Know about important Harappan sites from the history of ancient India. All the important sites of Harappa results from the excavation of famous archeologists. This is best for you who are willing to appear in any competitive examination or in any course of study of students.
IMPORTANT HARAPPAN SITES
Harappa
Excavations at the site have led to following specific findings:
1. Two rows of six granaries with brick platforms.
2. Twelve granaries together had the same area as the Great Granary at Mohenjodaro.
3. Evidences of coffin burial and cemetery ‘H’ culture (two antelopes and the hunter on a pot-sherd from a cemetery have been discovered).
4. single-room barrack.
5. evidence of direct trade interaction with Mesopotamia.
6. a red sandstone male torso.
7. stone symbols of female genitals.
8. Houses with entrances on the main street.
Mohenjodaro
Some of the specific findings during the excavations of Mohenjodaro include-
1.A college, a multi-pillared assembly hall.
2. The Great bath
3. A large granary (the largest building of Mohenjodaro.
4. A piece of woven cotton along with spindle whorls and needles.
5. Superficial evidence of horse.
6. A pot-stone fragment OF Mesopotamian origin.
7. A bronze dancing girl.
8. A humped bull is evidence of violent death of some of the inhabitants.
9. A seal representing Mother Goddess with a plant growing from her womb, and a woman to be sacrificed by a man with a knife in his hand.
10. A bearded man and a seal with a picture suggesting Pashupati Mahadev.
Kalibangan
Kalibangan was an important Harappan city. The word ‘Kalibangan’ means ”black bangles! A ploughed field was the most important discovery of the early
excavations. Later excavations at Kalibangan made the following specific discoveries.
a wooden furrow.
seven ‘fire-altars’ in a row on a platform, suggesting the practice of the cult of sacrifice;
remains of massive brick wall around both the citadel and the lower town.
bones of camel.
a tiled floor which bears intersecting design of circles.
a human head with long oval eyes, thick lower lips, receding forehead and straight pointed nose.
evidences of two types of burials:
(a) burials in a circular grave and
(b) burials in a rectangular grave.
double burial.
Lothal
Lothal was an important trade centre of the Harappan culture. The town planning in Lothal was different from that of Harappa and Mohenjo daro. The city was
divided into six sections. Each section was built on a wide platform of unburnt bricks.
Each platform was separated by a road with width ranging from 12 feet to 20 feet.. Excavations at Lothal led to some specific discoveries which include:
remains of rice husk (the only other Harappan city where the rice husk has found is Rangpur, near Ahmedabad).
an artificial dockyard.
evidence of horse from a doubtful terracotta figurine.
Important Harappan Sites
SALIENT FEATURES OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION
MCQ ON INDUS VALLEY
impressions of cloth on some of the seals.
evidences of direct trade contact with Mesopotamia.
houses with entrances on the main street.
a ship designed on a seal.
a terracotta ship.
a painting on a jar resembling the story of the cunning fox narrated in the Panchatantra.
□ evidence of double burial (burying a male and a female in a single grave).
□ evidence of a game similar to modern day chess; and an instrument for measuring 180°, 90° and 45° angles (the instrument points to modern day compass).
Chanhu-daro
Chanhu-daro have revealed three different cultural layers from lowest to the top being Indus culture, the Jhukar culture and the Jhangar culture. The site is specially important for providing evidences about different Harappan factories. These factories produced seals, toys and bone implements. It was the only Harappan city
without a citadel. Some remarkable findings at Chanhu-daro include bronze figures of bullock cart and ekkas, inkpot, footprints of an elephant and a dog chasing a cat.
Alamgirpur
Alamgipur is the eastern boundary of the Indus culture. Although the wares found here resemble those at other Harappan sites, other findings suggest that Alamgirpur developed during late-Harappan culture. The site is remarkable for providing the impression of cloth on a trough.
Kot-Diji
Kot Diji is a pre-Harappan site. It gives the impression of a pre-Harappan fortified settlement. Houses were made of stone. The remains of Kot-Diji suggest that the city existed in the first half of the third millennium BCE. Excavations at the site suggest that the city was destructed by fire.
Amri
Amri also gives evidences of a pre-Harappan settlement. However, it lacks the fortification plan of the pre-Harappan phase. A spectacular feature of Amri is that it gives the impression of existence of transitional culture between pre and post-harappan culture. Important findings at Amri include the actual remains of rhinceros; traces of Jhangar culture in late or declining Harappan phase and fire altars.
Ropar
Ropar is a Harappan site from where remains of pre-Harappan and Harappan cultures have been found. Buildings at Ropar were made mainly of stone and soil.
Important findings at the site include pottery, ornaments, copper axes, chert blades, terracotta blades, one inscribed steatite seal with typical Indus pictographs, several burials interred in oval pits, and a rectangular mud-brick chamber. There is also an evidence of burying a dog below the human burial (Though the practice was prevalent in Burzhom in Kashmir, it was rare in the Harappan context).
Banwali
Situated in Hissar district of Haryana, Banwali has provided two phases of culture during its excavations. pre-Harappan (Phase I) and the Harappan (Phase II). Though phase II belonged to the Harappan period, chess-board or grid pattern of town planning was not always followed as in other Harappan sites. The roads were neither always straight, nor did they cut at right angles. It also lacked another remarkable feature of the Harappan civilisation-a systematic drainage system. A high quality barley has been found in excavations. Other important material remains include ceramics, steatite seal, terracotta plough, and a few terracotta sealings with typical Indus script.
Surkotada
Situated in Kutch (Bhuj) district of Gujarat and excavated by J.P. Joshi in 1972, Surkotada was an important fortified Harappan settlement. The site is important particularly because it has provided the first actual remains of horse bones. A cemetery with four pot burials with some human bones and a grave in association with a big rock, are rare finding of the Harappan culture.
Sutkagendor
Sutkagendor, situated in Baluchistan (in Pakistan on Makran coast on the bank of Dasht river), was an important coastal town. It is the western-most site of the
Indus Sutkagendor have revealed a two-fold division of the township: the Citadel and the Lower City. It is said that Sutkagendor was originally a port which later cut off
from the sea due to coastal uplift.