The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c13.23

c13.23

At Mohenjo-daro no orderly burials definitely of Harappan date have yet been found. Four groups of skeletons apparently representing slaughter in the last phase of the city are a different matter and will be considered later (pp. 51 and 91). But there can be no doubt that here, as at Harappā, a systematic inhumation-cemetery lies somewhere in the unexplored outskirts of the town. It is no longer necessary to assume that “the complete absence of burials . . . points to cremation as the chief mode of disposal of the dead”.³ In particular, the repeated supposition that certain urns at both sites, containing a mélange of odds and ends “sometimes mingled with ashes and charcoal”,⁴ represent human cremations is unsupported by valid evidence and must be discarded. Chanhu-daro, it may be added, has contributed only a single unburnt skull in a pot, which proves nothing.