Any discussion on origin of urbanisation and urbanism cannot afford to avoid a reference to the Indus Valley civilisation, for it was here that the earliest cities germinated and seeds for organised growth of human settlements were planted and nurtured. Extending from Punjabto Gujarat, the various sites hold a fund of information on how cities evolved. If Mehrgarh in Balochistan was the earliest centre of economic growth, thanks to organised farming, the cities of Harappa (near Lahore), Mohenjo-daro in Sindh and Dhola-vira and Lothal near Ahmedabad represent the apogee of the Indus civilisation (2600 to 1900 BC) with walled settlements, and highly developed art and craft, trade and cultural activity.
Ethno-archaeologist Jonathan M. Kenoyer, who is professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (U.S.) and has been engaged in excavation at Harappa in Pakistan since 1986, says that though the earliest city-states emerged in this region, the settlements bear no sign of conflict, warfare, weapons or people being killed, captured or conquered. The Indus civilisation was at its zenith for nearly 700 years. It declined mainly due to rivers changing course, perpetual droughts, overpopulation and arrival of refugees, though there is not much evidence to explain all these.
Work at Harappa
An author of several books, Kenoyer was born in Shillong (Meghalaya) and had his early education in India. He earned his graduation and postgraduation degrees and the Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. His abiding interest in archaeology of early urbanism persuaded him to visit the subcontinent frequently since 1986. The earliest work on Harappan sites was carried out by Sir Alexander Cunningham in the 1850s. But the real work on the principal Harappan mound which rose 17 metres above the plain, was taken up in the 1970s.
Gujarat to Oman
According to Kenoyer, looting of bricks from the site alerted the archaeologists who upon excavation unearthed the warps and wefts of a glorious civilisation that tied it with Afghanistan, Gujarat, Sindh, Mesopotamia and even Oman in the Gulf.
Harappa was a walled settlement with neat five-metre wide streets intersecting each other and giving rise to rectangular residential blocks roughly equal to each other. The walls were, however, not meant for military defence, but enabled control over trade, collection of tax and protection from wild animals. The settlement had a highly developed sanitation system. Houses had no windows but jaalis (lattices) for ventilation. Pots were used for commodes which when full were topped with fresh pots and that is how the plinth level of houses kept rising. Streets were similarly raised to maintain level with residences, thereby raising the level of the entire settlement to a mound. Heavy ringed stones heaped over one another went into construction of pillars. By 2800 BC, the roads began to be developed for transportation. These were followed by ox carts which appeared simultaneously in Central Asia as well as Europe. The presence of large rounded jars is taken as evidence of storages of grain and oil. The jars with sealed mouths were rolled over roads to jetties at riverine ports.
Standard weights
Surprisingly, the entire range of settlements used standardised weights which increased in doubling proportions i.e., from 1:2:4:8…..32. The 16th ratio was equal to 13.7 grams.
Indus Valley civilisation had no big structures like central temples or ritual spaces but ritual images and deities emerged between 2200 and 1900 BC.
The value of Kenoyer’s research lies in scrupulously avoiding imposition of theoretical or religious biases on the basis of fuzzy evidence. His work is at a stage where he foresees exciting possibilities in the years ahead and does not want his conclusions to go obsolete. The regions under Indus civilisation bear the evidence of many people of different classes and occupations living together for the first time. These cities had a level of architectural planning that was unparalleled in the ancient world.
(Kenoyer spoke at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru recently.)
