Chapter 1 – Bricks, Beads and Bones | CBSE History Notes

HISTORY | CLASS XII | NCERT

Book: Themes in Indian History – Part I | Chapter 1

Bricks, Beads and Bones

The Harappan Civilisation

⭐ Topper Level 💬 Easy Language 📌 Point-Wise 🏺 Mind Maps Included

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1. Learning Objectives

After reading these notes, you will be able to:

Explain the phases of the Harappan civilisation — Early, Mature, and Late Harappan with dates.

Describe the town planning, drainage system, and domestic architecture of Mohenjodaro.

Understand how archaeologists trace social differences, craft production and trade in the Harappan period.

Know about Harappan seals, their undeciphered script, weights, and evidence of ancient authority.

Explain the end of the civilisation and how archaeologists discovered and interpreted the Harappan past.

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2. Introduction

The Harappan Civilisation, also known as the Indus Valley Civilisation, is one of the oldest and most remarkable civilisations of the ancient world. It flourished around 2600–1900 BCE in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent, along the rivers Indus and Saraswati. What makes this civilisation truly extraordinary is the archaeological evidence it has left behind — planned cities, standardised bricks, an advanced drainage system, beautiful beads and ornaments, mysterious seals with an undeciphered script, and carefully crafted tools and weights. Unlike other ancient civilisations such as Mesopotamia or Egypt where written records help us understand history, our knowledge of the Harappans comes almost entirely from material remains excavated by archaeologists over more than a century. The Harappan seal, made of steatite stone, is perhaps the most distinctive and fascinating artefact of this civilisation. By studying what the Harappans left behind, we can piece together a picture of their economy, society, craft skills, trade networks, and everyday life — even though many questions about their language, religion, and political system remain unanswered to this day.

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3. Terminologies, Places and Time

The Harappan Civilisation is also known as the Indus Valley Civilisation. The name “Harappa” comes from the place where it was first identified. The total time span ranges from 6000 BCE to 1300 BCE. Its distinctive artefacts — pottery, bricks, seals, weights, beads, copper and bronze articles — have been found across Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Sind, Punjab (Pakistan) and Indian states of J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

📅 Three Phases of the Harappan Civilisation

6000 BCE – 2600 BCE

🌱 Early Harappan

Formative phase. Small settlements, distinctive pottery, early farming communities. Harappan culture emerged from farming societies (~7000 BCE).

2600 BCE – 1900 BCE

🏙️ Mature Harappan

Most prosperous phase. Urban centres developed. Planned cities, trade, crafts, standardised weights and seals. The “urban phase”.

1900 BCE – 1300 BCE

📉 Late Harappan

Decline begins around 1900 BCE. Decadent phase. Cities abandoned, trade disappeared, rural way of life returned.

📌 Harappan Settlements — Key Facts

More than 2,000 Harappan archaeological sites discovered in Indian subcontinent.

Most sites found between Indus and Saraswati river basins. Nearly two-thirds are in the Saraswati basin.
Five major cities: Rakhigarhi, Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Dholavira, Ganweriwala.

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4. Subsistence Strategies

🌾 Food — What did Harappans eat?

Crops (Grains): Wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame. Millets — found at Gujarat sites. Rice — relatively rare finds.
Domesticated animals: Cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo, pig — confirmed by archaeo-zoologists / zoo-archaeologists.
Wild species: Boar, deer, gharial (hunted or obtained from hunting communities). Fish and fowl also found.

🌱 Agricultural Technologies

Evidence of bulls on seals and terracotta → archaeologists infer oxen used for ploughing.
Terracotta plough models found at Cholistan and Banawali (Haryana).
Ploughed field at Kalibangan (Rajasthan) — two sets of furrows at right angles → two different crops grown together (inter-cropping).
Most sites in semi-arid lands → irrigation needed. Traces of canals at Shortughai (Afghanistan); water from wells also used.
Water reservoirs at Dholavira (Gujarat) — possibly used for storing water for agriculture.

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5. Mohenjodaro — A Planned Urban Centre

The most unique feature of Harappan civilisation was the development of urban centres. Mohenjodaro is the most well-known site, but the first site to be discovered was Harappa. Mohenjodaro was divided into two parts — the Citadel (small, higher, western) and the Lower Town (larger, lower, eastern).

🗺️ Mind Map — Features of Harappan Town Planning

Town Planning — Mohenjodaro

🧱 Standardised BricksLength:Breadth:Height = 4:2:1 ratio
Used across all settlements

🚰 Drainage SystemGrid-pattern roads; drains
first, then houses built

🏠 Domestic HousesCourtyard-centred; own
bathroom; wells; 2nd storey

🏰 The CitadelGreat Bath; Warehouse;
Public buildings

🧱 Mud Brick PlatformsFoundations; 4 million
person-days of labour!

🔒 Walled SectionsBoth Citadel and Lower
Town were walled

🏛️ The Citadel — Important Structures

🛁 The Great Bath

Large rectangular tank in a courtyard, surrounded by corridors on all 4 sides
Two flights of steps on north and south leading into the tank
Made watertight with bricks set on edge + gypsum mortar
Rooms on three sides; large well in one room
Water flowed out into a huge drain
8 bathrooms nearby (4 on each side of corridor)
Purpose: possibly used for a special ritual bath

🏦 The Warehouse

Massive structure on the Citadel
Lower brick portions remain; upper portions (wood) decayed
Used for public/storage purposes

🏠 Domestic Architecture

Houses centred on a courtyard (cooking, weaving)
No windows on ground-level walls → privacy
Main entrance: no direct view of interior
Every house had own bathroom connected to street drains
Many houses had wells (~700 wells in Mohenjodaro)
Staircases to second storey / roof

🚰 Drainage System — “The Most Ancient System Yet Discovered”

Roads and streets were laid in an approximate grid pattern intersecting at right angles. Drains were laid first, then houses built. Main channels made of bricks set in mortar, covered with loose bricks (removable for cleaning). House drains emptied into a sump/cesspit first, then flowed to street drains. Found in large cities AND small settlements like Lothal.

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6. Tracking Social Differences

⚰️ Burials

Dead were generally laid in pits. Some pits lined with bricks → possible social differences.
Some graves contain pottery and ornaments — possibly for afterlife use.
Jewellery found in burials of both men and women.
At Harappa cemetery (mid-1980s): ornament of 3 shell rings, a jasper bead, hundreds of micro beads found near skull of a male.
Some dead buried with copper mirrors.
On the whole: Harappans did not believe in burying precious things with the dead.

💎 Artefacts — Utilitarian vs. Luxuries

Utilitarian objects: Daily use items made of ordinary materials — querns, pottery, needles, flesh-rubbers. Found throughout settlements.
Luxury objects: Rare, made from costly/non-local materials or complicated technologies. Found mostly in large settlements like Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
Example: Faience pots (ground sand/silica + colour + gum, then fired) — difficult to make → considered precious. Miniature faience pots used as perfume bottles.
Gold was rare — all gold jewellery from Harappan sites was recovered from hoards.
Rare objects absent from small settlements like Kalibangan.

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7. Finding Out About Craft Production

Chanhudaro — tiny settlement (<7 hectares) compared to Mohenjodaro (125 hectares) — almost exclusively devoted to craft production: bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making, weight-making.

💎 Bead Making

🔴 Materials Used for Beads

Stones: Carnelian (beautiful red), jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite
Metals: Copper, bronze, gold
Others: Shell, faience, terracotta (burnt clay)
Beads of two or more stones cemented together; some with gold caps
Shapes: Disc, cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped, segmented
Decoration: incising, painting, etching designs

⚙️ Techniques for Making Beads

Steatite (very soft stone) — easily worked; paste moulded into shapes
Carnelian — red colour obtained by firing yellowish raw material; nodules chipped → finely flaked → grinding → polishing → drilling
Specialised drills found at Chanhudaro, Lothal, Dholavira
Nageshwar & Balakot (near coast) — specialised centres for shell objects (bangles, ladles, inlay)

🔍 Identifying Centres of Craft Production

Archaeologists look for: raw materials (stone nodules, whole shells, copper ore), tools, unfinished objects, rejects and waste material.
Waste is one of the best indicators of craft work — pieces discarded at the place of production.
Large cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa also had craft production alongside specialised small centres.

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8. Strategies for Procuring Materials

Clay was locally available. Stone, timber and metal had to be procured from outside the alluvial plain.
Transport: Terracotta toy models of bullock carts; riverine routes along Indus and tributaries; coastal routes.
Harappans established settlements near resource areas:
→ Nageshwar & Balakot — near shell sources (coast)
→ Shortughai (Afghanistan) — near best source of lapis lazuli (blue stone)
→ Lothal — near carnelian (Bharuch, Gujarat), steatite (S. Rajasthan/N. Gujarat), metal (Rajasthan)
Expeditions sent to Khetri region (Rajasthan) for copper and south India for gold.
Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture (Khetri) — distinctive non-Harappan pottery + unusual wealth of copper → possibly supplied copper to Harappans.

🌍 Contact with Distant Lands

Oman (Arabian peninsula): Copper possibly imported. Chemical analysis — both Omani copper and Harappan artefacts have traces of nickel → common origin.
Harappan jar (coated with thick black clay) found at Omani sites → possibly exchanged for copper.
Mesopotamian texts (3rd millennium BCE) mention region called Magan (possibly Oman) and Meluhha (possibly Harappan region).
Products mentioned from Meluhha: carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, varieties of wood.
Also mentioned: Dilmun (probably Bahrain), Magan, Meluhha. Evidence: seals, weights, dice, beads found across these regions.
Communication likely by sea — Mesopotamian texts call Meluhha a “land of seafarers”. Ships depicted on Harappan seals.

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9. Seals, Script, Weights

🔖 Seals and Sealings

Seals used to facilitate long-distance communication. A bag of goods was tied, wet clay affixed on knot, and seal was pressed → leaving impression.
If bag arrived with sealing intact → it had not been tampered with. Sealing also conveyed the identity of the sender.
Most distinctive Harappan artefact: Harappan seal made of steatite (soft stone). Contains animal motifs + undeciphered script.

📜 An Enigmatic Script

Seals usually have a line of writing — probably the name and title of the owner.
Script remains undeciphered to date.
It is not alphabetical — has between 375 and 400 signs (alphabets have much fewer).
Longest inscription contains only about 26 signs.
Written from right to left (wider spacing on right, cramping on left).
Writing found on: seals, copper tools, rims of jars, copper and terracotta tablets, jewellery, bone rods, and even an ancient signboard (Dholavira).

⚖️ Weights

Made of a stone called chert, generally cubical, with no markings.
Lower denominations: Binary system — 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32.
Higher denominations: Decimal system — 160, 200, 320, 640.
Smaller weights used for weighing jewellery and beads. Metal scale-pans also found.

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10. Ancient Authority

The extraordinary uniformity of Harappan artefacts (pottery, seals, weights, bricks from Jammu to Gujarat) indicates that complex decisions were taken and implemented. Labour was mobilised on a massive scale. But who organised all this?

🤔 Debate on Political Structure

Theory 1: No Ruler

Some archaeologists believe Harappan society had no rulers and everybody enjoyed equal status. Democratic system.

Theory 2: Multiple Rulers

Others feel there was no single ruler — Mohenjodaro had a separate ruler, Harappa another, etc.

Theory 3: Single State

Yet others argue for a single state — citing uniformity in artefacts, planned settlements, standardised bricks, strategic location of settlements near raw materials.

Priest-King Debate

A stone statue was labelled “priest-king” by archaeologists familiar with Mesopotamian priest-kings. A large building at Mohenjodaro was labelled a palace, but no spectacular finds were associated with it.

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11. The End of the Civilisation

By c. 1800 BCE, most Mature Harappan sites in Cholistan were abandoned.
Simultaneously, population expanded into new settlements in Gujarat, Haryana and western UP.
After 1900 BCE: disappearance of distinctive artefacts — weights, seals, special beads, script, long-distance trade, craft specialisation.
House construction techniques deteriorated. Large public structures no longer built. Life became rural — “Late Harappan” or “successor cultures”.

❓ Reasons for Decline

Several explanations: climatic change, deforestation, excessive floods, shifting/drying up of rivers, overuse of landscape.
None of these fully explains the collapse of the entire civilisation.
It appears that a strong unifying element — perhaps the Harappan state — came to an end.
Subcontinent had to wait over a millennium for new cities to develop in a completely different region.

🧬 Rakhigarhi DNA Research (Archaeogenetics)

DNA extracted from skeletal remains at Rakhigarhi (biggest Harappan city — 550 hectares, Hisar, Haryana). Research by Deccan College Pune + CCMB Hyderabad + Harvard Medical College (2013). Findings: Harappans are indigenous people of this region; genetic roots go back to 10,000 BCE; DNA continuity to present-day South Asians; rules out large-scale Aryan immigration; 3D reconstructed faces show remarkable similarity with modern Haryana population.

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12. Discovering the Harappan Civilisation

🧑‍🔬 Key Archaeologists and Their Contributions

Alexander Cunningham (1875)

First Director-General of ASI. Called “father of Indian archaeology”. Got a Harappan seal but failed to recognise its significance — thought Indian history began with Ganga valley cities. Brick robbers had damaged Harappa badly in his time.

John Marshall (1924)

Director-General of ASI. First professional archaeologist to work in India. In 1924, announced discovery of a new civilisation. “Marshall left India three thousand years older than he had found her.” Also confirmed Harappan civilisation was contemporary with Mesopotamia.

R.E.M. Wheeler (1944–46)

Director-General ASI from 1944. Rectified Marshall’s approach — followed stratigraphy of mound instead of digging mechanically. Brought military precision to archaeology.

Daya Ram Sahni (1921)

Began excavations at Harappa. Found seals in layers older than Early Historic levels.

Rakhal Das Banerji (1922)

Found similar seals at Mohenjodaro → conjecture that both sites were part of a single archaeological culture.

📋 Major Timeline of Harappan Archaeology

Year	Development
1875	Cunningham reports on Harappan seal
1921	Daya Ram Sahni begins excavations at Harappa
1922	Excavations begin at Mohenjodaro
1924	John Marshall announces discovery to the world
1946	R.E.M. Wheeler excavates at Harappa
1955	S.R. Rao begins excavations at Lothal
1960	B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar excavate at Kalibangan
1990	R.S. Bisht begins excavations at Dholavira
1997	Amrendra Nath starts excavations at Rakhigarhi
2013	Vasant Shinde begins archaeogenetic research at Rakhigarhi

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13. Problems of Piecing Together the Past

Harappan script is undeciphered — so material evidence (pottery, tools, ornaments) is the main source of information.
Organic materials (cloth, leather, wood, reeds) decompose in tropical regions. Only stone, burnt clay (terracotta) and metal survive.
Only broken or useless objects were thrown away. Others were recycled. Intact valuable finds were either lost or hoarded → such finds are accidental, not typical.

🔍 Classifying Finds

By material: Stone, clay, metal, bone, ivory, etc.
By function: Tool or ornament or ritual object? (more complex; based on context and resemblance to present-day things)
Context matters: Was the artefact found in a house, drain, grave, or kiln?

🙏 Problems of Interpretation — Religion

Terracotta figurines of heavily jewelled women → labelled as mother goddesses.
Stone statues of men in standardised posture → labelled as “priest-king”.
Great Bath and fire altars at Kalibangan and Lothal → assigned ritual significance.
Figure seated cross-legged on seal surrounded by animals → interpreted as “proto-Shiva” or Pashupati — but this does not match the description of Rudra in the Rigveda.
Conical stone objects → classified as lingas (but also possibly board game pieces).
Seals with plant motifs → suggest nature worship. One-horned animal on seals (“unicorn”) → may be mythical/composite creature.

📌 Key Unanswered Questions

Was the Great Bath a ritual structure? How widespread was literacy? Why do Harappan cemeteries show little social differentiation? What were the terracotta female figurines used for? What is the relationship between Harappans and Vedic people? These remain open for future research.

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Summary — Quick Revision

Harappan / Indus Valley Civilisation: total span 6000 BCE–1300 BCE. Three phases: Early (6000–2600) · Mature (2600–1900) · Late (1900–1300).

More than 2,000 sites found; 2/3 in Saraswati basin. Five major cities: Rakhigarhi, Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Dholavira, Ganweriwala.

Crops: wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame. Animals: cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo, pig. Ploughed field found at Kalibangan.

Mohenjodaro: divided into Citadel (higher, western) and Lower Town (larger, eastern). Standardised bricks: Length:Breadth:Height = 4:2:1.

Great Bath (Citadel) — rectangular tank, gypsum mortar, two staircases; possibly for ritual bathing. Drainage system called “most ancient system yet discovered.”

Craft centre: Chanhudaro (bead-making, metal-working, seal-making). Materials: carnelian, jasper, steatite, copper, bronze, faience. Specialised drills at Chanhudaro, Lothal, Dholavira.

Trade contacts: Oman (copper with nickel traces), Mesopotamia, Bahrain (Dilmun). Mesopotamia called Harappan region “Meluhha.”

Harappan script: undeciphered; 375–400 signs; not alphabetical; written right to left. Weights: chert stone, cubical; lower = binary, higher = decimal system.

Civilisation ended around 1800–1900 BCE. Reasons debated: climate change, floods, river drying. Rakhigarhi DNA shows Harappans were indigenous, genetically continuous to present.

Discovery: Cunningham (1875, missed significance) → Marshall (1924, announced to world) → Wheeler (1944, improved methods). First excavations: Daya Ram Sahni (Harappa, 1921); Rakhal Das Banerji (Mohenjodaro, 1922).

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Important Terms to Remember

Harappan / Indus Valley Civilisation: One of the world’s earliest urban civilisations, flourishing in the Indus-Saraswati region from c. 2600–1900 BCE (Mature phase).
Archaeo-botanist: A specialist who studies ancient plant remains (charred grains, seeds) to reconstruct dietary practices.
Archaeo-zoologist / Zoo-archaeologist: A specialist who studies animal bones found at archaeological sites.
Faience: A material made of ground sand or silica mixed with colour and a gum, then fired — used to make beads and small pots.
Steatite: A very soft stone (soapstone) used to make Harappan seals and beads.
Citadel: The smaller, higher, western section of a Harappan city built on mud brick platforms — contained important public buildings.
Lower Town: The larger, lower, eastern section of a Harappan city — contained residential buildings.
Great Bath: A large watertight rectangular tank at Mohenjodaro, probably used for ritual bathing.
Sealing: A piece of wet clay pressed with a seal on a package/bag to prevent tampering and identify the sender.
Lapis Lazuli: A precious blue stone obtained from Shortughai, Afghanistan — highly valued by Harappans.
Carnelian: A beautiful red stone used for making beads; obtained from Bharuch, Gujarat.
Hoard: Objects (jewellery or metal) kept carefully inside containers like pots. If owners don’t retrieve them, archaeologists find them later.
Stratigraphy: The study of layers of soil/deposits at an archaeological site. Lowest layers = oldest; highest = most recent.
Archaeogenetics: The study of DNA of ancient populations using molecular genetics to understand population history.
Meluhha: The name used in Mesopotamian texts (3rd millennium BCE) for what is possibly the Harappan region.
Proto-Shiva: A figure on Harappan seals, seated cross-legged and surrounded by animals — interpreted (debatably) as an early form of the Hindu god Shiva.
Shaman: A man or woman who claims magical and healing powers, as well as an ability to communicate with the spirit world.