The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c10.28

c10.28

The history of these defences was not a simple one. In addition to the "village-culture" found below them in the main section, at two points fragments of underlying baked-brick structures were also identified. Whilst, therefore, there is no indication of any lengthy pre-citadel settlement, there was certainly an appreciable antecedent phase. On the other hand, it seems probable that, as originally built, the defences of the citadel long remained untouched save by the weather, which wore and rounded the exposed surface of the baked-brick revetment to a very notable extent. This revetment had been built in the first instance of brick-bats rather than whole bricks, and its construction was in marked contrast to that which at last replaced it. The old revetment, if it had not already fallen, was now pulled down to within half a dozen courses of its base, by this time doubtless below the ground-level, and was replaced by a new one, carefully built of whole bricks in the finest Harappan style (pl. II). This excellent reconstruction is particularly evident at the gateway in the curved re-entrant already mentioned (pl. IVA), and in the adjacent tower towards the north which was likewise refaced. A third structural phase eventually followed: the defences of the north-west corner were enlarged, and the gateway just referred to was blocked. The obvious inference is that the Harappans were now on the defensive.