An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s9.13

v1.c9.s9.13

But of immense interest and significance are the structures that lay to the n. of the Citadel. These fall into two broad groups. The one that was located close to, as if in the shadow of, the n.-w. corner-tower of the Citadel comprised a series of workmen's quarters, furnaces and working floors. Enclosed by a common boundary wall of which only small portions have survived, the workmen’s quarters lay in two e.-w. rows. Each quarter, covering an area of about 17×7 m, comprised a room and a court-yard, the latter being entered from the outside through an oblique passage, evidently so designed for privacy. Immediately to the n. of these quarters, but on a slightly higher level, there lay 16 furnaces, roughly pear-shaped on plan, the major axis varying from 1 to 2 m. While the exact purpose of these furnaces has not been clearly made out, mention may still be made of the discovery of a bronze-smelting crucible in the area near by. The working platforms lay in five e.-w. rows, each row containing more than half-a-dozen examples. Having an average diameter of about 3·5 m, each platform consisted of several rings of burnt bricks set on edge, with a central depression about 0·5 m in diameter. On the basis of the discovery of husk, wheat and barley in the depression it is surmised that in it was placed a hollow wooden mortar for pounding grains. The idea gains added support from the presence of a granary a little to the n. of these platforms.