Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c12.183

c12.183

There remain the so-called ‘post-cremation urns’ at Mohenjo-daro and Harappā, containing a miscellaneous assortment of sherds, artifacts, ornaments and animal, but never human, bones. These urns, which were found beneath streets and houses, were regarded by the excavators as the burial deposits of bodies completely cremated, and (invoking modern Hindu practices) were supposed to have been thrown into a river or otherwise disposed of. With Wheeler, I cannot regard these as having anything to do with human burial: I am inclined to think that sometimes at least they may have served some drainage or soak-pit function, which would account for the miscellaneous debris drifting into them. The row of such pots immediately behind (and presumably beneath the eaves or gutter) of the range of buildings immediately within the citadel defences at Harappā on its southern edge certainly suggests such a use.