IVC I (Cattle domestication? Mind-blowing)

IVC time period

2600-1900 BCE
Bronze Age

• Contemporary with ED Period in Mesopotamia (lots of trade)

IVC fun facts

5 urban centers found

• No evidence that any one site is most important

Extends well beyond the Indus Valley

Study of the IVC

Early 20th century

• But recorded by a spy (why is there always a spy involved) in the early 19th century

Harappa studied by Alexander Cunningham after the upper layers of burn brick were used as ballast for a rail line

Two non terra-cotta human representations

“Priest King” and “Dancing Girl”

• Names are conjecture, not substantiated

Geographic context of the IVC

Centered on the alluvial plain of the Indus River and its tributaries

• Headwaters in the highlands

And we have also the Ghaggar-Hakra/ Sarasvati River

• Had a seasonal flow that was redirected at some point during the urban period

Spread into Gujarat and Punjab

Prior to Partition, all sites were on the Pakistan side of the border, but afterwards, Indian archaeologists have found more in India

• Very culturally significant to India as a nation

Harappa location

On the Ravi River (tributary of the Indus)

Mohenjo-Daro location

On the Indus

IVC precipitation and climate

2 climate systems:

1. Winter rain from the Mediterranean to the Indus (Rabi)

• Watered crops in Mesopotamia

• Flooding and alluvial sediments

2. Summer monsoon

• Wind pattern from the Indian Ocean

• Deposits rain near the Himalayas

• IVC is at the periphery of this, not very affected

IVC Chronology

Some disagreements on timeline

Focus on the Integration Era

Urban period 2600-1900 BCE

Integration Era

Tremendous similarity across the area

Mature Harappan Subsistence Economy

Agriculture:

• Two seasons with different crops (Rabi and Kharif)

• Double cropping intensifies subsistence production

Pastoralism

• Cattle (Zebu/ Bos indicus) most important

• Water buffalo (Gujarat)

• Sheep and goats

Marine foods and other wild foods are also important

Lots of crops come from West Asia (i.e. wheat)

Rabi crops

Cereals

• Barley (a local domesticate) and wheat (from further west)

Pulses

• Peas

• Chickpeas

Flax

• Produced linen

Kharif crops

Spring sown, late summer harvest

• Domesticated later, probably in the eastern (more monsoon) zone

Millets

Mustard seed

Sesame

Dates

Cotton

Hemp

Rice (later)

Zebu cattle

Origins in the Indo-Iranian highlands (much earlier)

Used for meat, secondary products, traction (plows)

Sheep and goats in IVC

Goats may have been locally domesticated

Sheep introduced from West Asia

Products:

• Wool and meat

Regional variation

Mehgahr

Important site *Not a city*

Occupied 7000-3200 BCE

Excavated in the ‘70s and ‘80s

Central to the early phase (pre-pre-urban) where domestication began

Mehrgahr domestication stuff

Evidence of durum wheat, gradually seeing domesticated barley

Increased reliance on domesticated species

• By 4800 BCE, wild species were ~55% of resources

The process was slow-moving

• Not a revolution (FUCK YOU, VERE)

Mehrgahr architecture

Mud-brick houses

Enter from the roof

4 equal rooms

Similar to West Asia

Some public structures

• Grain storage?

Mehrgahr society

Developing social differences in burials by ~4300 BCE

• Women had more materials - matrilocal society?

Mehrgahr economy (not econ bros because matrilocal)

Early evidence for long-distance trade

• Seashells, lapis lazuli beads by at least 6000 BCE

By 4000 BCE - skilled pottery, crafts, later specialization

• Later, copper, faience beads

Early settlement patterns

Not as many systematic surveys

Expansion in the western highlands

• 4000-3200 BCE

By 3800 BCE, further settlement in the uplands east of the Indus

• Similar ceramics to other

• Likely pastoral camps at first

Not much in the Indus Valley at this time

• But the alluvial settlements may cover up evidence

Era of regionalization/ Early Harappan

3200 BCE - 2600 BCE

Settlements in the Indus Valley

Hallmarks of later things going on

Pre-urban precursors

4-5 important regional site and practice configurations

Patterns of similarity in the Early Harappan

3x increase in settlement towns

Expansion of agriculture

• Millets (kharif crop) at Harappa

• Early double-cropping

• Surplus agriculture

Craft continuity from earlier

• Ceramic and copper

• Increased segregation of craft from residential areas in town center

• Specialized producers (Childe ☹ )

Also some tool production centres

• Weights and measures later

Increase in trade (metal ores)

• Not a lot of ores in the Indus Valley, came from the highlands

Earliest use of seals in evidence

Evidence for some standardized weights

Some town centre standardization across regional phases

• I.e. Kalibangan

Public architecture at at least 7 sites

• Enclosure walls, NSEW orientation, neighbourhoods, craft specialization

• Emergence of civic authority?

• Social distinctions into civil management?

Era of Integration/ Mature Harappan

2600-1900 BCE

Bronze Age period

IVC area

800,000 - 1,000,000 km²

IVC cultural signatures

Formally planned cities

Monumental architecture and urban public works

Regional settlement hierarchies

Artifact standardization

Writing

• Undeciphered ☹

Standardized weights and measures

• Very widespread

Widespread use of seals

Craft specialization

• Bronze

• Beads (very important)

• Ceramics

• Faience

Extensive trade and commerce

• As far as Southern India and Mesopotamia

• Including remote trade entrepots

Significant uniformity, but important regional differences in site planning

Site patterns in the Integration Era

Urban sites emerge

More rural settlements

Increasing size and hierarchy of settlements

More site types - links between urban and rural sites

Some functional differences between sites

Integration between rural and urban

Settlement hierarchy

• Loved by Social Evolutionists (bad bad bad) as measures for “the state

IVC urban centres

Harappa

• Upper Indus Valley

Mohenjo-Daro

• Lower Indus Valley

Rakhigarhi

Ganweriwalla

Dholavira

Each ~500 km away from each other