By /

Class 12 History Chapter 1 Notes
Bricks, beads and bones (Harappan Civilization)

Here we are providing notes of the first chapter of Class 12 History “Bricks, Beads and Bones”. In this chapter, the main features related to the Harappan Civilization have been studied.

These notes will prove useful for those students who are preparing for the board exam this year. This material prepared in simple and systematic language will help in revising the chapter quickly and remembering the main points.

BookNCERT
ClassClass 12
Subject History
Chapter NameBricks,Beads and Bones
MediumEnglish

Harappan Civilization

  1. Harappan civilization is also known as Indus Valley civilization.
  2. Its period has been determined between 2600 BC and 1900 BC.
  3. It was first discovered by Dayaram Sahni in 1921 AD.

John Marshall and his main achievements

  1. John Marshall was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India.
  2. During his tenure, there were important changes in Indian archaeology.
  3. He was the first professional archaeologist to work in India.
  4. Along with finding attractive objects, he was also interested in finding the practices of daily life.
  5. He excavated the mounds. He announced the discovery of the Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley to the whole world.
  6. Apart from this, he also classified the remains and antiquities found.

water drainage system

  1. The most unique feature of Harappan cities was their planned drainage system.
  2. The streets and lanes were laid out in a grid pattern and intersected each other at right angles.
  3. It appears that the lanes/roads with drains were laid out first and then the houses were constructed along them.
  4. The dwellings were connected to the street drains.
  5. The drains of the houses emptied first into a cesspit or cesspit and the dirty water flowed into the street drains.

Harappan script

  1. The script of the Indus Valley Civilization has not been read yet, hence it is known as a mysterious script.
  2. Most of the inscriptions of the Indus Valley Civilization are brief and the longest inscription has about 26 symbols.
  3. There was no fixed alphabet in the script of the Indus Valley Civilization, the number of symbols in it is about 375 to 400.
  4. This script was written from right to left.

Sources of knowledge of Harappan culture

There are many sources of information about Harappan culture-

(i) Roads, streets, buildings, bathrooms etc. found from excavations at various sites provide information about city planning, architecture and lifestyle of people.

(ii) Art and craft items like spindles, clay toys, metal statues, jewellery, pottery etc. provide information about various occupations and social conditions.

(iii) Clay seals provide knowledge about religion, script etc.

Modes of subsistence of Harappan people

The following were the main methods of subsistence of the people of the Harappan Civilization-

(i) People used to get food from many types of trees, plants and animals. Fish was their main diet.

(iii) Their grains included wheat, barley, lentils, white gram and sesame. Grains of these grains have been found from many Harappan sites.

(iii) People also used to eat millet and rice. Millet grains have been found from sites in Gujarat. Rice was probably used less because rice grains have been found relatively less.

(iv) The animals from which they used to get food included sheep, goat, buffalo and pig. All these animals were domesticated.

(v) Bones of deer and crocodile have also been found. It has been inferred from this that the Harappans used to eat their meat. But it has not been ascertained whether they hunted these animals themselves or got their meat from other hunter communities. They also used to eat the meat of some birds.

Economic activity of Harappans

(i) Agriculture- The economic activities of Harappans included agriculture and fishing.

(ii) Animal husbandry- Cows, buffaloes, bulls etc. were reared and bulls were used for ploughing the fields.

(iii) Use of cottage- The statues found during excavations show that they also made statues and earthen pots.

(iv) Trade- They also made jewellery and beads.

(v) Measurement- Weights were used for weighing in trade. There were measures of 2,4,6.

social diversity

We get information about the differences in Harappan society from burials and luxury items.

burial place

  1. Here the last rites were performed by burying the person. The structure of the graves found is different from each other. In some graves, brick masonry has been done while in some graves, the rest are normal.
  2. Pottery and jewellery were also buried with the individuals in the graves as the Harappans probably believed in reincarnation
  3. Copper mirrors, beads and jewellery have also been found in the graves.

Luxury items

  1. Another way to identify social differentiation is luxury goods
  2. There are mainly two types of goods
  3. Everyday items like grinding wheels, earthen pots, needles, simple tools etc.
  4. These were made from common materials like stone or clay and were easily available
  5. Luxury items: These are those items which were not easily available i.e. found in small quantities
  6. Items which are expensive or rare are considered precious like faience utensils, gold ornaments
  7. Major sites of Harappan Civilization: Lothal (Gujarat), Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Nageshwar (Gujarat), Dholavira (Gujarat)

weights

  1. The weights of the Indus Valley Civilization were governed by a precise system.
  2. These weights were made of a stone called chert.
  3. They were generally cubic in shape and devoid of any markings.
  4. The lower standards of these weights were binary (1,2,4,8,16,32 etc. up to 12800), while the upper standards were according to the decimal system.

Beads

  1. Beads were made from carnelian, a beautiful red stone, jasper, alabaster, crystal etc.
  2. Metals – gold, copper, bronze, shells, baked clay, some beads were also made by mixing two or more substances together
  3. The shape of the beads was dome-shaped, spherical, circular, etc.
  4. The top was decorated with paintings
  5. The method of making beads changed according to the type of stone
  6. Selkheri was a soft stone which was easily used. In many places beads were made by pouring Selkheri powder into a mould.
  7. Processes of grinding, polishing and drilling were done to make beads

seal

  1. Stamps and currency markings were used to protect consigned goods
  2. For example, if goods were sent in a bag to a faraway place, its mouth was tied with a rope and wet mud was applied to the rope and a seal was put on it
  3. If there was any change in the seal impression, it would indicate tampering with the goods and also reveal the identity of the sender.

The art of the craft

  1. Craftsmanship includes making jewellery, statues, tools etc.
  2. Mainly beads, seals, weights were made in Harappa, shells were cut and metal work was done
  3. Perforating tools have been found in Chanhudaro, Lothal and Dholavira, the main craft production centres of the Harappan civilization

Mohenjo Daro

  1. The most unique aspect of the Harappan Civilization was the development of urban centers.
  2. At Mohenjo-daro, the most famous archaeological site of the Harappan Civilization, the settlement was divided into two parts, the citadel and the lower city.

Durg

  1. The reason for the height of the fort was that the structure here was built on a platform of unbaked bricks.
  2. The fort was separated from the lower city by surrounding it with a wall.

Lower Town

  1. The lower town was also walled.
  2. Once the platforms were in place, all building work in the town was confined to a specified area on the platforms.
  3. It therefore appears that the settlement was first planned and then executed accordingly.

The main buildings of the fort part of Mohenjodaro are considered to be the goods warehouse and the large bathhouse.

goods warehouse

The warehouse is a huge structure of which only the lower parts, made of bricks, remain while the upper parts, which were probably made of wood, have destroyed long ago.

large bathroom

  1. The large bathhouse is a rectangular reservoir built in a large courtyard, which is surrounded by a corridor on all sides.
  2. Stairs were built on its northern and southern sides to reach the bottom of the reservoir.
  3. It was filled with water by piling bricks on the edges of the reservoir and using gypsum mortar.
  4. There were rooms on its three sides, one of which was a large well. There were four bathhouses on each side of a corridor.
  5. This bathhouse was probably used for some special ritualistic bath.

End of the Harappan Civilization

(i) The Harappan civilization was probably destroyed due to the change in the course of the Indus river and climate change.

(ii) Flooding of the Indus river.

(iii) Expansion of deserts due to drying up of rivers.

(iv) Expansion of deserts due to lack of moisture in the land due to deforestation.

(v) The Harappan state came to an end due to lack of strong integration.

Cunningham

(i) Cunningham was the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. He initiated archaeological excavations in the mid-nineteenth century.

(ii) He used accounts left by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who visited the subcontinent between the fourth and seventh centuries AD to identify the earliest settlements of the Harappan Civilisation.

Cunningham's illusion

(i) Cunningham’s interest was in the period between 1st century BC and 4th century BC. This was also one of the reasons why he failed to understand the importance of Harappa.

(ii) Harappan objects were found occasionally in the 19th century. Some of them reached Cunningham but he could not understand how old the artefacts were.

(iii) An Englishman gave Cunningham a Harappan seal. He noticed the seal but tried unsuccessfully to date it to a period with which he was familiar.

(iv) He believed that Indian history began with the first cities that grew up in the Ganges valley. All these reasons made Cunningham fail to understand the importance of Harappa.

This Chapter in Hindi Medium

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top