, which might have missed delicate seeds A few burned grains were found between the bricks of the "granary" of Lothal; but is this enough? they could also be foundations for some other kind of wooden building one "granary" has evidence of repeated small fires on the brick platforms; maybe they are some kind of offering structures? at Harappa, the "granary" is associated with circular platforms once thought to be for grinding grain * but recent excavations found no traces of grain, but rather accumulations of silt, as if they had been vats Kenoyer thinks the platforms and wooden sheds on the "granary" foundations were a textile shop, where indigo was produced and textiles were dyed... lower town * east of the citadel * on the natural ground level * dense domestic area * streets are orderly, appear to be planned * widest streets run north-south, straight through town * secondary streets run east-west, staggered in places (not straight through) graduation in street widths * secondary streets are about half the width of the main streets; tertiary streets are 1/3 to 1/4 the width of main streets streets with drains * manholes for cleaning * some drains flow to closed seeps, others apparently lead outside the city house layout and construction * blank walls face the streets * most room complexes face onto central courtyards * others open directly to side streets flat, timber roofs many have stairways indicating use of the roof or a second story "almost every house had a bathroom" (Mohenjo-Daro?) (this is British English; that means "room for bathing") * usually a "fine sawn brick pavement, often with surrounding curb" * "connection by a drainage channel to [sloping] chutes built into the thickness of the wall, giving access to the main street drains." * "...the roadward side of a block presented a plain blank facade broken only where drainage chutes discharged." * some have pottery drainpipes * some drain into local soak-pits, others into the street drains * some have vertical drains [vs. sloping], which are apparently "privies" (toilets) * privies often drained into large ceramic pots set into the floor this concern with bathing within households is mirrored by the huge bath on the citadel, which could have been semi-public or used by groups of special people The usual claim: relatively speaking, houses are pretty uniform * just a few fairly standardized layouts * not a large variation in size compared to Mesopotamia or Egypt, this is probably valid; but there ARE differences * not all houses had two stories * larger houses had their own wells * there are areas at both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro with rows of single-roomed "tenements", presumably for less affluent people (workers? soldiers? slaves?) massive mud brick city wall around at least the citadel; in at least some cases around the lower town, too * in some cases, a single wall * in others, each is separately walled * may be for flood control * the lower city of Mohenjo-daro was destroyed by flooding several times Vast use of fired (and unfired) mud brick * Fired brick resists water much better * Would have required huge consumption of fuel Often said that there are no obvious temples, monumental sculpture, ziggurats, but * in the lower town at Mohenjo-daro, an unusually massive building had a "monumental entrance and double stairway, leading to a raised platform on which was found one of the rare stone sculptures - of a seated figure..." * Allchin and Allchin agree with Wheeler (the excavator) that this was a temple. * although this is not on the same scale as a Mesopotamian temple * certainly no ziggurat or monumental room with a cella... Harappan sculptures are rare and small * the famous priest is only 17.5 cm high (under 7 inches) * depending on how much is broken off it might originally have been as much as twice that... i.e. only slightly over a foot tall possibly a similar "temple" on the citadel. the citadel itself might be considered monumental, but it really represents a tell, more than an intentionally constructed platform the pillared hall might be considered monumental... the "granary" structures may be foundations for a large wooden building of some other type -- like a monumental hall of some kind craft specialization * many crafts are documented by known workshop areas * stone sculptors * ceramic kilns - i.e. specialized potters * copper, bronze, goldworkers * copper and goldsmiths' shops * copper, arsenic bronze, tin bronze * axes, chisels, knives, saws * spear points, arrow points * copper vessels made from hammered sheet metal pieces * cast figurines, carts, etc. gold * beads (some very small, which actually take more technical sophistication to make) * pendants, amulets, brooches * needles * gold may have been mined from solid bedrock, rather than panned or mined from loose river deposits * hard-rock mining is extremely labor intensive * suggests some way of controlling a lot of workers silver * raised vessels * beads lead * cakes, plumb-bobs, vases skilled in combining different metals, inlays, etc. chert blades (a kind of stone) * regular, long blades from prepared cores * without the local variation seen in Early Indus lithics shell beads and inlays stone bead makers * carnelian: agate roasted to produce red-brown color * also extremely small stone beads * several large bead workshops or shop districts have been found, where beads were produced in great quantity, representing great amounts of labor textile dyers (if not weavers) * dyer's vats (??), implies weaving, too mass-produced ceramic "goblets" * made very rapidly on a fast wheel * base is pointed, crudely pinched off probably without slowing the wheel * probably analogous to modern cheap, disposable ceramic cups used to hold beverages which one buys today from vendors, at festivals, or are provided at a hosted celebration, for one use only * many have a seal impression * may indicate that they were made for a particular person * for a particular event that person was hosting? * or for a ritual performed for or by that person? suggests specialized, mass production compare to bevel-rimmed bowls * context and use probably completely different * they don't suggest redistribution (think about why not...) * but the concept of cheap, disposable containers is similar terracotta (lightly fired clay) figurines * some 2000 known * bull with moving head * wheeled carts * elephants, birds, etc. * what were these for? * toys? * puppets? * some have holes in the base to stand on sticks * like popsicles * or stick puppets * possible analogy to Indonesian puppetry * which is a theatrical form intended for adults Puppets are used for street "theater" in India today some apparently held small amounts of burning oil * lamps? But probably not large enough to be functional for lighting much * more like votive candles? ritual uses * offerings? * charms? these might have been made by specialists, but not necessarily; many are pretty simple Dice * gambling? * divination? writing * unfortunately, it cannot be read * no multilingual inscriptions yet found mostly, but not exclusively, known from seals * used as in Mesopotamia and Egypt, to seal clay * sealings often have impressions of cloth or cords on the back, suggesting that the sealings marked bundles of some kind * unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt, few tablets with writing on them, and very few painted symbols, either * this suggests that the writing might have had a different primary purpose * in Mesopotamia and Egypt, they used writing to record many different statements * "Joe gave 3 sheep to the temple"; "Sam gave 5 sacks of wheat to the palace"; etc. while in Harappan society, as far as we can tell, they mostly used seals to make many copies of the same statement * probably like "This belongs to John" inscriptions are always brief * probably only labels identifying names or offices, places, contents still debated even what language it represents * Kenoyer thinks there may be multiple systems, representing various different languages * he suggests "private" trading languages that were meant to be understood only by associates but apparently a logo-syllabic system * that is, some symbols stand for words or concepts, while others represented sounds that could be combined to form words that didn't have their own symbol * this is like pre-cuneiform and hieroglyphics presumably indicates specialized literate people, as well as specialized seal makers origins may be in signs scratched onto ceramics that began to be made by 2800 BC, maybe as early as 3300 BC * generally simple, abstract or geometric, just a few lines or symbols * some are probably maker's marks (usually on the bottoms of pots) * others on pot rims or high on the sides might indicate ownership, an intended destination, etc. * probably associated with tracking goods in the vessels for transportation or exchange, but there could be other explanations religion * some parallels with later Indian beliefs suggest that Indus religion may have been the origin (or part of the origin) of Hinduism * ritual cleanliness * the "priest" figures with their garment off one shoulder * in historic times, this was an indication of piety seals show a "Lord of the Beasts" figure that many see as an early version of the god Shiva stone phallic (?) symbols and donut stones: early "lingam" and "yoni" symbols of Shiva and his consort Devi? trade * internal (within the Indus) * sealings were sometimes made from clay not local to where they were found * that is, the sealings were probably put on in one town and the sealed goods shipped to another town, where the sealings were broken off and later found by archaeologists flint from a single region (about 50 km from Mohenjo-Daro) was processed near the source into blades, which were traded throughout the Indus system shell goods were similarly made at two sites and traded widely carnelian beads from two sites, etc. site-level specialization of production with wide distribution external (with "foreigners") * goods brought to the Indus drainage * metals * gold, silver, copper, lead stones for jewelry and carving * lapis, turquoise, alabaster, etc. Lapis trading center in Afghanistan (Shortughai) * a plainly Harappan site * located about 500 km (300 miles) north of the Harappan culture area, separated from it by very difficult terrain Mesopotamian trade * We'll look at this closely, because it is often said that trade contact with Mesopotamia somehow sparked civilization in the Indus system * much like the claim that is often made about Egypt according to Sumerian records from the Agade Period (Sargon, 2373-2247 BC), Sumerian merchants traded with people from (at least) three named foreign places * Dilmun (now identified as the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf) * Magan (a port on the coastline between the head of the Persian Gulf and the mouth of the Indus river) * Meluhha (location unknown) * Maybe the Indus? * source of * ivory, oils, furniture * gold, silver, carnelian (a red gemstone) * these are all products that the Indus could have exported records of Meluhhan ships docking at Sumer * and Meluhhans in various Sumerian cities * also a Meluhhan town or district at one city the Sumerian records indicate a large volume of trade * according to a Sumerian tablet, one shipment from Meluhha contained 5,900 kg of copper (13,000 lbs, or 6 1/2 tons)! the bulk of this trade was done through Dilmun, not directly with Meluhha * if Meluhha was the Indus, this largely indirect contact might have reduced Sumer's impact there Physical evidence of this trade is extremely scanty * A small handful of Mesopotamian imports in the Indus area * 3 local imitations of Mesopotamian seals * a few copper items that might be from Sumer * a "Persian gulf type" seal at Lothal (i.e. from Dilmun/Bahrain) * some Mesopotamian influence, like several seals showing a Gilgamesh/Enkidu-like figure holding two tigers A very modest amount of Indus stuff in Mesopotamia * about two dozen seals either from the Indus or locally made copies; found at Susa and other sites * some carnelian beads, inlay work, etc. * including the long carnelian beads and other jewelry from Puabi's tomb at Ur! maybe the trade was mostly in perishable goods, like cotton cloth, which the Indus could well have produced If this trade is supposed to have been involved in the rise of Indus civilization, it seems to have started too late to do so * The first written mention of this trade dates to Agade period (2373-2247 BC) (Sargon's empire) * mentions only become frequent in Ur III (2168-2062 BC) and the subsequent Larsa dynasty (2062-1770 BC) * then the mentions decline drastically * this drop-off corresponds pretty well to the end of the Late Harappan period * which tends to confirm that Meluhha was the Harappan civilization point: Sumerian documents mentioning trade that might be with the Indus first appeared several hundred years after the Mature Harappan began in 2600 BC and maybe 700 years after the "Kot Dijian" spread of uniform style, walled towns, etc. so this trade seems to have been too late to have caused the rise of complexity in the Indus or maybe we just don't have the evidence of the first stages of it social stratification * at first glance, Harappan society looks relatively egalitarian * and the evidence is much more egalitarian than in Mesopotamian and Egyptian society but there is some variation in housing * citadel dwellings vs. lower town dwellings * houses with or without courtyards, wells, privies * barracks or tenements * rural dwellers * overall, though, there is not much evidence of ostentatiously rich people, while there is a lot of evidence of a sizable number of people living pretty well in the cities, not just a few * that is, even if it was not really egalitarian, the division of wealth and status looks broader and lower than in Mesopotamia and Egypt granaries (warehouses?) suggest accumulation of vast stores of wealth * if they are, in fact, granaries, then some people or institution must have owned or controlled them * if not, they were at least large, probably public buildings that would have taken concentrated wealth to build and use for any purpose the huge amount of craft specialization and trade suggests that some people would have had better jobs and more wealth than others burial information * As Wenke says, the evidence for differentiation in wealth is minor, compared to Mesopotamia or Egypt * but at Harappa: * a coffin burial with a reed shroud * up to 24 pots in some burials * necklaces, beads, etc. at Lothal and Kalibangan * some have "quantities" of ceramics and ornaments, others don't * a few are in brick chambers * one brick chamber unusually large (4 X 2 m; 13 X 6 feet) * this burial is comparable in size to the painted tomb at Hierakonpolis (Naqada II) * but Harappan cities at this point were comparable to Uruk or the biggest Egyptian cities of the Old Kingdom others are communal graves with no goods others are male-female pairs, maybe early evidence of "sati" (killing the wife when the husband dies, a traditional practice in India, now illegal) still, no "royal" tombs * suggests much less difference in material wealth between classes but note that certain kinds of goods rarely, if ever, turn up in Harappan burials * metals * jewelry is rare in burials * instead, these are found in non-mortuary caches * so the apparent lack of rich burials may not necessarily reflect the lack of wealth in life, but rather some idea that wealth items were not appropriate grave goods * perhaps an ideology of equality in death, and maybe in life? * or humility in death, maybe in life? caches of goods below floors of houses * a copper pot full of copper weapons and tools * caches of jewelry * suggests that wealth items were not buried with the dead, but were kept around for the living * and that whoever made these caches was better off that those that didn't * that is, that there might have been greater variation in wealth than the burials suggest seals, sealings, tablets, etc. are found concentrated in certain houses * one house near Mohenjo-daro's "main street" had 11 seals, tablets, etc. with writing on them * possibly a merchant's home? suggesting the residences of scribes and/or merchants who kept accounts * while other people did not * maybe the people who used writing in their houses were wealthier, higher status, etc.? political organization * generally assumed to represent one or more state(s) (I would say safely so) * Settlement hierarchy: pretty clearly at least four levels of site sizes, so it surpasses the "three-level" requirement for a state * Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and the two other large sites would be "capitals" or major centers * Kalibangan, Kot Diji, etc. would be secondary centers * Lothal and others would be smaller, specialized towns * and many or most people would live in tiny hamlets or scattered farms around the countryside Total Harappan population in the Indus drainage at least 200,000 by around 2000 BC Decline (Late Harappan, 2050 - 1700 BC) * Civilization did not suddenly disappear * Craft production continued at a high level of sophistication: Quetta treasure 1900 BC near Mehrgarh Several sites in Baluchistan burned around the end of the Mature Harappan period Sprawled skeletons in a street of Mohenjo-daro might indicate warfare * but invasion by foreigners is no longer taken seriously as a cause of the decline of Harappan civilization * extremely little evidence of anyone else suddenly appearing there but conflict (maybe internal) could well have been involved or plague? Harappa had a final stylistic phase that seems to reflect some foreign influence, particularly from Iran * but not a radical replacement or change that might indicate an invasion Nevertheless, by the end of the Late Harappan, the cities were permanently abandoned * and Sumerian records ceased to mention trade with Meluhha * the Harappan tradition largely disappeared * people ceased to use the writing system, the system of weights and measures, and some of the particular imagery that was found on seals and pottery * burial traditions changed from extended burials in coffins to secondary burials with bones collected in large ceramic pots * presumably indicates a change in religion leaving only echoes in myths and general cultural traits unlike the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Chinese early civilizations, all of which were known from historical sources, the Harappan civilization was truly lost and forgotten until archaeologists rediscovered it cities might have been abandoned due to... * Flooding? * Desiccation due to changing rainfall? (affecting animal breeding areas and communication routes) * Desiccation due to shift in river course due to tectonic activity? * Introduction of millet, leading to population shifting to better-suited areas and abandoning the cities? * Epidemic disease? * Military incursions? (by "Indo-Europeans"?) Conclusions * when did civilization arise? * Neolithic? * Early Indus? * Mature Harappan? does uniformity mean strong control and therefore power hierarchy? * if so, where are signs of rulers? * could traditionalism and/or something like the caste system account for the uniformity? Role of social stratification -- was this a special case of a relatively egalitarian civilization? Roles of irrigation and flood control projects Role of warfare Role of trade * internal vs. external * timing; quantity; nature of goods Was this a pristine civilization, mostly pristine (?), or not at all?