An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s8: 4.8 Pre-Harappa
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s8
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4.8 Pre-Harappa
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The Harappa civilization [4.9], as Wheeler puts it, ‘like any other great revolution may best be visualized as a sudden offspring of opportunity and genius’ (Wheeler, 1966). The sudden growth of a highly urbanized civilization has remained a challenge to the archaeologists. Ghosh has said: ‘While death from unidentified causes is understandable, natural birth is an unnatural phenomenon’ (Ghosh, 1965). No doubt recent archaeological discoveries in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent have given some clues to the origin of this culture but the exact genetic relationship is yet to be established.
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Pre-Harappa cultures which have been found in the subcontinent are determined on the basis of (1) stratigraphy, (2) cultural equipment, (3) pottery, and (4) ^14C dates.
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*Baluchistan.* In the 4th and 3rd millennia B.C. a large number of village communities were living in the borderland where the Iranian plateau drops into the Indus plain. The present Baluchi hills had, it seems, more rainfall in ancient days. The evidence of *gabarbands* or dams of antiquity might indicate irrigation and a larger population. These small cultures flourished in the Quetta and Zhob valleys in Baluchistan both n. and s.
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In the Baluchistan area there are six zones with important pre-Harappa sites: (1) Quetta valley—Kili Ghul Mohammed, Damb Sadaat; (2) Zhob valley—Periano Ghundai; (3) Loralai valley—Rana Ghundai, Sur Jangal, (4) Surab valley—Togau, Siah Damb, Anjira; (5) Nal, Nundara; and (6) Kulli, Mehi.
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Excavations at Kili Gul Mohammed in Dt Quetta have revealed four Pds of occupation. The earliest settlement is revealed by the cultural equipment of Pd I, when the settlers lived in a small village having first mud and later mud-brick houses and used parallel-sided blades of chert for harvesting and peeling fruit. They domesticated the sheep, goat and ox. The use of pottery was known at this stage. A ^14C date for this Pd has suggested that this community lived as early as *c.* 3500 to 3100 B.C., thereby giving the earliest evidence of a village settlement in this subcontinent. In the succeeding Pd II people lived in the same fashion as earlier but handmade pottery with basket impressions came into vogue—itself a great advancement. Further progress is noticed in Pd III when the inhabitants started the use of wheel-made pottery with a red surface having black-painted designs. At this stage the use of copper is also evidenced. In Pd IV the people started producing a polychrome pottery known as Kechi Beg polychrome ware. An identical cultural sequence is also available at Rana Ghundai where in Pd II were found the remains of the domesticated horse. The Kechi Beg polychrome ware of Kili Gul Mohammed Pd IV is available at Damb Sadaat, another site in the Quetta valley, in Pd I which shows a cultural link between the two sites. The Togau pottery of the same region known for its painted antler motif is also associated with the Kechi Beg wares of Kili Gul Mohammed IV. Fairservis has seen the feasibility of relating the ‘horned buck’ design to the ‘horned bucks’ found at Sur Jangal and Rana Ghundai Pds II and III (a). In Damb Sadaat Pd II Zhob figurines in black on buff or grey ware are available. In Damb Sadaat Pd III the ‘stair design’ on pottery disappears. It seems that at this stage Harappa contacts were established and all the cultures which flourished prior to Damb Sadaat III were pre-Harappa.
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The Nal-Nundara culture of s. Baluchistan is characterized by a pottery which is pale or greenish-buff with designs executed in black, blue, red or yellow. At Nal extended and fractional burials are met with in the cemetery. Flat axes, chisels and knives of copper have been found here. This culture came into being before the Harappa culture but was in existence during its lifetime. Stone weights, steatite beads, seals, copper objects and pots having *pīpal* leaf and intersecting designs suggest contacts with the Harappa. Early Nal has affinity with Amri in Sind. According to Fairservis, ‘Nal is most probably parallel in time with Damb Sadaat II.’
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The Kulli-Mehi culture of s. Baluchistan also had an earlier beginning but survived during the Harappa. It has a predominant buff ware with a sparing use of red in addition to black. People lived in stone and mud-brick houses. Clay figurines of cattle and human beings painted with black striped bands, steatite vessels, copper pins and mirrors are available. The pottery, the typical feature of which is animal-cum-landscape motifs, is comparable to the scarlet ware of early dynastic times of Iraq, i.e. the second quarter of the 3rd millennium B.C. Incised compartmented pots are available in the Kulli culture as also in the early dynastic of Iraq. Steatite boxes of the same culture are comparable with those from Mohenjo-daro. Double-branching tree pattern, banana leaves and braziers of the Harappa are available at Kulli showing the survival of the Kulli culture during the period of the Harappa culture and their mutual contact. The cross-hatched technique in the treatment of the animal’s body at Harappa is not an infrequent Kulli technique. At Mehi offering stands of the Harappa type are available. The bird figurines of Mehi can be compared with those of Damb Sadaat III, where Indus contacts in n. Baluchistan are available. At Ghazi Shah in Sind the Harappa designs have the Kulli technique. Perforated vessels of the Harappa are available at the Kulli sites and seem to be imported. Finally Kulli figurines are nearer to the Harappa than the Zhob.
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The Rana Ghundai type of pottery is available below the Harappa levels at Harappa, while Damb Sadaat Pd II is pre-Harappa and has Zhob figurines in it. It is only in Pd III that clay button seals and Harappa contacts are available.
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*Afghanistan*. Mundigak on a dry tributary of the Arghandab in s.-e. Afghanistan has yielded a fourfold culture sequence. In Pd I with three sub-pds there were no structures in the two earlier sub-pds and people led a seminomadic life. However in the latest sub-pd bone awls, alabaster vases, stone blades and beads of steatite, lapis lazuli and frit, copper needle and a bent blade and sherds of pottery, partly wheel-turned, are available. In Pd II more compact well-built houses are noticed. A well with brick-head has been discovered. Rooms have hearths in the centre. The pottery is mainly handmade. Crudely-made stone disc seals and bifacially worked stone arrowheads are the other finds. Pd III appears to be one of great activity, six phases of constructions having been identified. A cemetery of this Pd having contracted burials has been located. Community ossuaries are noticed in the later phase. The pottery is wheel-made and has a large number of painted designs. Crude humped bulls, human figurines, shaft-hole axes and adzes of bronze and terracotta drains are the other important finds. A ¹⁴C date of 2360 B.C. is available for this pre-Harappa Pd. In the succeeding Pd IV Harappa contacts together with the transformation of the settlement into a town with massive defence wall and square bastions of mud bricks are noticed. Remains of a palace in one mound and a large temple in another are the other features of fully urban life.
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*Punjab (Pakistan) and Sind*. Wheeler’s discovery in 1946 of an occupational deposit underlying the mud-brick defences of Harappa yielded 30 potsherds, most of them of red, dull or pale red ware, some of them having a straight neck or everted rim (Wheeler in *AI*, 3, 1947). There is a thick band of black paint on the neck. Some sherds have multiple grooves. The pottery forms include the vase, straight-sided bowl, large basin, ring-stand and cylindrical cup. Similar sherds occurred in the mud bricks of the defences also, evidently an unintentional collection by the builders of the defences.
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This pottery gained prominence when identical material came from Kot Diji, 40 km e. of Mohenjo-daro, on the left bank of the Indus, excavated by F.A. Khan of the Dept. of Arch., Pakistan, in 1955-6. The site covers an area of 175 × 125 m and is divided into a citadel and a lower city area. In the citadel area layers 1 to 3 contained remains of the mature Harappa culture and after an intervening burnt deposit layers 4 to 16 contained pre-Harappa material. In the lower city area layers 1 to 3 produced mature Harappa pottery [11.3] and after an intervening burnt layer, layers 3 to 5 contained pre-Harappa material. The characteristic feature of the Kot Diji pre-Harappa occupation is a mud-brick defence wall built on a stone foundation, which was in use through the Kot Diji period but not used during the mature Harappa period. Seven levels of structural activity have been found inside the citadel. Mud or mud-brick structures of stone foundations have been encountered. For the lower city area ¹⁴C dates of 2330 ± 155 and 2250 ± 137 B.C. are available.
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Leaf-shaped arrowheads of stone, comparable with those of Pandi Wahi and Periano Ghundai, have been found. Bronze or copper fragments of a bangle, toy-cart frames [16.17], a large number of chert blades and cores and triangular terracotta cakes [6.27] of the thinner variety are available in the middle Kot Diji levels and upwards.
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The Kot Diji ware is mainly red; grey ware is rare. Mughal has classified its 22 types, the main types being: (1) the open-mouthed shallow bowl; (2) deep bowl; (3) globular vessel; (4) wide-shouldered vessel; (5) tumbler-shaped vessel; (6) handmade cylindrical vase; (7) dish; (8) cup; (9) jar; (10) squat offering stands; and (11) ring-stands. The design repertoire consists of wide bands in the neck, intersecting circles, triangles and concentric arches.
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Recent explorations of Mughal have brought to light a large number of sites designated ‘Hakra assemblage or complex’ in Cholistan, Pakistan. The explorer feels that some of these sites antedate the Kot Diji sites. There are more than 30 such sites in Cholistan.
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Sherds of the Quetta wet ware and reserved-slip ware available from the earlier levels of Mohenjo-daro and Chanhu-daro indicate a pre-Harappa occupation or contact.
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Situated 13 km s. of Mohenjo-daro on the w. bank of the Indus opposite Chanhu-daro, Amri was earlier excavated by N.G. Majumdar and later by J.-M. Casal. Here a sequence of three Pds is available, with four sub-pds in Pd I and two sub-pds each in Pds II and III. Pds I and II precede the Harappa occupation. While in II A and II B both Amri and Harappa pottery is available Pd III heralds the mature Harappa culture.
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Saraikhola, situated in the vicinity of the Haro river in the Taxila valley, has a 1·83 m thick cultural deposit. While Pd I is a late Neolithic culture having abundant microblades and stone celts with polished cutting edge and highly burnished weathered pottery, in Pd II burnished pottery overlaps with many ceramic forms which are comparable with those of Kot Diji, pre-defence Harappa and KALIBANGAN I (below). Terra-cotta bangles, chert blades, offering stands, humped bull figurines, toy-cart frames and leaf-shaped arrowheads are other finds of this Pd.
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Gumla situated at a distance of 12 km from Dera Ismail Khan is another pre-Harappa site in the Gomal valley. Here Pd I is pre-pottery Neolithic and in Pd II bronze tools, microliths and terracotta female and animal figurines, besides a fine chocolate-brown ware with paintings in white akin to KALIBANGAN I, are available. The female figurines are comparable with those of Mundigak. In Pd III mud architecture of the Kot Diji type is noticed. Parallel-sided blades are more in number than microliths. The thorned motif appears on the pottery. The site was destroyed by a fire. In Pd IV the earlier elements continue but traits of the Harappa culture are in evidence. Jalilpur has also yielded pre-Harappa material.
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*Gujarat.* Pd I of SURKOTADA, Dt Kutch, has a number of pre-Harappa and non-Harappa ceramic traditions in the Harappa milieu. All these wares, though appearing almost from the beginning of the occupation, show a marked concentration, however never exceeding 7% of the total in the upper half of this Pd. The wares are: (1) a red-slipped polychrome ware; (2) a polytone ware; (3) reserved-slipped ware; and (4) a deep red-slipped ware of waxy touch. The polychrome sherds having consecutive arches painted in black and white and a few vases with mat surface and broad black bands on the neck seem to be reminiscent respectively of KALIBANGAN I and Kot Diji. The reserved-slip ware is comparable with that from the earliest levels of Mohenjo-daro and LOTHAL and also in the Sargonid levels of Brak, Ur, Kish and T. Jidle in the Balikh valley in w. Asia. These apparently non-Harappa ceramic traditions show contact and survival of earlier cultures. The mode of construction of mud fortification on stone foundation is also a pre-Harappa legacy at SURKOTADA (Joshi, 1972).
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*Rajasthan.* The explorations carried out by Ghosh in the dried-up beds of the Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī in n. Rajasthan brought to light as many as 25 Harappa sites. At a few of them he noticed a non-Harappa pottery and the culture represented by this pottery was designated by him as the SOTHI culture (Ghosh, 1952). Later excavations at KALIBANGAN have proved that this ware and KALIBANGAN I ware are identical.
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There are two mounds at KALIBANGAN on the bank of the now dried-up Sarasvati. KLB-1, 250 × 180 m, was fortified right from the beginning. The fortification wall is made of mud bricks measuring 30 × 20 × 10 cm, with two phases of construction. In the earlier phase the basal width was 1·9 m while in the later phase it increased to 3 to 4 m. Extra thickness was added on the inner side. Both inner and outer faces of the rampart were plastered with mud. Within the walled area houses were made of mud bricks laid in English bond. Five phases of constructional activity have been noticed. The use of baked brick in one of the drains is also seen. Evidence of *tandurs* both above ground and under ground is available. A pre-Harappa field with furrow marks having one set closely spaced (about 30 cm apart running e.-w.) and the other more widely spaced (1·90 m running n.-s.) has been found.
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The pre-Harappa pottery [11.2] of KALIBANGAN has been classified by Thapar into six fabrics: Fabric A, the most commonly used pottery, wheelmade, having irregular striation, carelessly potted, paintings in black and white, criss-cross moustache-like bifold designs, etc.; Fabric B, wheelmade, treated up to the shoulder with red slip and the lower area while wet covered by a thin clayey solution and roughened by horizontal or wavy combing; Fabric C, a fine-textured pottery painted with naturalistic designs, nearer to the Harappa Ware [11.3]; Fabric D, a red ware with sharp incised designs; and Fabrics E and F distinguished essentially by surface treatment, Fabric E being buff and Fabric F grey.
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The noteworthy finds from the pre-Harappa levels at KALIBANGAN include small blades of chalcedony and agate, sometimes serrated and backed, beads of steatite, shell and carnelian, terracotta toy-cart wheels and bulls, querns and mullers of stone [6.19], bone points, copper celt and axes.
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The pre-Harappa occupation came to an end by a seismic catastrophe [9.3] as evidenced by the fault in the occupation layers in the upper levels. However in KLB-2 the pre-Harappans continued to live with the Harappans up to the middle levels of occupation. The date of pre-Harappa occupation at KALIBANGAN is assigned to *c.* 2450 to 2300 B.C. on the basis of ¹⁴C determinations.
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*Haryana and Punjab*. BANAWALI, situated 15 km n.-w. of Fatehabad, has a threefold sequence of cultures. In Pd I the pre-Harappa occupation has yielded all the six fabrics of KALIBANGAN I. The houses, laid roughly in cardinal directions point to a definite town-planning. In the structures mud and burnt bricks have been used (size 36 × 24 × 12 cm and 39 × 26 × 13 cm). Beads of gold, semiprecious stones, terracottas and bangles of clay, shell and faience [16.6] have been found.
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SISWAL, Dt Hissar, is another site in Haryana which has yielded in Pd A all the six fabrics of KALIBANGAN I. However here the excavator has identified a transition period, i.e. SISWAL B (Late Siswal). He points out: ‘although the six fabrics of KALIBANGAN I ware continue to survive, there is lack of variety in shapes and designs and the pottery is greatly sturdier and better potted in the phase. Some of the sherds bear graffiti. The occurrence of a few classical Harappan shapes such as scored goblet, beaker, dish and perforated jar in the otherwise non-Harappa culture complex indicate a contact between the two cultures and marks the transition stage for the Sub-period.’ (Suraj Bhan, 1975). MITATHAL, Dt Bhiwani, represents in Pd I the Late SISWAL phase. Sixteen sites of the SISWAL culture have been identified in the s.-w. part of Haryana.
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The recently excavated site at BALU near Jind has yielded remains of the pre-Harappa culture bearing the typical KALIBANGAN I fabrics. The site is still under excavation and further details are awaited.
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It has been pointed out that 18 designs on the pottery of BARA are similar to pre-Harappa Amri, Anjira, Harappa, KALIBANGAN I, Kechi Beg, Kili Ghul Mohammed, Kot Diji, MITATHAL, Mohenjo-daro, Moghal Ghundai, Mundigak, Periano Ghundai, Quetta, Rana Ghundai, ROPAR, Siah Damb, SISWAL and Togau. There appears to be a continuity of the pre-Harappa tradition and does not have relevance to the pre-Harappa period as such.
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*Chronology*. The above survey brings out that prior to the Harappa culture, i.e. *c.* 2350 B.C., a large number of village communities lived in Baluchistan, Sind and Rajasthan. These communities flourished from the middle of the 4th to the end of 2nd millennium B.C. and some co-existed with the Harappa. These cultures can be divided into two: (1) cultures representing a semi-nomadic to Neolithic phase, and (2) cultures antecedent to the Harappa. While in the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic stages a development could be seen, no antecedent culture showing a gradual development from the pre-Harappa to the Harappa is met with. On the basis of ¹⁴C determinations Agrawal would like to put the time span for the pre-Harappa cultures (antecedent to the Harappa) to *c.* 2600 to 2400 B.C. However the dates would be much earlier if the standard correction of 500 to 550 years is added to this date bracket. The following are the significant (uncalibrated) dates, all B.C (Agrawal and Kusumgar, 1974):
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Pakistan: Amri, 2665 ± 110, 2900 ± 115; Damb Sadaat, 2200 ± 165, 2200 ± 360, 2220 ± 410, 2550 ± 200, 2320 ± 360, 2510 ± 70; Kot Diji, 2100 ± 140; 2250 ± 140, 2330 ± 155, 2600 ± 145; Niaibuthi, 1900 ± 65; Nindovari Damb, 2065 ± 110; Ghalighai 1923 ± 55.
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Rajasthan: KALIBANGAN I, 1820 ± 115, 1900 ± 110, 1965 ± 105, 2095 ± 105, 1765 ± 115, 2105 ± 105, 2255 ± 95, ?2290 ± 120, 2370 ± 120.
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Agrawal, D.P., & Kusumgar, S., 1974, *Prehistoric Chronology & Radiocarbon Dating*, Delhi. Allchin, B. & R., 1968, *Birth of Indian Civilization*, Harmondsworth. Casal, J.-M., 1961, *Fouilles de Mundigak*, Paris, 1964, *Fouilles d’Amri*, Paris. Fairservis, Jr., W.A., 1951, in *Noviates American Museum of Natural History*, 1587; 1959, *Arch. Surveys in the Zhob & Loralai Dt, W. Pakistan*, New York Ghosh, A., 1952, in *Bull. National Inst. of Sciences of India*, 1, pp 37-42; 1965, in Misra, V.N., & Mate, M.S., in *Indian Prehistory: 1964*, Poona, pp. 113-24. Joshi, J.P., 1972, in *Jour. Oriental Inst.*, 22. Mughal, M.R., 1970, *Early Harappa Period in the Greater Indus Valley*, Pennsylvania (mimeographed); 1973, Present State of Res. in *the Indus Valley Civilization*, Karachi. Suraj Bhan, 1975, *Excavation at Mitathal (1968) & other Explorations in the Sulej-Yamuna Divide*, Kurukshetra. Thapar, B.K., 1975, in *Expedition*, 17, 2, Winter (for Kalibangn). Wheeler, M., 1966, *Civilization of the Indus Valley & Beyond*, London. For bibliography of Pakistan sites see Mughal, 1973; Possehl, 1979, G.L., *Ancient Cities of the Indus*, Delhi, pp. 368-430. For other sites see respective entries is vol. II.—J.P. JOSHI