Archaeology Thread

[MaduraiSelvam]

Video link for "The lost temple of India"- a special report about Great Raja Raja Chozhan and his empire.

There are six episodes and links are given below.


Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVHQP...eature=related
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfhes...eature=related
Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLRCF...eature=related
Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DqBi...eature=related
Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zKCe...eature=related

[MaduraiSelvam]

self deleted

[phaedrus]

Thanks!

[dreadathecontrols]

I just read that ther are now definate links between harrapa & settlemenst east in the jmuna/ganga basin therefor tracing Indians back to those anient times .Thats 7000bc.they're discovering new stuff about this as we speak .V interesting.
and that there is mantras in kerala that resemble pre linguistic patterns of sound, possably meaning that the indian concept of mantra pre dated language.And that language it self sparang out of communities originaly from Africa developing it in india...

[MaduraiSelvam]

Originally Posted by dreadathecontrols

I just read that ther are now definate links between harrapa & settlemenst east in the jmuna/ganga basin therefor tracing Indians back to those anient times .Thats 7000bc.they're discovering new stuff about this as we speak .V interesting.
and that there is mantras in kerala that resemble pre linguistic patterns of sound, possably meaning that the indian concept of mantra pre dated language.And that language it self sparang out of communities originaly from Africa developing it in india...

Sorry dude, no posting without reference . All that you said sounds very biased.

[dreadathecontrols]

Biased?Its not biased just cos there aint a reference.
Reference is Micheal Woods 'story of india' book.however he aint supplied refrences as its not anacademic work.Just quoted people hes met in the field, who are involved in the digs.This is stuff that i've come accros in other places too.But this is the most recent & therfore up to date one.

[kvijayasundaram]

http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/13/stor...1355961800.htm

“Jallikattu,” which is bull-baiting or bull fighting, is an ancient Dravidian tradition that was practised about 4,000 years ago during the Indus Valley civilisation.

A well-preserved seal found at Mohenjodaro in the 1930s attests to this, according to Iravatham Mahadevan, a specialist in Indus and Brahmi scripts.

This seal realistically brings alive a vigorous scene of bull-fighting. It portrays a ferocious bull in action, several men or a single man (according to two different interpretations), thrown in the air by it as they try to control it.

Clearly, the bull is the victor. This seal, made of stone, is on display in the National Museum, New Delhi. It can be dated to 2,000 B.C., Mr. Mahadevan said. Several scholars had commented upon this seal as portraying bull-baiting during the Indus civilisation, he added.

Jallikattu is in the news after the Supreme Court on January 11 declined to give permission to Tamil Nadu Government and some villages for the conduct of this sport. It is traditionally organised in the State during Pongal which falls on January 15 this year.

The seal found at Mohenjodaro, now in Pakistan, shows a single bull with curved horns in the “action” of goring a single man or several men. Its horns are shown in the middle to depict the speed and fluency of its action: the angry bull has suddenly turned its neck sideways to toss the daring men and then its neck has come to its original position.

The seal has used the frieze technique to portray the charged atmosphere. There were two interpretations to what was engraved on the seal, Mr. Mahadevan said. One school is of the opinion that the seal shows several men, who tried to control the bull, thrown up in the air by the animal. A couple of men are shown flying in the air with their legs and hands spread out, a third man is seen jumping to grab the bull, another is somersaulting and yet another has pathetically come to rest on his haunch.

Mr. Mahadevan, however, is of the opinion that the seal shows only one man, who is flung into the air by the bull, his flying, his plunging, his somersaulting and finally sitting on his haunch.

A colour photograph of this seal is found at No. M 312 in The Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions, Volume 1, edited by Asko Parpola and others.

There is no script on the seal. Mr. Mahadevan’s The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables, is a seminal book on the Indus script. It was published in 1977 by the Archaeological Survey of India. He has also published Corpus of the Tamil-Brahmi Inscriptions (1966).

Bull-baiting figures in the Mahabharatha, which describes Krishna controlling a ferocious bull in the forecourt of Kamsa’s palace.

Outside India, bull-baiting is practised in Spain and Portugal.

[Anniyan]

ROCK CUT: A painting of bull chasing on a massive rock surface at Karikkiyur in the Nilgiris. These pictures, according to specialists in rock art, are dateable to 2,000 B.C. to 1,500 B.C. Karikkiyur is the biggest rock art site in south India, with the rock surface teeming with about 500 paintings.

That bull chasing is an ancient sport in Tamil Nadu is attested by the discovery of paintings on rock surfaces or caves in the State. There are several rock paintings, more than 3,500 years old, at remote Karikkiyur village in the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu that show men chasing bulls.

Kaikkiyur, situated about 40 km from Kotagiri town, is the biggest rock art site in south India. The rock surface site, teeming with more than 500 paintings, was discovered by K.T. Gandhirajan, art historian, Prof. G. Chandrasekaran, Principal of the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai and others in 2004.

The paintings on a massive rock surface at Karikkiyur are done in white kaolin or red ochre, and show men chasing bulls, which seem to be a sturdy lot, with big humps and long and straight horns. A particularly arresting scene shows several men chasing three bulls, done in X-ray painting. The bulls, originally painted in X-ray fashion in white kaolin, were later painted in red ochre. The Kaikkiyur paintings are dateable between 2000 B.C. and 1500 B.C.

Another single painting discovered in a cave at Kalluthu Mettupatti, about 35 km west of Madurai, between Madurai and Dindigul, shows a lone man trying to control a bull. Mr. Gandhirajan estimated that this painting, done in white kaolin, was about 1,500 years old.

Protests have broken out in several villages including at Alanganallur and Palamedu in Madurai district and Siravayal in Sivaganga district after the Supreme Court on January 11 disallowed the organising of jallikattu (bull-baiting or bull fight) in Tamil Nadu. Jallikattu is held in several villages in the State during the Pongal festival. Mr. Gandhirajan, who is a post-graduate in Art History from Madurai-Kamaraj University, said the ancient Tamil tradition was “manju virattu” (chasing bulls) or “eruthu kattuthal” (lassoing bulls) and it was never “jallikattu,” that is baiting a bull or controlling it as the custom obtained today. In ancient Tamil country, during the harvest festival, decorated bulls would be let loose on the “peru vazhi” (highway) and the village youth would take pride in chasing them and outrunning them. Women, elders and children would watch the fun from the sidelines of the “peru vazhi” or streets. Nobody was injured in this. Or the village youth would take delight in lassoing the sprinting bulls with “vadam” (rope).

It was about 500 years ago, after the advent of the Nayak rule in Tamil Nadu with its Telugu rulers and chieftains, that this harmless bull-chasing sport metamorphosed into “jallikattu,” said Mr. Gandhirajan.
Gallery sport

The establishment of the “zamindari” system aided this, he said. The zamindars, to demonstrate their power, converted it into a “gallery sport” or spectator sport. They associated the sport with the local, village deities. Many zamindars grew sturdy bulls but they were never let into the ring for fear that some daring youth might succeed in baiting or controlling it and the zamindar would lose face. When it became a gallery sport, a narrow pathway with a gate (called “vadivasal” in Tamil) was built to let the bulls one by one into the open and the youth would be about 100 feet away to control it. Often, the ferocious bull would run into the excited crowd and a few may get killed. Sometimes, stampedes would erupt.

Mr. Gandhirajan said that while ancient rock and cave paintings showing bull chasing had been discovered in Tamil Nadu, there were no murals or sculptures in temples that showed “jallikattu.”

http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/15/stor...1553700400.htm

[dreadathecontrols]

S'all very interesting.
And , no one seems to know exactly where the dravidian langauges are from.
The conjecture is that it may also be from harrapa as no one can read the script from there.but its a massive conjecture

[VaastuShastra]

The simplistic assumptions of the past are now being questioned. For example, where scholars once assumed the entire vast Harappan civilization was mono-linguistic and culturally singular, experts now argue they may have spoken multiple language families, and been culturally diverse, just like in later Indian history. That would explian why the Harappan script has been so hard to decipher - it may be that it was used to represent multiple spoken languages, from different families, like Munda, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and even Indo-European. Unfortunatly however, vast numbers of people with no understanding of the complexities of history still subscribe to various idealised interpretations of the past, whether that be nationalist, regionalist, or whatever.

[skganji]

Originally Posted by VaastuShastra

The simplistic assumptions of the past are now being questioned. For example, where scholars once assumed the entire vast Harappan civilization was mono-linguistic and culturally singular, experts now argue they may have spoken multiple language families, and been culturally diverse, just like in later Indian history. That would explian why the Harappan script has been so hard to decipher - it may be that it was used to represent multiple spoken languages, from different families, like Munda, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and even Indo-European. Unfortunatly however, vast numbers of people with no understanding of the complexities of history still subscribe to various idealised interpretations of the past, whether that be nationalist, regionalist, or whatever.

I don't know if you are referring to the Indus script when you say Harappan script. I felt that both these scripts are same. I am confident that the Indus script was used to write sanskrit in those times after the Mahabharata War. The work of Natwar Jha and N.S.Rajaram is pretty remarkable on deciphering Indus script. Please check the link for more information on deciphering Indus script.

http://www.indiastar.com/wallia27.htm

As usual the western scholars rejected this claim on dubious grounds.....

[VaastuShastra]

Originally Posted by skganji

I don't know if you are referring to the Indus script when you say Harappan script.

Of course I am.

Anyone who has ever looked at the topic of the Indus Valley Civlization in any detail should know this.

So I suggest you read up on the subject further, before forming an opinion.

I am confident that the Indus script was used to write sanskrit in those times after the Mahabharata War.

No example of the Indus script has ever been found from the time of the Mahabharata, or after.

How can you then be confident?

Do you have a time machine at your disposal?

The work of Natwar Jha and N.S.Rajaram is pretty remarkable on deciphering Indus script.

Over a dozen different people have claimed to have translated the Indus script into several different un-related languages.

There is insufficient evidence to support any claim.

Please check the link for more information on deciphering Indus script.

I checked the link and found an un-referenced article, containing conjecture.

As usual the western scholars rejected this claim on dubious grounds.....

1). Please dont display prejudice toward westerners who have devoted their lives to the persuit of satya by rigorous scientific means.

2). Please dont display prejudice toward the majority of Indian scholars, who share their opinion, and have also devoted their lives to the presuit of satya by rigorous scientific means.

3). Please dont form hasty judgements on the professional opinions of the above mentioned people when they have studied this subject in great detail, and you clearly have not.

For your personal enjoyment, I reccomend the following books:

- India A History: John Keay
- Understanding Harappa: Shereen Ratnagar
- Early India: Romila Thapar

[dreadathecontrols]

thought the harrapan 'sript' is a form of hieroglyphs?And as yet there is no one who has deciphered them.I dont wanna take sides here but I've often found many indian experts with severe points to prove in many varied fields who use not exactly empirical methods(there are many brilliant ones too)
Claims of national or ethnic greatness should always be looked upon with scepticism whatever there source.

[VaastuShastra]

Although im definatly no expert in written scripts, ive looked into it out of interest, and it seems that the number of charecters included in the Indus script are too many to represent a syllable-based script, and yet too few to represent a pictographic script (i.e. like hieroglyphs or the Chinese script), so, it really is a mystery. Some people have even suggested that it isnt a script at all, but infact a collection of symbols used to represent trade goods, or guilds, or geographical regions (i.e. like a logo). Thats how little people know about the Indus script, the truth is, the international archeological community may never decode it, and it may not even represent a language for all anyone knows.

Unfortunatly, if you try hard enough to match a language to a script, you can almost always find a way, so various interest groups have matched languages like proto-Dravidian and proto-Sanskrit to the script, to claim the Indus civilization for partisan purposes. It seems that every forum you go on has a few people who know next to nothing about the methodology of the archeology or linguistics involved, yet believe in various Hindutva or Dravidian or Dalistani type views on early Indian history. Often people who present the views of the worldwide archeological community are labeled a 'Marxist' or 'psuedo-secular' or 'Hindu nationalist' or 'Brahmin' depending on which partisan viewpoint they are disagreeing with.

[skganji]

I am very confident that Indus script represents Sanskrit. This is how I came to conclusion.

In the first Canto of Bhagavata Purana which was written in sanskrit says the following verse.

sa kadācit sarasvatyā
upaspṛśya jalaḿ śuciḥ
vivikta eka āsīna
udite ravi-maṇḍale

Translation : Once upon a time he [Vyāsadeva], as the sun rose, took his morning ablution in the waters of the Sarasvatī and sat alone to concentrate.

This verse clearly indicates that the sage Vyasa atleast resided close to the banks of Saraswati.This above event occured some roughly 3000 B.C. This was well confirmed by many scholars , through the interpretation of time at which Mahabharata War Occured.
River Saraswati was quoted in Rig Veda at Several Places.As we all know Saraswati River dried some where around1900 B.C. There is enough information about this cataclysmic event. Now we all know that Indus river and Sarawati River flow almost parallely and also closely at that time. If that is the case, people at that time had definite links between them. Their language and culture are very influenced by each other. We can atleast agree to that Sanskrit was not dead by that time when Indus civilization was flourishing.



This above sign is the famous Dholavira sign board, which is translated into English as "I was a thousand times victorious over avaricious raiders desirous of my wealth of horses.", which is a warning to the would-be horse thieves.
Indus script is written from right to left, unlike the old-brahmi script which was written from left to right,although it was sometimes from right o left.
If you do enough research on the City of Dholavira, it has 3 different divisions. Jyestha ( Upper), Madhyama ( Middle), Kanishta ( lower). These words Uttama, Madhyama and Kanishta are sanskrit words. I believe the Sanskrit language is intrinsic part of this city.
In Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, Chapter 343 ( CCCLXIII ), Couplet no 73 is directly related to the Indus seals, Couple no 92 refers to Aryan trend of considering Lord Vishnu in the form of Unicorn ( bull with a single horn ). called Eksringah Nandivardhanah in Sanskrit.

Sri Veda Vyas, in his classical composition of Vishnu Sahasranaama reveals thousand names of Vishnu. These names are very important for understanding the iconography of Unicorn. One such peculiar icons of Unicorn in three heads is given below:

maharsih kapilacaryah krtagyo medinipatih/
tripada- stri- dasa- dhyaksho mahashringah kritant-krit//(Visnu Sahasranama -slokam 57)

Here the reference of tripadah and mahashringah are very important. The tripadah refers Varaha with three heads. In Vishnu Dharma ( 63.59), we come across this verse:

sattvanam upakaraya pradhanam purusham param |
darsayishy-ami lokeshu kapilam rupam asthitah ||

“For the benefit of all beings I am going to reveal the three forms viz. , pradhana, purusha and paramatma . This tripadah incarnation has been explained in his Varaha form, where he is an animal with three heads ( tri-padah - tavaivasam trika-kudo varaham-rupam-asthitah (Mahabharat / Moksha. 343.63).
The mahashringah refers to the horn of an animal. In Srimad Ramayana, we find verse in support of this mahashringah as ekasringo varahastvam (Yuddha. 120.14).

Which means animal with one horn. The Shanti Parva of Mahabharat explains Ekashringah as:

eka sringah tato bhutva varaho nandi vardhanah/
imam ca udhritva bhumim - ekasringah// ( Mahabharat : Moksha Dharma Parva)

Varaha With Three Heads. This is a Indus seal.



In verse 81, again we find reference of Ekashringa:

tejo-vrisho dyuti -dharah sarva sastra-bhritam varah |
pragraho nigraho vyagro na - eka-sringo gadagrajah ||

Which literal meaning is that - He Who took incarnation as the one-horned Varaha.
This term has been clearly interpreted in the Mahabharat –

buddhi-yogah sarathyam anayudha
grahana vyajah praptakale tad-grahanam
iti bahu-vairi-badhakam asya iti na-eka-sringah

Translation : “He is Eka sringah as He (Lord Krishna ) adopted several devices for bringing about the fall of the enemies, like giving sound advice, skillfully driving the chariot, pretending that he would not use a weapon but actually making use of His weapon at the opportune moment, etc”.

It is clear from the work of the Natwar Jha that we have the interpretation of all the Indus signs. I have read references to the book and with that book any Indus sign can be easily deciphered .

[MaduraiSelvam]

Dear Mr. skganji, I am not sure if you are qualified, seen from your writing, to make the above review. You need to be an Archeologist or Scientist with knowledge in languages, not just one, to predict or make such literary conclusion or in making any comparison. Also Archeological survey of India and worldwide have already predicted only non-Sanskrit connection, not sure which one though. If it would had been Sanskrit pocket, it wouldnt had been a big surprise with the discovery considering its location and there wont be these many head breaking studies going on until now.

Originally Posted by skganji

I am very confident that Indus script represents Sanskrit. This is how I came to conclusion.

[MaduraiSelvam]

Originally Posted by VaastuShastra

Although im definatly no expert in written scripts, ive looked into it out of interest, and it seems that the number of charecters included in the Indus script are too many to represent a syllable-based script, and yet too few to represent a pictographic script (i.e. like hieroglyphs or the Chinese script), so, it really is a mystery. Some people have even suggested that it isnt a script at all, but infact a collection of symbols used to represent trade goods, or guilds, or geographical regions (i.e. like a logo). Thats how little people know about the Indus script, the truth is, the international archeological community may never decode it, and it may not even represent a language for all anyone knows.

Unfortunatly, if you try hard enough to match a language to a script, you can almost always find a way, so various interest groups have matched languages like proto-Dravidian and proto-Sanskrit to the script, to claim the Indus civilization for partisan purposes. It seems that every forum you go on has a few people who know next to nothing about the methodology of the archeology or linguistics involved, yet believe in various Hindutva or Dravidian or Dalistani type views on early Indian history. Often people who present the views of the worldwide archeological community are labeled a 'Marxist' or 'psuedo-secular' or 'Hindu nationalist' or 'Brahmin' depending on which partisan viewpoint they are disagreeing with.

T.S. Subramanian, the author of the article 'Bull chasing, an ancient Tamil tradition', is a world famous Archeologist and columnist, and is in the field for more than 20 years. He knows more than 10 Indian languages including Sanskrit. I have seen his research presentations during my PhD time in India. You know where you will stand infront of such a humble and famous professional with your ideas!

[VaastuShastra]

He sounds very qualified, and I would certainly defer to his judgement, unless the majority of the archeological community didnt agree of course. Since im not familiar with his work as much as you, I cannot comment on his reputation. I am not sure why you chose to tell me that, afterall, ive not commented on him or his article. Perhaps he is a scholar who has matched proto-Dravidian family languages to the Indus seals? I hear that current work in this area has been systematic, and yielded some results, but ultimatly, cannot be confirmed either way.

[dreadathecontrols]

why do i get the feeling that people have conclusions & fit theories around them.
if sanscrit represents indus script then presumably the aryans were not invaders from the persian plateau, did not massacre the natives & did not write stories that later became holy books about it?
M S im probably not going to get to read subramanians book for a while at least.whats his conclusion?cheers d

[MaduraiSelvam]

TSS new article in the present edition of Frontline!


Harappan link

T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

Discoveries made at Bhirrana in Haryana provide the missing link in the evolution of Harappan civilisation archaeology.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA

The red potsherd with the engraving resembling the Dancing Girl bronze figurine of Mohenjodaro, found at Bhirrana.

THE Archaeological Survey of India’s discoveries at the Harappan sites of Bhirrana and Rakhigarhi, both in Haryana, in the past one decade testify to the importance of these sites in the evolution of the Harappan civilisation. While excavations were carried out in three consecutive seasons – 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 – at Bhirrana in Fatehabad district, excavations at Rakhigarhi in Hissar district lasted from 1997 to 2000. Both sites are on the banks of the Saraswati river, now dried up.
In a rare discovery during the excavations of 2004-05 at Bhirrana, the ASI found a thick red potsherd with an engraving that resembles the Dancing Girl, the famous bronze figurine found at Mohenjodaro in the early 1920s. Bhirrana is a few hundred kilometres from Mohenjodaro, which is now in Pakistan. The potsherd with the engraving was discovered by a team led by L.S. Rao, Superintending Archaeologist, Excavation Branch, ASI, Nagpur. It belongs to the mature Harappan period.
L.S. Rao called the discovery “the only one of its kind” because “no parallel to the Dancing Girl, either in bronze or in any other medium, was known” until the potsherd was found. Bhirrana is an “exemplary site” because, for the first time in post-Independence India, Hakra ware belonging to the pre-early Harappan period were found as independent, stratified deposits. L.S. Rao also called it a “paradigmatic site” because “to put it in a nutshell, the importance of the excavation at Bhirrana lies in the fact that we have strong evidence for the first time of an unbroken cultural sequence, starting from the village culture represented by Hakra ware and its evolution gradually into semi-urban and urban cultures till the site was finally abandoned.” Excavations at Bhirrana conclusively show that during the period of Hakra ware culture, people lived in circular pits cut into the soil. There were auxiliary pits for cooking and for industrial activities (such as melting copper) and for religious purposes, including animal sacrifices. “In the present state of knowledge,” L.S. Rao said, “the Hakra ware culture belongs to the fourth millennium B.C., or 6,000 years before the present.”
In the early Harappan period, people came out of the pits and built houses made of sun-baked bricks. The whole settlement was within a fortification wall. In the mature Harappan period, the entire settlement was once again reorganised and the city layout reoriented with major and minor lanes, by-lanes and streets, which had house complexes. The streets always cut one another at right angles.
The discoveries at Bhirrana include underground dwelling pits; house complexes on streets and lanes; a fortification wall; bichrome pottery; terracotta vases, bowls and cups; arrowheads, fish-hooks and bangles, all made of copper; terracotta toy-carts and animal figurines; and beads made of semi-precious stones such as faience, lapis lazuli, agate and carnelian. One of the arrowheads, of the mature Harappan period, still retains a fibre impression of the wooden haft.
Several mature Harappan period seals made of steatite were also found in Bhirrana. The animals represented on the obverse of these seals include unicorns, deer with wavy antlers and a bull with outsized horns. The seals have typical Harappan legends. The reverse side of the seals has a knob with perforations.
D.R. Sahni discovered Harappa (which is also in Pakistan now) in Punjab in 1921 and R.D. Banerji discovered Mohenjodaro in Sind a few months later in the same year. Both were archaeologists of the ASI. The existence of these sites was known to scholars for about 85 years before their actual discovery. What came to light after the discoveries was that a highly developed civilisation (the Harappan civilisation, or the Indus civilisation) had flourished on the banks of the rivers Indus and Saraswati, around 3000 B.C. It was Banerji who discovered the “Dancing Girl”.
The Harappan culture was a highly developed, urbanised culture. People lived in houses that had several rooms, bathrooms and underground drainage. The discovery of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, and the many other sites that were excavated later, revealed the grandeur of this civilisation, and scholars made consistent attempts to find out what had preceded it. This curiosity drove archaeologists to locate more and more Harappan sites.


BENOY K. BEHL/COLLECTION: NATIONAL MUSEUM, NEW DELHI

The Dancing Girl, the iconic bronze figurine of Mohenjodaro.

Since the 1920s, about 300 Harappan sites have been excavated in Pakistan and India. The sites excavated in India include Bhirrana, Kunal, Rakhigarhi, Banawali, Bedhawa and Farmana in Haryana, Sanauli in Uttar Pradesh, Dholavira and Lothal in Gujarat, Kalibangan and Baror in Rajasthan, and Daimabad in Maharashtra.
At its height, the Harappan civilisation flourished over an area of 2.5 million sq km, from Sutkagendor in the Makran coast of Balochistan to Alamgirhpur in the east in Uttar Pradesh and from Manda in Jammu to Daimabad in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.
Between 1972 and 1974, M.R. Mughal, former Director-General of Archaeology and Museums, Pakistan, explored Bahawalpur in the Cholistan region of Punjab, situated just across the international border from adjoining Rajasthan. Mughal found a lot of pottery on the surface there. The ware was named after the Hakra river, which flows there. Ultimately, Hakra ware was found stratigraphically during the excavations at Jalilpur, on the banks of the Ravi river near Harappa. It was found lying beneath early Harappan deposits. This was the story on the Pakistani side.
On the Indian side, although many excavations were carried out at Kalibangan, Banawali, Rakhigarhi and Kunal, they did not yield any independent horizon of Hakra ware culture in their earliest levels. So there was a missing link in the Harappan civilisation archaeology between Pakistan and India.
“For the first time now,” L.S. Rao said, “in post-Independence India, stratigraphically positioned Hakra ware culture deposits have been exposed at Bhirrana. They show a typical early village settlement, wherein dwelling pits were cut into the natural soil.” These pits had a superstructure. Interestingly, no post-holes were found on the floor of the pits. (Posts would have supported the roof of these dwelling pits).

ASI

The site of the Harappan excavation at Bhirrana.

In their article entitled, “Unearthing Harappan Settlement at Bhirrana (2003-04)”, published in Puratattva (number 34, 2003-2004), L.S. Rao and his colleagues, Nandini B. Sahu, Prabash Sahu, U.A. Shastry and Samir Diwan, say the pits are mostly circular in shape with occasional brick lining. “The bricks used are of irregular shape and as such do not conform to the known ratio of early Harappan brick sizes. The inside walls of the pits were mud-plastered. The average diameter of the pit was 2.30 metres…. This unique tradition of pit dwelling, especially in the early Harappan context of Haryana region, was in practice” at Mitathal, Hissar district, and Kunal, Fatehabad. “The distinguishing ceramic of the period is the bichrome ware where the outlines of the motifs are painted in black and the space within is painted in evanescent white,” the authors say.
In the transitional period, there was a phenomenal change in the settlement pattern. “The entire site was occupied and the town appears to have been fortified. People started living over ground in houses, built of mud bricks of pink and buff colour, of size 30 × 20 × 10 cm, 33 × 22 × 11 cm or 36 × 24 × 12 cm, conforming to the ratio of 3:2:1…. Besides, a few rectangular mud brick platforms with circular fire pits and hearths were exposed,” the writers say.
The Bhirrana excavation in 2003-04 also yielded two inscribed copper celts, each bearing typical Harappan alphabets of the mature Harappan period.

ASI

TERRACOTTA HORNS among the exciting finds.

Copper smithy, which began with the Hakra ware culture, advanced in technology over a period of time, and bigger objects such as shells, bangles, fish-hooks and arrowheads made of copper were found. There was a flourishing bead industry, and beads were manufactured out of semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate, faience and steatite.
It was during the second season of excavation, in 2004-05, that the sturdy red ware with the incised figure of the Dancing Girl was found.
In an article in Man and Environment (Volume XXXII, No.1, 2007), the journal of the Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies, Pune, L.S. Rao says, “…the delineation of the lines in the potsherd is so true to stance, including the disposition of the hands, of the bronze that it appears that the craftsman of Bhirrana had first-hand knowledge of the former.” The bronze, 11 centimetres in height, occupied a unique position in the sculptural art of the mature Harappan period. “With its tilted head, flexed legs, right hand resting on the hip, and the left [hand] suspended by its side, the bronze sculpture, although nude, enjoys a modest ornamentation with a necklace, wristlets and armlets.” The engraving on the potsherd was a highly stylised figure whose torso resembled that of an hourglass, or two triangles meeting at their apex. In consonance with the bronze, on the potsherd, “the right hand is akimbo, and the left is suspended by its side. Slight oblique strokes on the right upper arm are suggestive of the presence of armlets….”
During the Harappan civilisation, seals were made as a mark of trade and commerce. Those made during the early Harappan period were button seals, but later, they were made out of steatite. An important seal, made out of black steatite, has an engraving of an animal with three heads – those of a bull, a unicorn and a deer. A horned deity standing nearby holds the deer’s neck with his right hand, and his left hand is raised. There is a manger in front of the animal. Interestingly, this seal does not have any Harappan legend.

ASI

SEALS, FOUND AT Bhirrana, with animals such as a deer, a three-headed animal, a unicorn, and a bull. These seals have typical Harappan legends.
Other exciting finds at Bhirrana include terracotta horns and terracotta wheels with painted spokes.

Largest site
The Rakhigarhi site, discovered in 1963, is the largest Harappan site found in India. For three seasons, from 1997 to 2000, Amarendra Nath, who recently retired as Director of the ASI, headed the excavations there, with important contributions coming from Alok Tripathy and Arun Malik. Since 1963, several archaeologists have visited the site and carried out exploratory work.
“The site has acquired importance,” said Amarendra Nath, “because we have been able to extensively identify the purpose behind early Harappan structures and trace the beginning of the emergence of town planning in early Harappan levels, wherein the structures were well laid-out with evidence of a public drainage system.” The use of burnt bricks could also be traced to the early Harappan level at this site.

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PAINTED TERRACOTTA TOY wheels were also discovered at the site.

Other sites have yielded potsherds with graffiti marks. But Rakhigarhi is important because “here we have graffiti arranged in a sequence, which suggests the beginning of writing in the early Harappan level”, Amarendra Nath said.

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THE EXCAVATION OF 2003-04 yielded inscribed copper celts.

The finding of a needle suggested that some kind of a stitched clothing was used. As if to confirm this, a potsherd with a painting was found: Amarendra Nath said, “This is a rare painting in the Harappan context, wherein you get evidence of a person wearing a dhoti and a stitched upper garment.”

ASI

THE ARTEFACTS UNEARTHED include pottery and potsherds, an ivory comb, bone points and chert blades.

A number of sealings and seals were found. (A seal is an original stone object, which is carved in depth. A sealing is an impression of a seal.) One of them is a cylindrical seal, which indicates contact with contemporary urban centres in Iraq. This seal has an engraving of a crocodile on the one side and Harappan characters on the other. Such types of seals have been found in Iraq. The significance of the Rakhigarhi site also lies in its having 11 burials, with the skeletons aligned north to south. The skeletons were laid in pits with grave goods, copper bangles and shell bangles. Arun Malik found an intact skeleton in a pit. The burial site is located north of the habitational site.


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