The Indus Civilization

by Gregory L. Possehl

  VS Area, Block 4, Lane 5 2 postcremation urns. Marshall 1931f: 87; Sahni 1931b: 227

  VS Area, Block 4, Building XXI, Chamber 3 Collection of charred human bones. Marshall 1931f: 87; Sahni 1931b: 224

  SD Area, Great Bath 2 postcremation urns. Marshall 1931f: 86, 137 n. 5, pl. XXVa

  DK-G Area, Block 10A 9 skeletons in the Long Lane Group. Mackay 1937—38: 116—18, 648, pls. XXXIIa and b, pl. CX, no. 43, pl. C, no. 15, pl. CXI, 11, 72, pl. CXXXIX, nos. 25, 45, 69, pl. CXLII, no. 14; Guha and Basu 1938: 613—23, fig. 1

  DK-G Area, Block 8A, Well Room 42 2 skeletons lying on a stairway; the Well Room Tragedy. Mackay 1937—38: 94; 648, pls. XX and XLIIIa, b, and c; Guha and Basu 1938: 624

  DK-G Area, Low Lane, opposite Block 8, Well Room 42 1 cranium lying in Low Lane. Mackay 1937—38: 95; 648, pls. XX and XLIIIa; Guha and Basu 1938: 624

  DK-G Area, Block 8A, Low Lane 1 cranium in a cesspit on Low Lane. Mackay 1937—38: 95; 648, pls. XX and XLIIIa; Guha and Basu 1938: 624

  DK-G Area, Block 7, House I, Room 19 1 skeleton. Guha and Basu 1938: 623

  DKG Area, Western Court of Block 1 1 skeleton. Mackay 1937—38: 49; Guha and Basu 1938: 623

  GFD Area 5 skeletons. Dales 1968b: 61

  Figure 9.1 Plan of Mohenjo-daro with the locations of human remains

  Human Remains in HR Area

  HR-B Area, Block 2, House V, Room 74; the “HR Area Tragedy” Perhaps the most prominent of the “massacre” scenes at Mohenjo-daro was found in HR Area (figure 9.2). It consists of 14 skeletons: 13 adult males and females and 1 child.10 Many have thought this group of skeletons were the victims of the invading Aryans in their conquest of the Harappan empire. Wheeler’s thoughts on this scene are as follows:

  Figure 9.2 The “HR Area Tragedy”

  Figure 9.3 Unicorn seal found with one of the victims of the “HR Area Tragedy” (after Marshall 1931i)

  That final blow has often enough been described. It is represented by groups of skeletons—men, women and children, some bearing axes or sword-cuts-which have been found lying on the topmost level in the sprawled or contorted positions in which they fell. They had been left there by raiders who had no further use for the city which they had stormed. In that moment Mohenjo-daro was dead.11

  The HR Area tragedy was found very close to the surface, with the first sign of a skeleton being only 30 centimeters below ground level. These skeletons are sometimes thought to be in room 74 of House V; however, they were found above the wall levels of this room as with skeleton number 2.12 All of the skeletons were on approximately the same level, but skeleton number 2 was 15 centimeters higher than the legs of skeleton number 8. Variation of this kind can be an indication that we are not dealing with a single event here. There were no signs of actual graves.

  Hargreaves believes that these people were dispatched on the spot:

  The remains of the fourteen bodies found in Room 74 appear to indicate some tragedy, for the manner in which the skeletons are intermingled points rather to simultaneous death than synchronous burial, for the positions of the individual bodies are rather those likely to be assumed in the agony of death than those of a number of corpses thrown into a room.13

  Marshall has a slightly different view:

  In regard to Group A, though prolonged denudation had obliterated the surface remains, there can be little or no doubt that later structures once rose above the ruins of House V in which this group occurs, and presumably it was beneath a room or court of one of these vanished structures that a pit was dug and the bodies thrown into it, or it may be that the living were put to death in it; for it is possible, though I do not think likely, that these groups of skeletons represent sacrifices to the dead.14

  A general sense of the chronology for this scene comes from the stratigraphic position, high in the deposits, and the artifacts associated with them. These included a variety of personal ornaments, some of which still encircled the bones and a unicorn seal (figure 9.3).

  One of the individuals was found with 75 faience beads, which seem to have been part of a girdle, two copper rings, and two copper beads along with a fragment of another copper ornament—all artifacts of the Indus Civilization .15

  Sewell and Guha note what they believe to be traumatic injuries to some of the individuals in the HR Area tragedy.16 Kennedy, who had an opportunity to examine these same materials firsthand, believes that Sewell and Guha have overstated the case. Kennedy agrees that there are signs of trauma on skeleton 10; however, “the ‘cut’ is not fresh and its margins are characterized by considerable bone resorption.”17 His assessment of this wound is that it may have contributed to the death of this individual, but the degree of resorption indicates that it was received thirty to seventy days prior to death. Kennedy also noted an old, healed lesion on skeleton 1: ”However, it is likely to be a skeleton of more recent date than others in the series and its relevance to the massacre is nil.“18 This is a subject in which I believe we should respect Kennedy’s more recent professional assessment.

  We, therefore, have skeletons without mortal wounds found in a context in which they all may not be associated or even in the same “room.” We lack definitive evidence for the context of this macabre scene, and it could have taken place any time after the abandonment of House V at the close of the Intermediate I period. In the end, no one knows how or why these people died, but the disposition of the bodies suggests a very hasty interment.

  HR-A Area, Deadman Lane The report on the skeleton (s) in Deadman Lane is very short:

  At the point where the lane turns westward, part of a skull and the bones of the thorax and upper arm of an adult were discovered, all in friable condition, at a depth of 4 ft. 2 in. The body lay on its back diagonally across the lane. Fifteen inches to the west were fragments of a tiny skull. It is to these remains that the lane owes its name.19

  The skeleton was found rather deep, at 1.25 meters, and Marshall makes the following point about the date of this find: “Deadman’s Lane, where one of the skeletons lay, was completely built over in the Late Period, and it was apparently during that period (either Late I or Late II) that the body was interred there under the floor of the then existing houses.”20

  This case seems to document intraurban burials at Mohenjo-daro in the early part of the Late Period. It has not been demonstrated conclusively, however, that this took place in a lane, since the architectural context for the early Late Period in this part of the site has not yet been established.

  Human Remains in VS Area

  VS Area, Lane 4, between Houses XVIII and XXXIII; the “VS Area Tragedy” This tragedy consists of six skeletons, including one, possibly two, children.21 It is another of the massacre scenes, and the positions of the remains are quite graphic (figure 9.4).22 Four of the bodies lay on their backs, two of them facing one another. But the other two (numbers 23 and 20) were found lying face down, seemingly preserved where they fell at death. Number 20 fell fully stretched, legs slightly bent, with arms thrown forward and bent at the elbows. No artifacts were found on or near the skeletons, and they had been covered with loose earth, free of bricks. A shell ball and some inlay were discovered in the vicinity, but they might not be associated with the skeletons; and the same is true of the reported faunal remains. Marshall says that they must have been buried during the Late I or Late II Period, but that there is no certainty that the area was a street at the time.23

  These corpses, and the others at Mohenjo-daro, must have been covered soon after death, or animals and the elements would have led to the dispersal of the body parts. This “burial” could have been done as an act of respect by relatives or friends, or simply to control the stench and pests of putrefaction. These skeletons are unremarkable, except for number 23, which was an individual who was slightly over 1.8 meters—rather tall for the Indus population.

  Human Remains in DK Area

  DK-G Area, Block 10A; the “Long Lane Group” The Long Lane Group is the third of the so-called massacre scenes. It consi
sts of nine skeletons.24 They were found, along with two complete elephant tusks, in DK-G, Block 10A, associated with Long Lane (figure 9.5). The presence of an Indus-style comb and beads of faience associates this group with the living city of Mohenjo-daro, and Mackay’s suggestion of a Late Period date, possibly Late IA, is reasonable.

  The contorted disposition of the skeletons suggests violence; but the elephant tusks and the other artifacts seem to preclude theft as the motive in these deaths. Mackay prefers to blame raiders for this act, an hypothesis that is examined in the summary. Some sign of violence is present here since one of the skulls has evidence of a severe wound:

  This is the single case where trauma is evident and in all probability was the cause of immediate death. The large depressed area extending from the left frontal-parietal region to the left mastoid process is of a completely different form from a fracture formed by erosional processes.25

  DK-G Area, Block 8A, Well Room 42; the “Well Room Tragedy” This is the fourth and final of the massacre scenes at Mohenjo-daro. The deaths seem to have taken place during the last occupation of Mohenjo-daro, in a well room close to the intersection of Central and First Streets (figure 9.6). The skeletons of two people were found on the stairs leading down to the well. They seem to lay where they died in an unsuccessful attempt to claw their way out of the well room up to Low Lane. “Of one of them, the badly crushed cranium lay on the partly missing top step facing north, the pelvis was on the step below and the vertebrae in position between the two. The left leg which had been flexed and drawn up rested on the same step as the pelvis, and the right leg was still extended.”26 The second skeleton was so badly preserved that the position of the body could not be determined, but it appears that he or she fell over backward just prior to death. There is no mention of any artifacts associated with either of these individuals, the better preserved of which was thought to be a male by Guha and Basu.27

  DK-G Area, Low Lane, Opposite Block 8, Well Room 42 We know little of this find of a skull. Mackay says: “The remains of a . . . skull lay in the lane . . . but no trace was to be seen of the other bones of the body.”28 No artifacts are mentioned, and this seems to simply be the find of a stray skull in a Late Period lane. However, there is a small sediment pit on Low Lane close to this skull and just to the north of the entrance to the well room containing the two skeletons just mentioned. A lone cranium was found in this brick structure: It “must have been thrown or fallen in when the pit was still in use, for it rested on the floor.”29 One might well believe that this represents a grave insult against the deceased, throwing his or her decapitated head into a cesspit!

  Figure 9.4 Sketch of the “VS Area Tragedy”

  Of course, there are many scenarios that could explain how this cranium got to where it was found. But the lane just off the intersection of Central and First Streets seems to have been a dangerous place during the last days of Mohenjo-daro, perhaps frequented by people with murder on their minds who had little or no regard for their victims.

  General Observations on the Mohenjo-daro Funerary Record

  The lone skeleton on Deadman’s Lane in HR-A Area is the only place where there may have been something like a thoughtful burial at Mohenjo-daro. The context for this find is not conclusive, however. The significance and sometimes the date of the remaining material are quite ambiguous for the most part.

  The Four Tragedies The four tragedies and the Long Lane Group are all associated with the upper levels of the site and can be dated to the Late Period, possibly even Late I, as in the Well Room Tragedy. Some experts on ancient Indian history have faith in the proposition that these deaths were cause by invading Aryans.30 There are, however, many problems with this theory, not the least of which is chronological: While there may have been speakers of one or more Indo-European languages in the Greater Indus region earlier, there is a gap of centuries between the abandonment of Mohenjo-daro at about 1900 B.C. and the documentation found in the Rgveda, which probably dates to circa 1000 B.C. Also note that the Rgveda is not a text documenting the invasion and conquest of the Subcontinent, but speaks of the feuding among the Aryans as well as with the indigenous peoples. Sindh is a peripheral area in the Vedic literature: The center of this world was the Punjab. It is therefore noteworthy that there is no evidence for a massacre at Harappa or any of the other Indus settlements in the geographical area described most prominently in the Vedas.31

  Figure 9.5 Sketch of the “Long Lane Group” (after Mackay 1937—38)

  If not Aryans, then who might have been responsible for these four tragedies? Mackay thinks that the culprits were hill peoples and those of the Indus frontier.32 This is one possibility, but the cause of death of many of these people is not at all apparent. If violence was involved, we can imagine that as the civic order of Mohenjo-daro failed, the place would have become an increasingly unpleasant environment, perhaps eventually becoming a huge slum. The law-abiding citizenry would have largely (wholly) departed to be replaced by those not having much respect for the property and lives of others. Thus, the victims we see in these tragedies, if they did indeed die violent deaths, may have been victims of decaying city life, not invading Aryans.

  Figure 9.6 Sketch of the “Well Room Tragedy”

  Fractional Burials at Mohenjo-daro There are only two reasonable occurrences of fractional burials at Mohenjo-daro: a “basket of human bone” from House XXVII in VS Area, and the cranium from House III in HR-A Area. The rest have to be considered doubtful because of the absence of human remains associated with the artifacts inside urns and the like.

  Cremation at Mohenjo-daro The evidence for cremation at Mohenjo-daro requires some comment. There are only two instances, both in VS Area, where reasonable evidence for this practice may be present (Block 4, corridor in House XXVI and Block 4, Building XXI, Chamber 3; see table 9.2). Mackay believes that cremation was the predominant method of disposing of the dead at Mohenjo-daro and, by implication, the other settlements of the Indus Civilization. This is supported by the lack of burial and other forms of interment. He proposes that someone or some group hastily cremated these people to comply with one of the norms of Harappan society, and then just covered over the partially (very partially) burned remains.

  Table 9.3 Human skeletal remains from Lothal

  Lothal

  Lothal is the southeastern most Sindhi Harappan site. It is located near the head of the Gulf of Cambay in the delta of the Sabarmati River. A small cemetery was located within the bounds of the site.33 Kennedy examined the Lothal skeletal series, and we have the benefit of his observations.34

  Table 9.3 was prepared from material given in the reports on the Lothal cemetery. In addition to these interments, two other “stray” skeletons were found in the cemetery area.35

  The Joint Burials at Lothal

  The occurrence of three joint burials at Lothal brought some attention to this cemetery. In addition, Rao notes: “In grave 13, bones of another individual besides skeleton no. 16 were found.”36 This would be a fourth possible double inhumation. Two bodies in one grave brings the ancient Indian custom of sati to mind. This is the practice associated with some Hindu communities in the past in which a wife joins her late husband on his funeral pyre. The case is weak at Lothal since we are dealing with burial, not cremation, and some of the Lothal double interments are of the same sex. Sankalia raises a host of objections to this proposition as well.37

  K. A. R. Kennedy’s Observations on Phenotypic Diversity at Lothal

  Kennedy examined the entire Lothal skeletal collection and makes the following observations:38

  There is a high degree of phenotypic heterogeneity in the skeletal biology of the Lothal population when it is compared with the mortuary series from Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

  The ancient people of Lothal are similar enough in phenotypic pattern to their contemporaries in the Indus Valley centers as to support a theory that the inhabitants of the settlement were not reproductively isolated from the macro-pop
ulations of the region.

  There is evidence of a biological continuum of ancient and present-day populations in this part of the Subcontinent.

  A number of physical variables present in the Lothal skeletal series suggest that their closest biological affinities are with some of the hunting-gathering communities whose descendants survive as tribal enclaves in modern India.

  A principal components analysis of the Lothal specimens, along with those from 14 other South Asian sites demonstrates the close affinity of this population with that from the hunter-gatherer site of Langhnaj, on the north Gujarat plain to the north of Lothal (Kennedy, Chiment, Disotell, and Meyers 1984: figure 2). This serves to reinforce our notion that there was a regular gene flow between Harappan and hunting-gathering populations in prehistoric Gujarat.39

  The interaction between the Indus Civilization and the aboriginal peoples on its eastern frontiers is an interesting and important topic. Both Langhnaj and Bagor have evidence of trade or exchange between the Indus peoples and hunter-gatherers, who seem to have been important agents for the acquisition of raw materials, especially semiprecious stones.40

  Figure 9.7 Cemeteries at Harappa