History

Bricks, Beads and Bones

Question:

Describe some ofthe distinctive features of Mohenjodaro. [Delhi 2013]

Answer:

Planned City: Harappa as a planned urban centre. It had two parts. One part of the city was small. It was built on a higher place.
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The second part was comparatively large. It was built on a lower place. The first part was designed as citadel and the second part was as lower town. The citadel owed its height to the fact that it was built on mud brick platforms.It had walls on all sides and these walls were separated from the lower town.The Lower Town: It was also a walled town.Most of the buildings were built on platforms.
In fact, these platforms were considered as foundation stones. It required huge quantity of labour force to build these platforms. It is obvious that settlement was first planned and then implemented as per the building plan.Quality of sun-dried bricks or baked bricks also prove the concept of planning.
All the bricks were of standard ratio. The length and width was four times and twice the height of the bricks respectively. These bricks were used in the settlements of the Harappan Civilisation.
Drainage System: The drainage system was well planned. All the roads and streets were laid out on a grid pattern. They intersected one another at the right angles. It seems that streets featuring drains were laid out first and houses were built thereafter along with them. To make the flow of domestic water, every house had at least one wall along the street.
The Citadel: There were many buildings in the citadel. These buildings were used for many special public purposes. The Warehouse and the Great Bath were the two most important constructions.
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Bricks, Beads and Bones

Q 1.

List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.

Q 2.

Discuss the functions that may have been performed by rulers in Harappan society.

Q 3.

Discuss, how archaeologists reconstruct the past.

Q 4.

Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.

Q 5.

List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan Civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.

Q 6.

List the raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan Civilisation and discuss how these might have been obtained.

Q 7.

Look at figure 1.30 (See NCERT page-26) and describe what you see. How is the body placed? What are the objects placed near it? Are there any artefacts on the body? Do these indicate the sex of the skeleton?

Q 8.

Describe some ofthe distinctive features of Mohenjodaro. [Delhi 2013]

Q 9.

List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.

Q 10.

On the given map, use a pencil to circle the sites where evidence of agriculture has been recovered. Mark an X against sites where there is evidence of craft production and R against sites where raw materials were found.

Q 11.

How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the differences that they notice? [Delhi, All India 2009, 2011]