Bricks, Beads and Bones — The Harappan Civilisation — Class 12 History

The Harappan or Indus Valley Civilisation is reconstructed almost entirely from archaeology — houses, pots, ornaments, tools, seals and bones — because its script remains undeciphered. The Mature Harappan phase (c. 2600-1900 BCE) was the urban climax, preceded by an Early Harappan formative phase and followed by a Late Harappan decline. Settlements stretched across Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Sind, Punjab and parts of India such as Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan. Subsistence rested on wheat, barley, lentils, sesame and the domestication of cattle, with evidence of fish and fowl in the diet. Towns like Mohenjodaro were laid out on a grid, divided into a raised Citadel and a Lower Town, with a remarkable drainage system, the Great Bath, granaries and standardised baked bricks. Craft production — bead-making (Chanhudaro, Lothal), shell, copper and bronze work — and long-distance trade reaching Mesopotamia (the land of Meluhha) point to organised economic life. Seals, weights, the script and uniform artefacts suggest some central authority, though its exact nature is debated. From c. 1900 BCE the cities declined; the Harappan script was lost. The chapter also tells how the civilisation was discovered — Cunningham, Marshall, the 1924 announcement — and how archaeologists interpret material remains, classify objects as sacred or utilitarian, and revise conclusions as new evidence appears.