History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c30.s3.3

v1.c30.s3.3

The earliest traces of fortifications found on the Indian subcontinent belong to the Harappans, dated to between 2500 B.C. to 1700 B.C. (Mate, 1970, pp. 75-84). Some sites like Kot Diji perhaps have slightly earlier defences whereas in Gujarat they spill over the fifteenth century B.C. The area covered by this civilization is vast, comprising as it does present day Pakistan, parts of India, Punjab, Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. Within this area, more than a hundred villages or stations of the Harappans, at least some seven townships and a number of outposts have been located, surveyed and excavated to a greater or lesser extent. If as the Allchins (1968) suggested, Sandhanawala, Judeirjodaro and Darbar Kot (all in Pakistan), turn out to be major townships, the number of towns would be ten. Of these at least nine have yielded evidence of town-walls. There however seem to be two categories in these townships, some are enclosed in while others have only their citadels so protected.