The Indus Civilization c5.57

c5.57

The coping of the well was generally only a few inches above the pavement, and, in the case of the larger ones, it is still deeply grooved by the friction of the ropes. As the drawer of the water usually stood straddle-legged over the well, the most convenient, and therefore the most ordinary, size was about three feet across, but wells have been found as small as two, and as large as seven feet in diameter. As the level of the city rose, the steering of the wells had to be raised from time to time, and, after the surrounding soil has been cleared away an inspection of its outer face, necessarily less carefully finished off than the inner one, provides valuable information concerning the upward growth of the city (Pl. E, a).