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Bricks, Beads and Bones: The Harappan Civilisation – Class 12 History Chapter 1 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 12HistoryChapter 1NCERT book: Themes in Indian History Part I - History Class 12

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 1 of the NCERT Class 12 History book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Bricks, Beads and Bones: The Harappan Civilisation

Introduction

The Harappan civilisation, also called the Indus Valley Civilisation, is named after Harappa, the first site where it was discovered. The NCERT theme traces it across a long span: an Early Harappan phase (c. 6000–2600 BCE), the Mature Harappan phase (c. 2600–1900 BCE) and a Late Harappan phase (c. 1900–1300 BCE). More than 2,000 sites are known, and about two-thirds of them lie in the Saraswati basin. Five sites are treated as major cities: Rakhigarhi, Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Dholavira and Ganweriwala.

The title tells you how we know about this civilisation. The Harappan script has not been deciphered, so historians reconstruct the past from material remains: bricks (buildings and town planning), beads (crafts and trade) and bones (food, animals and burials). The chapter is therefore as much about how archaeologists think as it is about the Harappans.

Key Themes

1. Subsistence strategies

  • The civilisation grew out of farming communities that go back to about 7000 BCE.
  • Plant remains show wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and sesame; millets are found at sites in Gujarat; rice is relatively rare.
  • Animal bones show cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pig, plus wild species and fish.
  • Terracotta plough models come from sites in Cholistan and from Banawali (Haryana). At Kalibangan (Rajasthan) a ploughed field of the Early Harappan phase was found, with two sets of furrows at right angles, which suggests two crops were grown together.
  • Irrigation evidence includes canals at Shortughai (Afghanistan), reservoirs at Dholavira and wells.
  • Food was processed on saddle querns. Ernest Mackay (1937) noted that some stones were used for grinding cereals and others for spices, which excavators nicknamed "curry stones".

    • 2. Mohenjodaro: a planned urban centre

  • The settlement was divided into a smaller, higher Citadel (to the west) and a larger Lower Town (to the east).
  • Both stood on mud-brick platforms. One estimate says four million person-days of labour were needed for the platform of the Lower Town alone, which points to large-scale mobilisation of labour.
  • Bricks were of a standardised ratio, length : breadth : height = 4 : 2 : 1, at all Harappan settlements.
  • Streets followed a rough grid. Drains seem to have been laid out first and houses built along them. Every house was connected to the street drains.
  • Houses were built around courtyards, had no windows in the walls along the ground level (a concern for privacy), and many had a bathroom and their own well. Mohenjodaro had about 700 wells.
  • On the Citadel stood the warehouse and the Great Bath: a rectangular tank in a courtyard, made watertight with bricks set in gypsum mortar, with steps on the north and south sides. Across a lane was a smaller building with eight bathrooms. Scholars think it was used for a special ritual bath.

    • 3. Tracking social differences

  • Burials: the dead were usually laid in pits. Some graves contain pottery and ornaments, including copper mirrors, but the differences in grave goods are not very large.
  • Luxuries: small objects made of costly, non-local materials or complicated technologies, such as little pots of faience, are found mainly in big cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Everyday objects such as querns and pottery are found everywhere.

    • 4. Crafts and raw materials

  • Chanhudaro, a tiny settlement (less than 7 hectares, compared with about 125 hectares at Mohenjodaro), was almost entirely devoted to crafts: bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making and weight-making.
  • Beads were made of carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite, copper, bronze, gold, shell, faience and terracotta. The red colour of carnelian came from firing the yellowish raw material.
  • Raw materials were procured through settlements near sources: Nageshwar and Balakot (shell), Shortughai (lapis lazuli), Lothal (near carnelian sources in Bharuch, steatite and metal). Expeditions went to the Khetri region of Rajasthan for copper; the local Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture may have been linked to these.
  • Long-distance contacts reached Oman (copper with traces of nickel matches Harappan artefacts), Magan (probably Oman), Dilmun (probably Bahrain) and Meluhha, which Mesopotamian texts describe as a land of seafarers and which may refer to the Harappan region. The "haja-bird", possibly the peacock, is mentioned in these texts.

    • 5. Seals, script and weights

  • Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long-distance communication: a sealed bag's impression conveyed the sender's identity and assured that the goods had not been tampered with.
  • The script had 375 to 400 signs, the longest inscription has about 26 signs, it was written from right to left, and it remains undeciphered. It was not alphabetic.
  • Weights were cubical, usually of chert, and had no markings. The lower denominations were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.) and the higher ones followed the decimal system (160, 200, 320, 640).

    • 6. Ancient authority

  • Uniform bricks, planned cities and standard weights suggest that someone took complex decisions. Some archaeologists think there were no rulers and everyone had equal status; others suggest several rulers (one each at Mohenjodaro, Harappa, etc.); yet others argue for a single state. A large building at Mohenjodaro was labelled a "palace" and a stone statue was called the "priest-king", but these labels are uncertain.

    • 7. The end of the civilisation

  • By c. 1800 BCE most Mature Harappan sites in regions like Cholistan had been abandoned, while population expanded into new settlements in Gujarat, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Distinctive artefacts (weights, seals, special beads) disappeared.
  • Explanations offered include climatic change, deforestation, excessive floods, shifting or drying of rivers and overuse of the landscape. The book notes that these do not explain the collapse of all sites, and that the breakdown of a unifying political structure is also suggested.

    • Timeline

  • c. 7000 BCE: beginnings of agriculture in the region
  • c. 6000–2600 BCE: Early Harappan phase
  • c. 2600–1900 BCE: Mature Harappan phase
  • c. 1900–1300 BCE: Late Harappan phase
  • 1875: Alexander Cunningham, first Director-General of the ASI, reports a Harappan seal
  • 1921: Daya Ram Sahni begins excavations at Harappa
  • 1922: excavations begin at Mohenjodaro (R.D. Banerji had found similar seals there)
  • 1924: John Marshall announces the discovery of a new civilisation
  • 1944: R.E.M. Wheeler becomes Director-General of the ASI; 1946: he excavates at Harappa
  • 1955: S.R. Rao begins excavations at Lothal
  • 1960: B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar begin excavations at Kalibangan
  • 1974: M.R. Mughal begins explorations in Bahawalpur (Cholistan)
  • 1980: a team of German and Italian archaeologists begins surface explorations at Mohenjodaro
  • 1986: American team begins excavations at Harappa
  • 1990: R.S. Bisht begins excavations at Dholavira
  • 1997: Amrendra Nath starts excavations at Rakhigarhi
  • 2013: Vasant Shinde begins archaeogenetic research at Rakhigarhi

    • Sources and Historians' Debates

  • Discovery: Cunningham, interested in early historic cities, did not realise how old the Harappan seal was. Marshall's announcement in 1924 was later described as leaving India "three thousand years older" than before. Marshall, however, dug along regular horizontal units, ignoring stratigraphy, so finds from different layers were mixed. Wheeler later insisted on following the stratigraphy of the mound.
  • Interpreting religion: female terracotta figurines were read as a mother goddess; some seals show a figure seated cross-legged in a "yogic" posture, surrounded by animals, which was read as a "proto-Shiva". Scholars point out that in the Rigveda (c. 1500–1000 BCE) Shiva is known as Rudra, not associated with these features, and some suggest the figure may be a shaman.
  • The end of Mohenjodaro: the book discusses skeletons found in the "Deadman Lane" (Marshall, 1931), Wheeler's reading in 1947 ("Indra stands accused") and George Dales's rebuttal (1964), who argued that the bones were not from the same period and there was no evidence of a massacre. It also mentions recent archaeogenetic research at Rakhigarhi (Shinde et al., 2019). Study these as examples of how interpretations are tested and revised.

    • Board Exam Focus

  • Frequent questions: food items and how they were obtained; town planning and drainage of Mohenjodaro; strategies for procuring raw materials; functions of rulers; evidence of social difference; problems in interpreting archaeological data.
  • Source-based questions often use Mackay's note on querns, Marshall's discovery account or the Deadman Lane debate.

    • Answer outline 1 – Drainage system (Q: "The drainage system indicates town planning." Comment.)

  • Streets laid out in a grid; drains built first, houses along them.
  • Every house connected to street drains; main channels of brick in mortar, covered with removable loose bricks.
  • House drains emptied into sumps (solids settled); long channels had sumps at intervals for cleaning.
  • Conclusion: implies planning and an authority to maintain civic works.

    • Answer outline 2 – Raw materials

  • Settlements near sources (Nageshwar, Balakot, Shortughai, Lothal).
  • Expeditions to Khetri (copper) and South India (gold).
  • Contacts with Oman, Dilmun, Meluhha; seals and weights regulated exchange.

    • Key Terms

  • Citadel – raised western part of a city (दुर्ग)
  • Lower Town – larger residential area (निचला शहर)
  • Faience – artificial glazed material (फ़ायंस)
  • Saddle quern – grinding stone (सिल-बट्टा जैसी चक्की)
  • Stratigraphy – study of layers of a site (स्तर-विन्यास)
  • Seal / sealing – stamp and its impression (मुहर / मुद्रांकन)
  • Chert – hard stone used for weights (चर्ट पत्थर)
  • Carnelian – red semi-precious stone (इंद्रगोप / कार्नेलियन)
  • Great Bath – ritual tank at Mohenjodaro (विशाल स्नानागार)
  • Meluhha – Mesopotamian name probably for Harappan region (मेलुहा)
  • Mature Harappan – c. 2600–1900 BCE (विकसित हड़प्पा)
  • Artefact – object made by humans (पुरावस्तु)
  • Archaeogenetics – study of ancient DNA (पुरा-आनुवंशिकी)

    • Common Mistakes

  • Saying the Harappan script has been read – it is undeciphered.
  • Writing the brick ratio as 1:2:4 without labels; the book gives length:breadth:height = 4:2:1.
  • Placing the Great Bath in the Lower Town – it is on the Citadel.
  • Confusing Cunningham (first DG of ASI) with Marshall (announced the discovery in 1924).
  • Treating "priest-king" and "palace" as proven facts – they are labels given by archaeologists.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Harappan chronology: Early (c. 6000–2600 BCE), Mature (c. 2600–1900 BCE), Late (c. 1900–1300 BCE); over 2,000 sites, about two-thirds in the Saraswati basin.
    • ✓Subsistence: wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame; millets in Gujarat; plough models and the Kalibangan ploughed field; canals at Shortughai and reservoirs at Dholavira.
    • ✓Mohenjodaro was planned: Citadel and Lower Town on platforms, 4:2:1 bricks, grid streets, drains laid first, about 700 wells, the Great Bath.
    • ✓Social difference is traced through burials and the distribution of luxury items such as faience vessels.
    • ✓Craft production at Chanhudaro; raw materials from Nageshwar, Balakot, Shortughai, Lothal, Khetri and contacts with Oman, Dilmun and Meluhha.
    • ✓Seals, an undeciphered right-to-left script of 375–400 signs, and standard chert weights (binary then decimal) regulated exchange.
    • ✓Authority, religion and the end of the civilisation are debated; archaeological interpretation is always provisional.

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Begin with the title: ask students what bricks, beads and bones can each tell a historian.
    • →Draw the Mohenjodaro layout (Citadel west, Lower Town east) and let students place the Great Bath, warehouse and drains.
    • →Use a map exercise for raw material sources and trade contacts; link each site to the material it supplied.
    • →Stage a mini-debate on 'Did the Harappans have rulers?' using the three views in the book.
    • →Discuss the Deadman Lane controversy to teach how historians test and revise interpretations.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. List the food items of the Harappans and explain how archaeologists identify them.
    2. Describe the features of the drainage system and town planning of Mohenjodaro.
    3. Explain the strategies for procuring raw materials for craft production.
    4. Discuss the evidence for social differences in Harappan society.
    5. Evaluate problems archaeologists face in interpreting Harappan religion and authority.

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    All chapters in Themes in Indian History Part I - History Class 12

    1. 1. Bricks, Beads and Bones: The Harappan Civilisation
    2. 2. Kings, Farmers and Towns: Early States and Economies
    3. 3. Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies
    4. 4. Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings: Cultural Developments