Harappa

Location of Harappa in the Indus Valley and extent of Indus Valley Civilization (green).

Harappa (pronounced /həˈræpə/; Urdu: ہڑپہ, Hindi: हड़प्पा) is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about 35 km (22 miles) southwest of Sahiwal.

The modern town is located near the former course of the Ravi River and also beside the ruins of an ancient fortified city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization, and is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents—considered large for its time. Although the Harappa Culture extended well beyond the bounds of present day Pakistan, its centres were in Sindh and the Punjab.^[1]

In 2005 a controversial amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders unearthed many archaeological artifacts during the early stages of construction work. A plea from the prominent Pakistani archaeologist Ahmed Hasan Dani to the Ministry of Culture resulted in a restoration of the site.^[2]

History

One of the most fascinating yet mysterious cultures of the ancient world is the Harappan civilization. This culture existed along the Indus River in present day Pakistan and India. It was named after the city of Harappa as it was the first of that civilization's cities discovered. Harappa and the city of Mohenjo-Daro were the greatest achievements of the Indus valley civilization (although it should be noted that this is in part owing to the relative lack of systematic excavations and published information on other Indus Valley Civilization urban centers). These cities are well known for their impressive, organized and regular layout, road and street networks, drainage and step-wells for water. Over one hundred other towns and villages also existed in this region. The writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization, evinced in numerous seals, pottery graffiti and a probable sign at Dholavira, remains undeciphered.

The Indus Valley civilization (also known as Harappan culture) has its earliest roots in cultures such as that of Mehrgarh, approximately 6000 BC. The two greatest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, emerged circa 2600 BC along the Indus River valley in Punjab and Sindh.^[3] The civilization, with a writing system, urban centers, and diversified social and economic system, was rediscovered in the 1920s after excavations at Mohenjo-daro (which means "mound of the dead") in Sindh near Sukkur, and Harappa, in west Punjab south of Lahore. A number of other sites stretching from the Himalayan foothills in east Punjab, India in the north, to Gujarat in the south and east, and to Balochistan in the west have also been discovered and studied. Although the archaeological site at Harappa was partially damaged in 1857 when engineers constructing the Lahore-Multan railroad used brick from the Harappa ruins for track ballast, an abundance of artifacts have nevertheless been found.^[4]

Culture and economy

Indus Valley civilization was mainly an urban culture sustained by surplus agricultural production and commerce, the latter including trade with Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. Both Mohenjo-daro and Harappa are generally characterized as having "differentiated living quarters, flat-roofed brick houses, and fortified administrative or religious centers."^[5] Although such similarities have given rise to arguments for the existence of a standardized system of urban layout and planning, such similarities are largely due to the presence of a semi-orthogonal type of civic layout, and a comparison of the layouts of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa shows that they are in fact, arranged in a quite dissimilar fashion. The chert weights and measures of the Indus Valley Civilization, on the other hand, were highly standardized, and conform to a set scale of gradations. Distinctive seals were used, among other applications, perhaps for identification of property and shipment of goods. Although copper and bronze were in use, iron was still not employed. "Cotton was woven and dyed for clothing; wheat, rice, and a variety of vegetables and fruits were cultivated; and a number of animals, including the humped bull, were domesticated." ^[5] Wheel-made pottery—some of it adorned with animal and geometric motifs—has been found in profusion at all the major Indus sites. A centralized administration for each city, though not the whole civilization, has been inferred from the revealed cultural uniformity; however, it remains uncertain whether authority lay with a commercial oligarchy. There appears to be a complete lack of priestly "pomp or lavish display" that was common in other civilizations^{[citation needed]}.

Archaeology

Remains from the final phase of the Harappa occupation: A large well and bathing platforms

By far the most exquisite but most obscure artifacts unearthed to date are the small, square steatite seals engraved with human or animal motifs. Large numbers of the seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro, many bearing pictographic inscriptions generally thought to be a kind of Indus script. Despite the efforts of philologists from all parts of the world, and despite the use of modern cryptographic analysis, the script remains undeciphered. It is also unknown if it reflects proto-Dravidian, proto-Sramanic (Jain), non-Vedic (non-Hindu or non-Brahmnic), or is perhaps related to Brāhmī script. The ascription of Indus Valley Civilization iconography and epigraphy to historically known cultures is extremely problematic, in part due to the rather tenuous archaeological evidence of such claims, as well as the projection of modern South Asian political concerns onto the archaeological record of the area. This is especially evident in the radically varying interpretations of Harappan material culture as seen from both Pakistan and India-based scholars.

Decline and fall of Harappan civilization

There has been much speculation on the decline and fall of this civilization. The decline of the Harappans was gradual at first and may have come to a very abrupt termination later on^[6]. In the period of climate history coinciding with the decline of the Harappans, a significant change in the global climate took place by the expansion of arctic air. This may have been responsible for such things as drought in northern Iowa, affecting the Mill Creek Indians, and in Greece, affecting the Mycenaeans^[7]. It may have contributed to the fall of the Harappans as well.^[8]

Another possibility is an invasion from the Aryans, who inhabited the region of present day Northwest India. The Aryans were a warlike people, but it has not been proven that they in fact had a hand in wiping out the civilization of the Indus Valley. The Santorini volcano of 1400 B.C is another matter for speculation.^[9], but this has its problems too; evidence indicates that by that time the Harappans were already in decline. They were also quite a distance removed from the volcano.

One factor which is certain, however, is that the Harappans engaged in deforestation and misuse of grazing land, which in turn caused pollution and desertification^[10]. This could have played a part in the decline and fall of Harappan civilization - either as one of multiple factors, or as the sole factor.

Notes

• The earliest radiocarbon dating mentioned on the web is 2725+-185 BCE (uncalibrated) or 3338, 3213, 3203 BCE calibrated, giving a midpoint of 3251 BCE. Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (1991) Urban process in the Indus Tradition: A preliminary report. In Harappa Excavations, 1986-1990: A multidisciplanary approach to Third 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 BCE.
• Mohenjo-daro is another major city of the same period, located in Sindh province of Pakistan.
• Dholavira is an ancient Metropolitan City. The Harappans used roughly the same size bricks and weights as were used in other Indus cities, such as Mohenjo Daro and Dholavira. These cities were well planned with wide streets, public and private wells, drains, bathing platforms and reservoirs. One of its most well-known structures is the so-called Great Bath of Mohenjo Daro.

References

See also

• Charles Masson - First European explorer of Harappa
• Dholavira
• Lothal
• Harappan architecture
• Mehrgarh
• Mohenjo-daro
• Sokhta Koh

External links

• Harappa.com

Coordinates: 30°38′N 72°52′E / 30.633°N 72.867°E / 30.633; 72.867