Class 12 History Chapter 1 — The Story of the First Cities: Harappan Archaeology
Welcome to HSLC Guru. This page provides complete English-medium question and answer solutions for ASSEB Class 12 (Higher Secondary 2nd Year) History, Theme 1 — The Story of the First Cities: Harappan Archaeology. The notes are aligned with the NCERT textbook Themes in Indian History — Part I and follow the ASSEB Higher Secondary syllabus. You will find a chapter overview, an English summary, an Assamese সাৰাংশ, NCERT textbook questions with answers, additional short and long-answer questions, multiple-choice questions (MCQs), a table of major Harappan sites, a chronological timeline, and a glossary of key archaeological terms — everything you need to prepare for your HS Final examination.
About this Chapter
Theme 1 introduces students to the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilisation, also called the Mature Harappan culture, which flourished between approximately 2600 BCE and 1900 BCE across a vast area covering present-day Pakistan and north-western India. The chapter uses archaeology — the study of material remains — as the primary tool to reconstruct the life of a society that left behind a script we cannot yet read. Students learn how archaeologists classify finds, interpret seals, beads, pottery, bones, and architecture, and how they reconstruct subsistence strategies, social organisation, craft production, trade networks, religious beliefs, and urban planning. The chapter also examines the discovery of the civilisation in 1921 by the Archaeological Survey of India under Sir John Marshall, the contributions of Daya Ram Sahni and R. D. Banerji, and the various theories proposed for the eventual decline of the cities.
Summary (English)
The Harappan Civilisation, dating roughly 2600–1900 BCE, was one of the world’s earliest urban cultures, with major cities such as Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Dholavira, Lothal, Kalibangan, Banawali, Rakhigarhi and Chanhudaro. The civilisation is known for remarkable town planning featuring a grid pattern of streets, well-laid drainage systems, standardised baked bricks in the ratio 1:2:4, and a citadel-and-lower-town division. The Great Bath at Mohenjodaro, granaries at Harappa, and dockyard at Lothal point to advanced engineering. The economy rested on agriculture (wheat, barley, peas, sesame, cotton), pastoralism (cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo) and a wide network of long-distance trade reaching Mesopotamia, where Harappan goods were known as products of “Meluhha.” Crafts included bead-making (carnelian, agate, steatite), shell-working, copper and bronze metallurgy, and seal carving. Seals bearing animal motifs and the still-undeciphered Indus script suggest administrative and ritual uses. Religion appears to have included worship of a mother goddess and a proto-Shiva (“Pashupati”) figure, alongside reverence for trees and animals. The civilisation was first scientifically excavated in 1921 when Daya Ram Sahni dug at Harappa under the leadership of Sir John Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India; R. D. Banerji excavated Mohenjodaro the following year. Around 1900 BCE the mature urban phase declined; theories include climate change, drying of the Saraswati/Ghaggar-Hakra, deforestation, floods, over-exploitation of the landscape, and the end of long-distance trade — most scholars now favour a combination of ecological causes rather than a single Aryan invasion.
সাৰাংশ (Assamese)
হৰপ্পা সভ্যতা, যাক চিন্ধু সভ্যতা বা পৰিপক্ক হৰপ্পা সংস্কৃতি বুলিও কোৱা হয়, খ্ৰীষ্টপূৰ্ব ২৬০০ৰ পৰা খ্ৰীষ্টপূৰ্ব ১৯০০ লৈ বৰ্তমানৰ পাকিস্তান আৰু উত্তৰ-পশ্চিম ভাৰতৰ এক বিশাল অঞ্চল জুৰি বিকাশ লাভ কৰিছিল। ইয়াৰ মুখ্য নগৰসমূহ আছিল হৰপ্পা, মহেঞ্জোদাৰো, ধোলাবিৰা, লোথাল, কালীবঙ্গান, বানৱালি, ৰাখিগড়ি আৰু চানহুদাৰো। গ্ৰীড আৰ্হিৰ ৰাস্তা, উন্নত নলা ব্যৱস্থা, ১:২:৪ অনুপাতৰ পকা ইটা, দুৰ্গ আৰু তলৰ চহৰৰ বিভাজন, মহেঞ্জোদাৰোৰ মহাস্নানাগাৰ, হৰপ্পাৰ শস্যাগাৰ আৰু লোথালৰ ডকইয়াৰ্ড — এই সকলোৱে হৰপ্পাবাসীৰ অসাধাৰণ নগৰ পৰিকল্পনা প্ৰদৰ্শন কৰে। তেওঁলোকে গম, যৱ, মাহ, তিল, কপাহ আদি খেতি কৰিছিল, গৰু-ম’হ-ছাগলী পালন কৰিছিল, আৰু মেচোপটেমিয়াৰ সৈতে দূৰ-দূৰণিৰ বাণিজ্য চলাইছিল য’ত হৰপ্পাক “মেলুহা” নামেৰে জনা গৈছিল। মণি-মুকুতা প্ৰস্তুতি, ধাতু কাম, মোহৰ খোদাই কৰাৰ দক্ষতা সিহঁতৰ পেশাগত উৎকৰ্ষৰ পৰিচয় দিয়ে। হৰপ্পাবাসীৰ লিপি এতিয়াও পঢ়িব পৰা হোৱা নাই। ১৯২১ চনত দয়া ৰাম সাহনিয়ে হৰপ্পাত আৰু পিছবছৰ আৰ. ডি. বানাৰ্জীয়ে মহেঞ্জোদাৰোত খনন আৰম্ভ কৰে, ছাৰ জন মাৰ্শ্বেলৰ নেতৃত্বত। খ্ৰীষ্টপূৰ্ব ১৯০০ মানৰ পৰা এই সভ্যতাৰ অৱনতি আৰম্ভ হয় — জলবায়ু পৰিৱৰ্তন, নদীৰ গতিপথ সলনি, অৰণ্য বিনাশ, বানপানী আৰু বাণিজ্য বন্ধ হোৱা — এই কেইটা সমন্বিত কাৰণ ইয়াৰ পতনৰ বাবে দায়ী বুলি ভবা হয়।
NCERT Textbook Questions and Answers
1. List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.
Answer: The Harappans had access to a wide variety of plant and animal foods. Grains included wheat, barley, lentils, chickpeas, sesame and millets; rice traces have also been found. Animal-derived foods included meat and milk from cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo and pigs, while wild species such as boar, deer and gharial were also eaten. Fish and shellfish bones recovered from coastal sites suggest aquatic food. Date palms and possibly bananas, melons, and cotton (used for textiles) were grown. Farmers produced the cereals and pulses, pastoralists supplied milk, meat and wool, fisherfolk caught fish and gathered shellfish, while hunter-gatherers contributed wild game and plant produce.
2. How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the differences that they notice?
Answer: Archaeologists trace social and economic differences mainly through (a) burials and (b) artefacts. In burials they study the size of pits, the kind of grave goods (pottery, jewellery, copper mirrors), and whether the dead were buried with ornaments. They notice that some graves had more elaborate goods than others, but the differences are not as dramatic as in Egypt or Mesopotamia. Artefacts are classified as utilitarian (querns, pots, needles, flints) and luxuries (faience pots, gold ornaments, carnelian beads, seals). Luxuries are concentrated at large cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa and rarely found at small settlements, suggesting that wealth and access to imported raw materials were unevenly distributed. The citadel–lower-town division and the differential size of houses also point to social stratification.
3. Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer: Yes. The drainage system is the strongest evidence of careful town planning at Harappan sites. Streets were laid out in a grid pattern intersecting at right angles, and drains ran along these streets. Each house had its own bathroom paved with bricks and connected by smaller drains to the main street drain. Drains were covered with loose bricks for cleaning, had inspection holes at intervals, and were lined with mortar, gypsum and lime. Such an integrated network — covering rich and poor neighbourhoods alike — could only have been built before, or simultaneously with, the houses, implying advance planning, civic regulation and standardised brick sizes (in the ratio 1:2:4). This is unmatched in any other contemporary civilisation.
4. List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.
Answer: Materials used for beads included carnelian (a beautiful red stone), jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite (soft), copper, bronze, gold, shell, faience, terracotta, lapis lazuli, agate and ivory. Steatite-paste beads: Powdered steatite was mixed with gum to form a paste; the paste was moulded around a copper wire and then fired to harden, producing micro-beads of standard size. Carnelian beads: Red colour was obtained by firing the yellowish raw stone. The nodule was first chipped into a rough shape, then ground and polished, and finally drilled with cylindrical drills made of a hard stone called “Ernestite” found at sites like Chanhudaro and Lothal. Drilling tiny long beads required great skill and is one of the hallmarks of Harappan craftsmanship.
5. Look at Fig. 1.30 (Harappan seal) and describe what you see. How would you interpret the scene?
Answer: The seal shows a seated male figure with legs bent so that the heels touch, in a yoga-like posture; he wears a horned headdress and is surrounded by animals — an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros and a buffalo, with two deer beneath the seat. Sir John Marshall identified this figure as a “proto-Shiva” or Pashupati (lord of animals) — a precursor of the later Hindu god Shiva. Other scholars dispute this identification and see it as a generic deity or a chief priest. The image clearly indicates ritual or religious importance and a notion of divinity associated with animals and meditation.
6. Discuss, with examples, the significance of finds from burials in reconstructing the social differences in Harappan society.
Answer: Harappan burials usually consist of pits, sometimes lined or plastered with bricks, in which the dead were placed along with pottery and a few personal ornaments. At Harappa, a wooden coffin was found in one grave; at Farmana, the dead were buried with copper bangles and beads. Some graves had only a couple of pots; others had as many as fifteen or twenty, and ornaments of gold, agate or jasper. The variation suggests social differences, but not extreme stratification: there are no royal pyramids or tombs filled with gold like those of Egypt. This indicates that while wealth was unequal, the Harappans did not invest heavily in funerary monuments; the bulk of their wealth probably went into trade, urban infrastructure and craft production.
7. List the raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan civilisation, and discuss how these might have been obtained.
Answer: Raw materials required included clay (locally available), stone for tools and beads (carnelian from Bharuch in Gujarat, steatite from south Rajasthan and Gujarat, agate, jasper), metals (copper from Khetri in Rajasthan and Oman, tin probably from Afghanistan, gold from south India and Afghanistan, silver from Iran and Afghanistan), shell (from coastal sites such as Nageshwar and Balakot), lapis lazuli (from Shortughai in Afghanistan), and wood (locally and from the Himalayan foothills). Materials were obtained by establishing settlements near sources (for example Nageshwar and Balakot for shell, Shortughai for lapis), by sending expeditions to mineral-rich areas (the Aravalli for copper), and through long-distance trade with regions such as Oman and Mesopotamia.
8. Discuss how archaeologists reconstruct the past.
Answer: Archaeologists reconstruct the past from material remains: pottery, tools, ornaments, household objects, buildings, bones, seeds and writing. They classify finds in two ways — by material (stone, clay, metal, bone) and by function (utilitarian, decorative, ritual). They use stratigraphy (the layering of deposits) to establish relative chronology, and scientific dating methods (radiocarbon, thermoluminescence) for absolute dates. Botanists examine charred seeds (palaeo-botany), and zoologists study animal bones (palaeo-zoology) to reconstruct diet and environment. Indirect evidence — for example, traces of cloth on a copper object — helps reconstruct perishable items. Where written records exist, archaeologists try to decipher them; where they don’t, as with the Harappan script, they rely entirely on context and analogy. Frames of reference such as cross-cultural comparison are essential, but interpretations remain hypothetical until corroborated.
9. Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.
Answer: Mohenjodaro (“mound of the dead”) in Sindh is the best-known Harappan city. It is divided into a smaller, higher Citadel on the west and a larger, lower Lower Town on the east, both walled. The Citadel housed the Great Bath, a granary-like building, the so-called assembly hall and a college of priests. The Great Bath is a rectangular tank (11.88 × 7.01 × 2.43 m) made watertight with bricks, gypsum mortar and bitumen, and was probably used for ritual bathing. The Lower Town has a grid of streets with houses of one or two storeys built around a central courtyard, each with its own well and bathroom; over 700 wells dotted the city. Drains beneath the streets connected to every house. Mohenjodaro illustrates standardisation, hygiene consciousness and possibly centralised civic authority.
10. List the items of trade between the Harappan civilisation and West Asia.
Answer: Harappan exports to Mesopotamia (where they were known as Meluhha products) included carnelian beads, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, varieties of wood, ivory combs, shell objects and pearls. Mesopotamian texts mention boats from Meluhha bringing these goods to Sumerian ports. Imports into the Harappan world from West Asia and beyond included tin (probably from Afghanistan/Iran), silver (Iran/Afghanistan), and possibly some semi-precious stones. Three intermediary trading lands — Dilmun (Bahrain), Magan (Oman) and Meluhha (the Indus region) — appear in cuneiform tablets. Harappan-style seals and weights have been recovered at Bahrain and at Mesopotamian sites, confirming the long-distance maritime network.
11. Compare and contrast the Harappan civilisation with that of Egypt or Mesopotamia.
Answer: Like Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Harappan civilisation was riverine, urban and literate, and engaged in long-distance trade. However, it differs in several ways:
- The Harappans had no monumental tombs or pyramids; burials are simple by comparison.
- No clearly identifiable royal palaces or temples have been excavated.
- Town planning, drainage and standardisation of weights and bricks were more advanced than in contemporary Mesopotamia.
- Their script remains undeciphered, while Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs have been read for over a century.
- The Harappans show a remarkable cultural uniformity over a far greater area than the Egyptians or Mesopotamians.
12. List some objects that you think reflect a sense of beauty among the Harappans.
Answer: Harappan aesthetic sensibility is reflected in painted pottery (black-on-red ware with floral, geometric and animal designs), terracotta figurines (the dancing girl in bronze, the bearded “priest-king” in steatite), elaborate carnelian, agate and gold jewellery, faience bangles, seals carved with naturalistic animals (especially the unicorn and bull), shell inlay work, beautifully drilled long carnelian beads, decorated bone hairpins, and toys such as wheeled bullocks and whistles in the shape of birds. The proportional architecture itself — the Great Bath, courtyards and pillared halls — also reflects an aesthetic concern alongside function.
Short Answer Questions
1. What is the time period of the Mature Harappan civilisation?
Answer: The Mature Harappan phase is dated approximately 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE.
2. Who first scientifically excavated Harappa, and in which year?
Answer: Daya Ram Sahni first excavated Harappa scientifically in 1921, under the supervision of Sir John Marshall, the then Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India.
3. Who excavated Mohenjodaro?
Answer: Rakhal Das (R. D.) Banerji excavated Mohenjodaro in 1922, after which large-scale operations were continued by Sir John Marshall, Mackay and Wheeler.
4. What was the name “Meluhha” used for in Mesopotamian texts?
Answer: “Meluhha” was the Mesopotamian name for the Harappan region, from where carnelian, copper, lapis lazuli, ivory and exotic wood were imported.
5. What is the standard ratio of Harappan bricks?
Answer: Harappan bricks, whether sun-dried or baked, were made in a standard ratio of 1 : 2 : 4 (thickness : width : length).
6. What is the Great Bath?
Answer: The Great Bath is a large rectangular tank in the Citadel of Mohenjodaro, made watertight with bricks set in gypsum mortar and bitumen. It was probably used for ritual bathing by priests or community elites.
7. Where was the dockyard of the Harappans found?
Answer: A dockyard was excavated at Lothal in Gujarat, on the Sabarmati delta — the only Harappan site with such a structure, indicating maritime trade.
8. Name three crops cultivated by the Harappans.
Answer: Wheat, barley, peas, sesame, mustard and cotton; some sites also yield millets and rice husk.
9. What kind of script did the Harappans use?
Answer: The Harappans used a pictographic script with about 375–400 signs, written usually from right to left. It is found on seals, copper tablets, pottery and tools, but it has not yet been deciphered.
10. Where was the famous bronze “dancing girl” figurine found?
Answer: The bronze dancing girl was found at Mohenjodaro and is one of the earliest examples of the lost-wax casting technique in the Indian subcontinent.
11. What is meant by “citadel” in a Harappan city?
Answer: The citadel is the smaller, fortified, and higher western part of a Harappan city, where important public buildings such as the Great Bath, granary and assembly hall were located. The lower town to the east contained the residential quarters.
12. What do Harappan seals usually contain?
Answer: Most seals are square, made of steatite, and bear (a) an animal motif (commonly the unicorn, bull, elephant, rhinoceros or tiger) and (b) a short inscription in the Indus script. They were probably used by merchants to seal bundles of goods.
13. Where was carnelian sourced from?
Answer: Carnelian was mainly obtained from Bharuch in Gujarat (the Lothal-Bhagatrav region), and to some extent from Rajasthan.
14. Name two Harappan sites in Gujarat.
Answer: Lothal and Dholavira; others include Surkotada, Rangpur and Nageshwar.
15. What is the significance of Dholavira?
Answer: Dholavira in Kachchh (Gujarat) is unique for its three-fold division (citadel, middle town, lower town), elaborate stone architecture, large reservoirs for water harvesting, and a monumental signboard with ten large Harappan letters carved in white gypsum.
16. Mention two theories of the decline of the Harappan civilisation.
Answer: (a) Climate change and ecological factors — drying of the Saraswati/Ghaggar-Hakra, deforestation, floods and over-exploitation of the soil; (b) Decline of long-distance trade with Mesopotamia and breakdown of the centralised urban authority. The earlier “Aryan invasion” theory is now largely rejected.
17. What is “lost-wax” technique?
Answer: Lost-wax (cire-perdue) is a metal-casting method in which a wax model is coated with clay; the clay is heated, the wax flows out, and molten metal is poured into the cavity. The Harappans used it to cast bronze figurines like the dancing girl.
18. What were Harappan weights made of, and what was the system?
Answer: Weights were made of chert, a hard stone, in cubical or spherical shapes. The system was binary in lower denominations (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) and decimal multiples beyond 16, indicating a uniform standardised trade across the entire Harappan area.
19. What is “faience”?
Answer: Faience is a man-made glazed, glassy paste made from ground sand or quartz coloured with copper or cobalt and fired. The Harappans used it for beads, bangles, miniature vessels and amulets.
20. What is the meaning of the term “Mohenjodaro”?
Answer: Mohenjodaro is a Sindhi term meaning “the mound of the dead.” It was named so because of the large number of human skeletons discovered in the upper levels of the site.
Long Answer Questions
1. Describe the town planning of the Harappan civilisation in detail.
Answer: Harappan town planning is one of the most distinctive features of the civilisation and stands unmatched among contemporary cultures. A typical Harappan city was divided into two parts — a smaller, higher and fortified Citadel on the west and a larger, lower Lower Town on the east. The streets followed a strict grid pattern intersecting at right angles, dividing the lower town into rectangular blocks. Houses were built around a central courtyard with rooms opening into it; doors and windows mostly opened on side lanes rather than the main streets, ensuring privacy. Each house had its own bathroom, well, and drainage outlet. Drains were laid below the streets, made of baked bricks, covered with loose bricks for cleaning, with inspection holes at intervals. Public buildings such as the Great Bath, granary, and assembly hall were located on the citadel. Standardised baked bricks of ratio 1:2:4 were used everywhere, indicating central authority and uniform regulations. The drainage and brick standardisation are considered the strongest proofs of advance planning. Dholavira added water reservoirs, while Lothal had a brick-lined dockyard. This planning reveals not only technological advancement but also a strong sense of civic discipline, hygiene, and possibly an organised municipal authority.
2. Discuss the agricultural practices of the Harappans.
Answer: Agriculture was the backbone of the Harappan economy. Charred grains, animal bones, ploughed fields and terracotta models help reconstruct farming practices. The chief crops were wheat, barley, lentils, chickpeas, sesame, mustard, peas and cotton; rice traces have been found at Lothal and Rangpur, and millets at Gujarat sites. The Harappans were probably the first in the world to grow cotton, which the Greeks later called “sindon,” after Sindh. A ploughed field at Kalibangan with two sets of furrows at right angles indicates that two crops were grown together. Terracotta plough models from Banawali suggest the use of wooden ploughs drawn by oxen. Harvesting was done with stone or copper sickles. Although the Indus and its tributaries provided fertile silt, the absence of canals or extensive irrigation channels (except some at Shortughai) is debated; many scholars argue that water was drawn from wells or that natural flooding sufficed. Terracotta figures of bull, buffalo, sheep and goat indicate domestication of cattle, while hunter-gatherer groups continued to supply wild produce. Surplus production supported urban life, craftsmen, traders and rulers.
3. Examine the trade and commerce of the Harappan civilisation.
Answer: Harappan trade was both internal and external, conducted by land and sea. Internally, raw materials such as copper from Khetri, gold from Karnataka, shells from Gujarat coast and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan moved across the cultural zone. Externally, the Harappans traded with Mesopotamia, Bahrain (Dilmun) and Oman (Magan). Mesopotamian texts of the Akkadian, Ur III and Old Babylonian periods mention boats from Meluhha bringing carnelian, lapis lazuli, ivory, copper, gold, exotic wood, peacocks and pearls. Harappan-style seals, etched carnelian beads and weights have been found at Ur, Susa, Bahrain and other West Asian sites. Lothal possessed a brick-lined dockyard for berthing boats. Trade was managed using seals for sealing bundles of goods, and standardised chert weights in binary and decimal denominations. Harappan trade declined after about 1900 BCE, contemporaneous with the urban collapse, suggesting that loss of trade was both a cause and consequence of decline.
4. Describe the religious life of the Harappans.
Answer: In the absence of decipherable texts, Harappan religion is reconstructed from artefacts and seals. Numerous terracotta female figurines with elaborate headdresses suggest worship of a Mother Goddess associated with fertility. The famous “Pashupati seal” depicts a horned, seated, possibly tri-faced male figure surrounded by animals and is interpreted by Sir John Marshall as a proto-Shiva. Seals depicting peepal trees with figures kneeling in front, animals such as the unicorn and bull, and composite mythical creatures point to nature worship and totemism. Linga and yoni-shaped stones, fire altars at Kalibangan and Lothal, and ritually buried objects suggest fire worship and sacrificial rites. The Great Bath of Mohenjodaro is widely interpreted as a structure for ritual bathing. Burials with grave goods point to belief in life after death. Together, these elements indicate a religion combining mother goddess cults, proto-Shaivism, animal and tree worship, fire rituals, and ritual purification — many threads of which continued into later Indian religion.
5. Discuss the discovery and exploration of the Harappan civilisation.
Answer: Although the mound of Harappa had been noticed in the early nineteenth century by travellers like Charles Masson (1826) and surveyed by Alexander Cunningham in the 1850s and 70s, the antiquity of the site was not recognised. Cunningham mistook a Harappan seal for a foreign object. In 1921, Daya Ram Sahni began systematic excavations at Harappa under the orders of Sir John Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India. The next year, R. D. Banerji excavated Mohenjodaro in Sindh and unearthed similar seals. In 1924, Marshall publicly announced the discovery of a hitherto unknown civilisation as old as Mesopotamia. Subsequent excavations were conducted by Madho Sarup Vats, E. Mackay, Aurel Stein and, after 1944, by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who introduced stratigraphic methods. After 1947, S. R. Rao excavated Lothal, B. B. Lal and B. K. Thapar at Kalibangan, R. S. Bisht at Banawali and Dholavira, and Amarendra Nath at Rakhigarhi. These efforts have steadily expanded our understanding of the geographical extent and chronology of the civilisation.
6. What were the causes of the decline of the Harappan civilisation?
Answer: Around 1900 BCE the mature urban centres of the Harappan civilisation began to decline; cities were abandoned, the script disappeared, weights and seals fell into disuse, and rural settlements dispersed eastwards. Several theories have been proposed:
- Climate change: Increasing aridity reduced agricultural productivity.
- Drying of rivers: The Saraswati or Ghaggar-Hakra dried up due to tectonic shifts, ruining settlements along its banks.
- Floods: Repeated floods at Mohenjodaro silted up cities and damaged buildings.
- Deforestation and over-exploitation: Excessive use of wood for brick-firing led to soil erosion and decline of fertility.
- End of trade: Mesopotamian texts stop mentioning Meluhha after c. 1900 BCE; loss of trade weakened the urban economy.
- Aryan invasion theory: Mortimer Wheeler proposed an Aryan invasion based on skeletons at Mohenjodaro; this is now rejected as the skeletons belong to different periods.
Most modern scholars accept a combination of ecological and economic causes rather than a single dramatic event.
7. Describe the craft production of the Harappans.
Answer: Harappan crafts demonstrate exceptional technical skill. Bead-making at Chanhudaro and Lothal involved carnelian, agate, jasper, steatite, faience, gold, shell and lapis lazuli; long carnelian beads, painstakingly drilled with stone drills called “Ernestite,” are unique. Shell-cutting sites such as Nageshwar and Balakot produced bangles, ladles and inlay pieces. Metalwork included copper smelting, bronze casting (the dancing girl, miniature carts, tools, mirrors), and gold ornaments; tin was alloyed with copper for hardness. Pottery was wheel-made and painted in black on a red slip, with motifs of fish, peepal leaves, geometric patterns and birds. Seal-carving from steatite was a specialised art using copper tools and glaze. Terracotta figurines of mother goddesses, bullocks, toy carts and whistles were mass-produced. Weaving of cotton and wool is attested by spindle whorls, and brick-making on a vast standardised scale was itself a major industry. Specialised craft quarters have been identified at most cities, indicating workshops, apprenticeship and a guild-like organisation.
8. What does the Harappan civilisation tell us about social organisation?
Answer: Although the lack of a deciphered script makes social reconstruction difficult, several inferences can be drawn. Differences in house size, burial goods and access to luxury items indicate stratification — a wealthier elite and a more numerous working population. The standardisation of bricks, weights, drainage, seals and town planning across a vast area implies a strong central or coordinating authority — but no monumental palaces or royal tombs have been found, leading scholars to suggest a council of elites, priests or merchants rather than a king. The “priest-king” stone bust of Mohenjodaro is only a label, not proven evidence of monarchy. The presence of separate craft quarters indicates occupational specialisation, while the orderly layout of houses (rich and poor alike enjoying drainage and wells) indicates a relatively egalitarian civic ethic. Religion clearly involved both elite and popular components — Great Bath rituals on one hand, and household figurines on the other. Overall, Harappan society appears to have been an urban, literate, hierarchical but uniquely non-monumental civilisation.
9. Describe the Harappan script and seals.
Answer: The Harappan or Indus script consists of about 375–400 signs, mostly pictographic and partly syllabic. It was written from right to left in the first line and left to right in the second when long (boustrophedon). Most inscriptions are short — between five and twenty signs — and appear on seals, copper tablets, pottery, terracotta tags, ivory rods and even on a giant signboard at Dholavira. Despite over a century of effort, the script has not been deciphered because it is brief, the underlying language is unknown, and there is no bilingual text comparable to the Rosetta Stone. Seals are the main vehicles of the script. They are usually square, made of steatite, bear an animal motif (especially the unicorn) and a short inscription. Seals were probably impressed on clay tags fastened to bundles of goods to identify ownership. They served administrative, commercial and possibly ritual purposes, and their wide distribution from Sumer to Sutkagendor reflects the integrated, literate character of Harappan civic life.
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. The Harappan civilisation belongs to which age?
(a) Palaeolithic (b) Mesolithic (c) Bronze Age (d) Iron Age
Answer: (c) Bronze Age
2. The Mature Harappan phase is dated approximately to:
(a) 3500–2600 BCE (b) 2600–1900 BCE (c) 1900–1500 BCE (d) 1500–1000 BCE
Answer: (b) 2600–1900 BCE
3. Who excavated Harappa for the first time in 1921?
(a) John Marshall (b) Daya Ram Sahni (c) R. D. Banerji (d) M. Wheeler
Answer: (b) Daya Ram Sahni
4. Who excavated Mohenjodaro in 1922?
(a) Daya Ram Sahni (b) John Marshall (c) R. D. Banerji (d) S. R. Rao
Answer: (c) R. D. Banerji
5. The Great Bath was discovered at:
(a) Harappa (b) Mohenjodaro (c) Lothal (d) Kalibangan
Answer: (b) Mohenjodaro
6. The Harappan dockyard is found at:
(a) Lothal (b) Dholavira (c) Mohenjodaro (d) Banawali
Answer: (a) Lothal
7. The Harappan name in Mesopotamian texts was:
(a) Dilmun (b) Magan (c) Meluhha (d) Sumer
Answer: (c) Meluhha
8. The standardised ratio of Harappan bricks is:
(a) 1:1:2 (b) 1:2:3 (c) 1:2:4 (d) 1:3:5
Answer: (c) 1:2:4
9. The “Pashupati” seal was identified by:
(a) Alexander Cunningham (b) Sir John Marshall (c) Mortimer Wheeler (d) S. R. Rao
Answer: (b) Sir John Marshall
10. The bronze “dancing girl” was found at:
(a) Harappa (b) Mohenjodaro (c) Lothal (d) Dholavira
Answer: (b) Mohenjodaro
11. The Harappan site located in Haryana that is the largest known is:
(a) Kalibangan (b) Banawali (c) Rakhigarhi (d) Bhirrana
Answer: (c) Rakhigarhi
12. Carnelian was mostly obtained from:
(a) Afghanistan (b) Khetri (c) Bharuch (Gujarat) (d) Karnataka
Answer: (c) Bharuch (Gujarat)
13. Lapis lazuli was imported from:
(a) Khetri (b) Shortughai (Afghanistan) (c) Karnataka (d) Iran
Answer: (b) Shortughai (Afghanistan)
14. Copper was sourced primarily from:
(a) Khetri (Rajasthan) (b) Karnataka (c) Sindh (d) Kashmir
Answer: (a) Khetri (Rajasthan)
15. Harappan weights were made of:
(a) Iron (b) Chert (c) Granite (d) Marble
Answer: (b) Chert
16. The unique water reservoirs and signboard inscription are found at:
(a) Mohenjodaro (b) Harappa (c) Dholavira (d) Lothal
Answer: (c) Dholavira
17. The Harappan ploughed field with cross-furrows was discovered at:
(a) Kalibangan (b) Lothal (c) Banawali (d) Mohenjodaro
Answer: (a) Kalibangan
18. Harappan seals were mainly made of:
(a) Bronze (b) Steatite (c) Gold (d) Lapis lazuli
Answer: (b) Steatite
19. The Harappan script is:
(a) Alphabetic (b) Pictographic (c) Cuneiform (d) Hieroglyphic
Answer: (b) Pictographic
20. The Harappan civilisation declined around:
(a) 2600 BCE (b) 1900 BCE (c) 1500 BCE (d) 1000 BCE
Answer: (b) 1900 BCE
21. The longest Harappan inscription on a “signboard” is found at:
(a) Harappa (b) Lothal (c) Dholavira (d) Banawali
Answer: (c) Dholavira
22. Mortimer Wheeler proposed which theory for Harappan decline?
(a) Climate change (b) Aryan invasion (c) Floods (d) Earthquake
Answer: (b) Aryan invasion
23. The “priest-king” steatite bust was found at:
(a) Mohenjodaro (b) Harappa (c) Kalibangan (d) Chanhudaro
Answer: (a) Mohenjodaro
24. Harappan beads of long carnelian were specially produced at:
(a) Mohenjodaro (b) Chanhudaro (c) Kalibangan (d) Banawali
Answer: (b) Chanhudaro
25. Which animal does NOT appear on Harappan seals?
(a) Unicorn (b) Bull (c) Horse (d) Elephant
Answer: (c) Horse
Major Harappan Sites — Quick Reference Table
| Site | Modern Location | River / Region | Excavator (year) | Important Finds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harappa | Punjab, Pakistan | Ravi | Daya Ram Sahni (1921) | Granaries, coffin burial, R-37 cemetery, working platforms |
| Mohenjodaro | Sindh, Pakistan | Indus | R. D. Banerji (1922) | Great Bath, granary, Pashupati seal, Dancing Girl, Priest-King |
| Dholavira | Kachchh, Gujarat | Luni / Rann | R. S. Bisht (1990) | Three-fold division, water reservoirs, signboard inscription |
| Lothal | Gujarat | Sabarmati / Bhogavo | S. R. Rao (1955) | Dockyard, bead-making workshop, Persian Gulf seal, fire altars |
| Kalibangan | Rajasthan | Ghaggar | B. B. Lal & B. K. Thapar (1960) | Ploughed field, fire altars, lower town and citadel |
| Banawali | Haryana | Saraswati / Ghaggar | R. S. Bisht (1974) | Toy plough, oval-plan settlement, beads, terracotta |
| Rakhigarhi | Haryana | Saraswati | Suraj Bhan / Amarendra Nath (1969) | Largest Harappan site in India, granary, jewellery, burials |
| Chanhudaro | Sindh, Pakistan | Indus | N. G. Majumdar / Mackay (1931) | Bead factory, ink-pot, no citadel |
| Surkotada | Gujarat | Rann of Kachchh | J. P. Joshi (1964) | Horse bones (debated), citadel, residential complex |
| Nageshwar / Balakot | Gujarat / Pakistan | Coast | — | Shell-cutting workshops |
Timeline of Harappan Archaeology
| Period / Year | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 7000–2600 BCE | Early Food-producing & Early Harappan phases (Mehrgarh, Hakra Ware) |
| c. 2600–1900 BCE | Mature Harappan phase — urbanism, seals, script, long-distance trade |
| c. 1900–1300 BCE | Late Harappan / Post-Urban phase — decline of cities, rural cultures |
| 1826 | Charles Masson visits Harappa mound |
| 1853–75 | Alexander Cunningham surveys Harappa, mistakes seal as foreign |
| 1921 | Daya Ram Sahni begins excavations at Harappa |
| 1922 | R. D. Banerji begins excavations at Mohenjodaro |
| 1924 | Sir John Marshall announces the discovery of the Indus Civilisation |
| 1944 | Mortimer Wheeler becomes DG, ASI; introduces stratigraphic methods |
| 1955 | S. R. Rao excavates Lothal |
| 1960 | B. B. Lal & B. K. Thapar excavate Kalibangan |
| 1974 | R. S. Bisht excavates Banawali |
| 1990 | R. S. Bisht excavates Dholavira |
Key Terms and Concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Citadel | The smaller, higher and walled western part of a Harappan city, housing public buildings. |
| Lower Town | The larger eastern part of a Harappan city; residential and craft quarters. |
| Meluhha | Mesopotamian name for the Harappan / Indus region. |
| Dilmun | Modern Bahrain — an intermediary in Harappan-Mesopotamian trade. |
| Magan | Modern Oman — source of copper and an intermediary in trade. |
| Faience | Glazed paste of ground sand or quartz, fired to make beads, bangles and amulets. |
| Steatite | Soft stone (soapstone) used for seals and micro-beads. |
| Carnelian | Hard, red semi-precious stone used for beads; valued in trade. |
| Lapis lazuli | Deep blue stone imported from Afghanistan. |
| Lost-wax (Cire-perdue) | Bronze-casting technique using a wax model encased in clay. |
| Stratigraphy | Method of studying successive layers of deposit at a site for relative chronology. |
| Boustrophedon | Writing alternately left-to-right and right-to-left. |
| Pashupati | “Lord of animals” — name given by Marshall to the seated horned figure on a seal. |
| Granary | Public storehouse for grain; identified at Harappa and Mohenjodaro. |
| Seals | Square stamping objects made of steatite with animal motif and Indus script. |
| Saraswati / Ghaggar-Hakra | Now-dry river system along which many Harappan sites are located. |
| Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) | Institution founded 1861 that excavated and publicised Harappan sites. |
This completes ASSEB Class 12 History Theme 1 — The Story of the First Cities: Harappan Archaeology. For more chapter-wise solutions for HS 2nd Year, keep visiting HSLC Guru.