Harappa
Location | Sahiwal District, Punjab, Pakistan |
---|---|
Coordinates | 30°37′44″N 72°51′50″E / 30.62889°N 72.86389°E |
Type | Settlement |
Area | 150 ha (370 acres) |
History | |
Periods | Harappa 1 to Harappa 5 |
Cultures | Indus Valley Civilisation |
Site notes | |
Condition | Ruined |
Ownership | Pakistan |
Public access | Yes |
Website | www |
Harappa is an archaeological site in Pakistan, about 25 km (16 mi) north of Sahiwal. The Bronze Age Harappan civilisation, now more often called the Indus Valley Civilisation, is named after the site, which takes its name from a modern village near the former course of the Ravi River, which now runs 8 km (5.0 mi) to the north. The core of the Harappan civilisation extended over a large area, from Gujarat in the south, across Sindh and Rajasthan and extending into Punjab and Haryana. Numerous sites have been found outside the core area, including some as far east as Uttar Pradesh and as far west as Sutkagen-dor on the Makran coast of Balochistan, not far from Iran.[1][2]
The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a
Per archaeological convention of naming a previously unknown civilisation by its first excavated site, the Indus Valley Civilisation is also called the Harappan Civilisation.The ancient city of Harappa was heavily damaged under British and French rule, when bricks from the ruins were used as track ballast in the construction of the Lahore–Multan Railway [citation needed]. The current village of Harappa is less than 1 km (0.62 mi) from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a legacy railway station from the British Raj period, it is a small crossroads town of 15,000 people today. In 2005, a controversial amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders unearthed many archaeological artefacts during the early stages of building work.[6]
History
The
Because of the reduced sea-levels, certain regions in the late Harappan period were abandoned .[10] Towards its end, the Harappan civilization lost features such as writing and hydraulic engineering.[11] As a result, the Ganges Valley settlement gained prominence and Ganges' cities developed.[10]
The earliest recognisably Harappan sites date to 3500 BCE. This early phase lasts till around 2600 BCE. The civilization's mature phase lasted from 2600 BCE to 2000 BCE. This is when the great cities were at their height. Then, from around 2000 BCE, there was a steady disintegration that lasted till 1400 BCE – what is usually called Late Harappan.[12] There is no sign that the Harappan cities were laid waste by invaders. The evidence strongly points to natural causes. A number of studies show that the area which is today the Thar Desert was once far wetter and that the climate gradually became drier.[13]
Culture and economy
The Indus Valley civilization was basically an urban culture sustained by surplus agricultural production and commerce, the latter including trade with
The weights and measures of the Indus Valley Civilisation, on the other hand, were highly standardised, and conform to a set scale of gradations. Distinctive seals were used, among other applications, perhaps for the identification of property and shipment of goods. Although copper and
What is clear is that Harappan society was not entirely peaceful, with the human skeletal remains demonstrating some of the highest rates of injury (15.5%) found in South Asian prehistory.[17] Examinations of Harappan skeletons have often found wounds that are likely to have been inflicted in battle.[18] Paleopathological analysis demonstrated that leprosy and tuberculosis were present at Harappa, with the highest prevalence of both disease and trauma present in the skeletons from Area G (an ossuary located south-east of the city walls).[19] Furthermore, rates of craniofacial trauma and infection increased through time demonstrating that the civilisation collapsed amid illness and injury. The bioarchaeologists who examined the remains have suggested that the combined evidence for differences in mortuary treatment and epidemiology indicate that some individuals and communities at Harappa were excluded from access to basic resources like health and safety.
Trade
The Harappans had traded with ancient
Archaeology
The excavators of the site have proposed the following chronology of Harappa's occupation:[5]
- Ravi Aspect of the Hakraphase, c. 3300 – 2800 BCE.
- Kot Dijian (Early Harappan) phase, c. 2800 – 2600 BCE.
- Harappan Phase, c. 2600 – 1900 BCE.
- Transitional Phase, c. 1900 – 1800 BCE.
- Late Harappan Phase, c. 1800 – 1300 BCE.
Period 1 occupation was thought to be around 7 to 10 hectares, but following excavations and findings of pottery in Mound E, along with previously found Mound AB pottery, suggest Ravi/Hakra phase would have been extended, together in both mounds, to 25 hectares.[21]
Period 2, Kot Diji phase, was extended in the same two mounds, AB and E, covering over 27 hectares.[22]
In Period 3, Harappa phase, the settlement reached 150 hectares.[23]
By far the most exquisite and obscure artefacts unearthed to date are the small, square
In February 2006 a school teacher in the village of Sembian-Kandiyur in Tamil Nadu discovered a stone celt (tool) with an inscription estimated to be up to 3,500 years old.[24] [25] Indian epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan postulated that the four signs were in the Indus script and called the find "the greatest archaeological discovery of a century in Tamil Nadu".[24] Based on this evidence, he went on to suggest that the language used in the Indus Valley was of Dravidian origin. However, the absence of a Bronze Age in South India, contrasted with the knowledge of bronze making techniques in the Indus Valley cultures, calls into question the validity of this hypothesis.
The area of the late Harappan period consisted of the areas of the Daimabad, Maharashtra, and Badakshan regions of Afghanistan. The area covered by this civilisation would have been very large with a distance of around 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi).[26]
Early symbols similar to Indus script
Clay and stone tablets unearthed at Harappa, which were carbon-dated 3300–3200 BCE., contain trident-shaped and plant-like markings. "It is a big question as to if we can call what we have found true writing, but we have found symbols that have similarities to what became Indus script" said Dr. Richard Meadow of Harvard University, Director of the Harappa Archeological Research Project.[27] These primitive symbols are placed slightly earlier than the primitive writing of the Sumerians of
Notes
- The earliest radiocarbon dating mentioned on the web is 2725±185 BC (uncalibrated) or 3338, 3213, 3203 BC calibrated, giving a midpoint of 3251 BC. Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (1991) Urban process in the Indus Tradition: A preliminary report. In Harappa Excavations, 1986–1990: A multidisciplinary approach to Second Millennium urbanism, edited by Richard H. Meadow: 29–59. Monographs in World Archaeology No.3. Prehistory Press, Madison Wisconsin.
- Periods 4 and 5 are not dated at Harappa. The termination of the Harappan tradition at Harappa falls between 1900 and 1500 BC.
- Great Bathof Mohenjo-Daro.
See also
- Charles Masson – First European explorer of Harappa
- Mohenjo-daro
- Mehrgarh
- Ganeriwala
- Dholavira
- Lothal
- Harappan architecture
- Mandi, Uttar Pradesh
- Sheri Khan Tarakai
- Sokhta Koh
- Kalibangan
- Rakhigarhi
- Taxila
References
- ^ Giosan, L., Clift, P. D., Macklin, M. G., Fuller, D. Q., Constantinescu, S., Durcan, J. A., ... & Syvitski, J. P. (2012). Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(26), E1688-E1694.
- S2CID 164175444.
- JSTOR 2754608.
- ISBN 978-0-13-111316-9.
- ^ a b "Archeological Site of Harappa". World Heritage Centre. UNESCO. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
- ^ Tahir, Zulqernain. 26 May 2005. Probe body on Harappa park, Dawn. Retrieved 13 January 2006. Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-395-87274-1.
- ^ Michel Danino. The Lost River. Penguin India.
- ^ Kenoyer, J.M., 1997, Trade and Technology of the Indus Valley: New insights from sand, clay, stones and were baked at very high temperature. As early as 1826 Harappa, located in west Punjab, attracted the attention of Daya Ram Sahni, who gets credit for preliminary excavations of Harappa.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-57607-907-2.
- ISBN 978-1-57607-907-2.
- ISBN 978-0-203-64188-0, retrieved 30 March 2022
- OCLC 1103344632.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ a b Library of Congress: Country Studies. 1995. Harappan Culture. Retrieved 13 January 2006.
- ^ [1] Poultry: Identification, Fabrication, Utilization by Thomas Schneller – Cengage Learning, 28 September 2009 – page 16
- ISBN 978-0-393-92207-3.
- S2CID 3933522.
- PMID 24358372.
- PMID 24358372.
- ISBN 978-1-57607-907-2.
- ^ Kenoyer, J. M., (June 6, 2023). "Indus Socio-Economic, Political and Ideological Organization", in ARWA Association, min. 5:48 to 6:41, "Period 1 Ravi/Hakra Phase, area greater than 10 to 25+ hectares, possibly divided into two mounds, one to the north, Mound AB and the other to the southeast, Mound E."
- ^ Kenoyer, J. M., (June 6, 2023). "Indus Socio-Economic, Political and Ideological Organization", in ARWA Association, min. 8:04 to 9:30.
- ISBN 978-0-13-111316-9.
- ^ a b Subramaniam, T. S. (1 May 2006). ""Discovery of a century" in Tamil Nadu". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
- ^ Subramaniam, T. S. (1 May 2006). "Significance of Mayiladuthurai find". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ISBN 978-0-415-32920-0.
- ^ a b c BBC, UK website. "Earliest writing found". BBC News. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
- ^ The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective by Gregory L. Possehl p.111
External links
- Harappa.com
- Harappa.info Archived 30 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- "Harappa Town Planning"-article by Dr S. Srikanta Sastri
- Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley, an exhibition catalogue from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Harappa