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| by [4] Jonathan Mark Kenoyer | [INLINE]

| Introduction |

Archaeologists studying the emergence of early civilizations often
focus on finely crafted art objects in order to understand aspects of
economic, socio-political and religious organization. The importance
of such objects is increased when studying early societies for which
there are no written records, such as the Indus Valley civilization.
Although some of the communities living in the Indus cities did use a
formal writing system, it has not yet been deciphered and the detailed
study of material culture provides one of the few sources of
information for determining the nature of the society and for
comparing it to other early cultures.

Over time, as questions about the past have changed, the approaches
used by archaeologists to study finely crafted objects have also
changed dramatically. One category of artifacts that provides an
example of how scholars have changed their perspectives and
interpretations over time are the intaglio stamp seals of the ancient
Indus cities. When they were first discovered in 1873, the exquisite
carved steatite seals from Harappa gained world attention because of
their unique style and enigmatic script. Essentially they were
compared stylistically and linguistically to the cylinder seals of
Mesopotamia (Marshall 1924). After many years of excavation and study,
scholars such as Ernest Mackay had the opportunity to study the
materials that the seals were made from and the general techniques of
carving and manufacture (Mackay 1938). These studies revealed that
there were in fact many different types of seals, and inscribed
objects, some of which were not used for sealing at all. The
interpretive implications of these variations were not at first
realized, but it was clear that the techniques of manufacture and
variations were the result of indigenous cultural developments and not
due to diffusion of ideas from other early civilizations.

As the study of Indus cities shifted to more theoretical issues of
social, economic and political organization, the production and use of
artistic objects such as seals came to take on a very different light
(Rissman 1989). Questions about the symbolic or socio-political
meaning of these seals required more rigorous studies of the
production, use and discard of the artifacts (Kenoyer 1997a). This
stimulated new studies and interpretive models that would require
totally new methods of data collection and analysis. The seals of the
Indus cities were shown to be more than simple art objects, to be
compared to seals in other civilizations, but were seen as symbols of
power and authority that had been created through complex technologies
(Kenoyer and Meadow 1997; Kenoyer and Meadow 1999).

While seals may be one of the more spectacular types of objects found
in the Indus cities, this same progression of changing studies and
perspectives has been going on with most aspects of the Indus
civilization. Scholars have begun to reexamine artifacts recovered
from earlier excavations and discover new finds through excavations in
both Pakistan and India. By studying the artistic elements, the
symbolic elements and the technological processes needed to create
such objects scholars have begun to shed new light on the
socio-economic, ideological and political developments that set the
foundation for the Indus civilization. A recent study of steatite bead
making technology has looked at the changes in Indus technical
virtuosity and social structure (Vidale and Miller 2001, in press). In
this paper I will focus on examples resulting from the recent
excavations of the Early Harappan (Ravi and Kot Diji Phases) at
Harappa, along with comparisons from the important sites of Mehrgarh
and Nausharo.

| Geography and Chronology |                     

Important Geographical Regions and Sites of the Indus Valley Tradition
Figure 1. Important Geographical Regions and Sites of the Indus Valley
Tradition

The term Indus Valley Tradition is used to incorporate the long term
cultural trajectory that characterizes the large geographical region
of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys (Kenoyer 1998) (Figure
1). This area extends from the highlands of Baluchistan, Pakistan on
the west across the vast Indus alluvial plains to the deserts of
Cholistan and Thar that form the border between Pakistan and India.
From north to south the region stretches from the foothills of the
Himalaya to the coastal regions of Makran, Pakistan and the islands
and mainland of Gujarat, India. This vast geographical area provides
numerous diverse resource areas for raw materials as well as
subsistence activities. The juxtaposition of these resources provides
a stimulus for the establishment of exchange networks that were
facilitated by numerous passes between the highlands and alluvial
plain, the presence of rivers and relatively accessible coastal
regions.

The chronology for the Indus Valley Tradition can be divided into four
Eras (Kenoyer 1991a; Shaffer 1992). The Early Food Producing Era (ca.
7000-5500 BC) is also commonly referred to as the Neolithic period,
and is a time when domestic plants and animals are first exploited in
the Indus Valley. The Regionalization Era, (5500-2600 BC) corresponds
to a period of regional cultural development that is subdivided into
various Phases defined by specific artifact styles and regional
cultural interaction. Recent excavations at the site of Harappa
provide evidence for the emergence of an Early Indus state around 2800
BC at the end of the Regionalization Era, but the major phase of
state-level development and urbanism does not begin until around 2600
BC (Kenoyer and Meadow 2001 in press).
[This article was first published in INDO-KOKO-KENKYU, Indian
Archaeological Studies 2000 Vol. 22 and is reprinted here with
permission.] 
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References

1. http://www.harappa.com/indus3/index.html
2. http://www.harappa.com/indus3/index.html
3. http://www.harappa.com/indus3/e2.html
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