The Indus Civilization

by Gregory L. Possehl

  Human Remains from Harappa

  The largest corpus of data on the funerary customs of the Indus Civilization and the longest skeletal series come from Harappa. This includes remains from the two famous cemeteries, Cemetery H (named for its mound) and Cemetery R-37 (named for its excavation square; see figure 9.7).

  Stray human bones and two clusters of what may be fractional interments have also been found at Harappa. A significant number of postcremation urns have been found in the city. As noted at Mohenjo-daro, these are controversial and must be considered in a critical way.

  The human skeletal series from Harappa is summarized in table 9.4.

  Table 9.4 The human skeletal series from Harappa: Number of individuals represented by skeletal remains

  Human Remains from Cemetery R-37

  The discovery of this cemetery was an accident, and the credit for reporting it goes to K. N. Sastri, who is also the principal source for the first four seasons of excavation there.41 We know from the pottery and other artifacts found in association with the skeletal materials that this cemetery dates to the Mature Harappan.

  The Cemetery and Interments The full extent of Cemetery R-37 is not known; however, the excavations in 1987 and 1988 did help to expand knowledge of the area through the extensive use of small test pits spread over a broad grid. It seems unlikely that the overall cemetery area is larger than 50 by 50 meters.42 The internal chronology of Cemetery R-37 covers the time from Period 3B to early 3C, or from about 2450 B.C. to 2150 B.C.

  The norm for interment in Cemetery R-37 was to place the deceased in a grave pit with a north-south orientation. Some pits were lined with bricks, others contained wooden coffins (figure 9.8). Most burials were extended, the bodies were supine, and some grave offerings, often large numbers of pots, were included. The dead were also interred with some of the ornaments they apparently possessed in life: beads, bangles, copper artifacts, and the like. Only women wore shell bangles in the Cemetery R-37 interments.

  Figure 9.8 Indus coffin burial from Harappa (after Meadow 1991)

  Physical Anthropology at Cemetery R-37 A team of physical anthropologists studied a population of thirty-three well-preserved individuals from the 1987 and 1988 excavations in R-37C as well as thirty-four similar specimens from previous work (R-37A; see tables 9.5 and 9.6).43 The general health and robustness of the population of Harappans identified in Cemetery R-37 was quite good. The following points are made in Dales et al.44 No cases of nutritional inadequacy, such as rickets, scurvy, or anemia, were identified; however, there are three cases of arrested growth lines. There was a low incidence of traumatic injury, chronic infectious disease, and no malignant neoplastic disease. Arthritis mostly associated with the spinal column was the most common health problem. There were several cases of severe arthritis in the neck, including fusion of adjacent elements. This could be associated with unusual stress on the neck vertebrae, such as would result from carrying heavy loads on the head. (This is one of the most common customs in South Asia today, especially among women, and this observation might indicate considerable time depth for this practice.) Examination of the teeth reveals that the incidence of dental caries is high, in 46.3 percent of the individuals.

  Table 9.5 Sex distribution of Cemetery R-37

  Table 9.6 Age distribution of the sample from Cemetery R-37C

  Category Age range Number

  Subadult <16 years 15

  Young adult 17—34 years 35

  Middle-aged adult 35—55 years 27

  Older adult >55 years 13

  Total 90

  Note: After Hemphill, Lukacs, and Kennedy (1991: table 11.2).

  Cluster analysis of cranial data suggests that the R-37C series is most closely related to other individuals interred in this cemetery as well as to those of the two phases of Cemetery H and Timargarha, an Iron Age site in northern Pakistan.45

  Postcremation Urns at Harappa

  The postcremation urns from Harappa are pottery jars of several descriptions, filled with a wide assortment of materials, including smaller pots, seals, chert, terra-cotta toys, animal bones, cereal grains, ash, and charcoal 46 Almost never is any human bone included. At Harappa, where 230 postcremation urns were found by Vats, only one contained human bone.47 There is a remarkable row of fifty-four postcremation urns.48

  Most of the postcremation urns at Harappa come from AB and F Mounds, but that is also where most of the digging took place. These urns are concentrated in the Late and Intermediate Periods, but then very little is yet known of the earlier levels of the city, so this is to be expected.

  Cemetery H

  Cemetery H is located adjacent to R-37 at the foot of the southern end of the AB Mound at Harappa (figure 9.9). The interments in Cemetery H and the remains associated with this type of pottery in the habitation area at Harappa date to Posturban times (c. 1900—1500 B.C.). There are two strata at Cemetery H, each quite different from the other.

  Cemetery H, Stratum II: The Earth Burials As Vats describes them, the burials of Stratum II were different in the Eastern and Western Sections.49 Those to the east were generally complete burials, while those to the west were invariably fractional. Neither area produced evidence of pot burials, but there was ample evidence for grave goods, including artifacts and animal bone; food for the departed. The animal bone included the remains of a goat.

  The complete interments in the Eastern Section are generally supine, although there is some flexing. Most are oriented in an east-west direction, although northeast-southwest is also noted, and one (H698) is west-east. There were two fractional burials and two others that Vats describes as “dismembered burials.”50 The bones of these latter two burials were basically all there, but seem to have been disrupted in a purposeful way.

  No earth burials were found in the Western Section; however, several fractional burials of Stratum II occurred in the Extension of the Western Section. These consist of fragmentary skeletons and Cemetery H—type pottery not clearly associated with grave pits. These are generally fragmentary skeletons, often badly broken, that had been exposed elsewhere. The bones, or most of them, were then gathered and interred in Cemetery H, along with some pottery. Below the interments in the Western Section, the remains of three rooms were found, including a wall 12 meters long.51

  Figure 9.9 Cemetery H pottery (after Vats 1941)

  Cemetery H, Stratum I: The Pot Burials The latest of the prehistoric burials at Harappa belong to Cemetery H, Stratum I. They were found in both the Eastern and Western Sections and consist of a pottery vessel into which human bone had been stuffed. These also contained animal bone, birds, and rodents, being specifically mentioned along with “antler.”52 The remains of more than one individual were sometimes placed in the same pot, and mixing of adult and child remains was common. Some pots, however, contain only the remains of very young children. The burial vessels were sometimes covered with proper lids. No artifacts were found inside the Stratum I pot burials. Vats found twenty-three examples of this type of interment, and Wheeler, another three.53

  The pots in which these remains were placed are relatively small, ranging from 25 to 60 centimeters in height. They are quite different from postcremation urns in that they actually contain human bone! It is also clear that whoever gathered the bones together to deposit them in the pots probably did so from a place rich in human remains, possibly with many individuals all decaying together. They seem to have paid more attention to simply gathering bones than they did to finding precisely those person(s) they came to fetch. It is possible that the rodent bones are from animals who burrowed into the pots after they had been sunk and then died there.

  Summary of Human Remains from Harappa

  The data from Harappa on postcremation urns and fractional interments are not so different from the materials encountered at Mohenjo-daro, and postcremation urns would seem to be another of the shared cultural features of the Mature Harappan, at least within the domain of the cities. However, the uncertainty about
their true function still remains—they might not be postcremation urns at all—and is another of the archaeological problems associated with the Indus Civilization needing additional attention.

  The two cemeteries at Harappa are, of course, not paralleled at Mohenjo-daro; however, R-37 shares many features with the cemetery at Kalibangan, Lothal, and other examples of Mature Harappan burial grounds. The lack of significant differentiation of grave goods and the general excellent health of the population found in Cemetery R-37 are important observations. They suggest that only one segment of the overall Harappan population was interred in this way. Therefore, this form of interment may not reflect a cultural norm for Indus society, but rather that of some segment, possibly small and at the upper end of the socioeconomic hierarchy.

  Evidence for biological continuity as seen from the Harappa skeletal series is interesting and important. Three questions about it are summarized here.54

  What is the biological relationship between the population from cemeteries R-37 and H at Harappa? Hemphill, Lukacs, and Kennedy note that there is a close affinity between the skeletons in Cemetery R-37 and those in the lower interments of Cemetery H; but both of these samples are different from the interments in the upper stratum of Cemetery H. The difference of burial practice between these samples (earth burial versus fractional pot burial) is in agreement with this observation.

  How do the interments from the Harappa cemeteries compare with populations from other sites? There is evidence for some biological differentiation of the Indus population, with a reasonable argument for a northern population centered around Harappa and a southern one centered on Mohenjo-daro. This north-south distinction was also suggested in the style of the stamp seals. The individuals from Mohenjo-daro did not have close biological affinities with any other South Asian group, but the sample is small and the dating of some of the remains is uncertain.

  Cluster analysis and principal components analysis suggest that the individuals from Cemetery R-37 and the lower stratum of Cemetery H have a close biological affinity with the burials from the Early Iron Age (c. 800 B.C.) site of Timarghara in Dir District. This is strong evidence for biological continuity from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age.

  When South Asian samples are compared to samples from outside this region, especially to the west, is there evidence for prolonged continuity within the Subcontinent? There is some evidence suggesting that a biological discontinuity exists in the Indus Age at some point following the transformation of the Indus Civilization but prior to the Iron Age at Sarai Khola (c. 200 B.C.).55

  These general observations and others made by these authors concerning the pattern of biological continuity and discontinuity within the early history of the northwestern regions of the Subcontinent are discussed later.

  Human Remains from Kalibangan

  There is a cemetery at Kalibangan approximately 300 meters west-southwest of the western High Mound. It was found after a rainfall produced an efflorescence of salt in a pattern that suggested there were graves beneath the surface (figure 9.10).56 A. K. Sharma observed that the Kalibangan cemetery is located downwind from the habitation mound and that it is also “situated on the downstream floodplain. Water first passes by the side of the habitation mound and then touches the fringes of the cemetery. The chance that flood waters from the cemetery could ever reach the habitation were thus remote.“57 While Kalibangan has two periods of occupation (Sothi-Siswal and Mature Harappan), all of the interments are of the latter period. The survey and excavation of the cemetery area show that this area contains 102 inhumations, too small to represent the entire population of the site.

  Figure 9.10 Plan of the Kalibangan cemetery (after Sharma 1999)

  Burial Types at Kalibangan

  Sharma notes that there are three types of burials at Kalibangan, only the first of which contains human skeletal remains. 58 This is a typical Harappan extended inhumation in a rectangular or oval pit, generally containing pottery as grave goods. There are eighty-eight type 1 interments reported in the Kalibangan cemetery (figure 9.11).

  The second two types of interment are technically cenotaphs, in that neither of them contains human remains. Sharma’s type 2 consists of pots buried in circular pits; and his type 3 consists of pottery deposits in rectangular or oval pits, much like the extended burials, but without the skeletal remains.

  Burial types 1 and 2 are the most common grave forms. The pot burials in circular pits (type 2) were found in an area to the north, separate from the area with the type 1 and type 3 inhumations. It is further apparent that the type 1 interments were found in groups, suggesting to Sharma family burial areas.

  Possible Social Implications of the Kalibangan Cemetery

  The extended inhumations in rectangular pits are associated with a ritual interment. These seem to cluster spatially in the cemetery, suggesting that there is a sociological unit behind the arrangement; the family is the most obvious unit. The type 2 interments (cenotaphs in pots) are quite different and are spatially separated from the other burials. This suggests a second pattern of burial, possibly associated with another social group, or stratum, within the Indus population at Kalibangan. It is also possible that the Kalibangan type 2 interments represent individuals who died or were lost while away from their homes at Kalibangan and that their relatives chose to remember them in this particular way. There are certainly other possibilities, but the preceding are the most obvious, if not certain. Also, there may be a relationship between the pot burial cenotaphs at Kalibangan and the postcremation urns at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

  If it is assumed that the entire population of Kalibangan lived in the Lower Town, an area of about 8.6 hectares, and that this entire area was generally inhabited, the population of the town would have been between approximately 860 and 1,160 individuals. The chronology for the Mature Harappan at the site indicates that it had a duration of about 600 years, but there is no age profile for those interred in this cemetery. If we estimate that only five individuals died each year, from the thousand or so people living there, that amounts to 2,500 graves over the life of the settlement. There are, however, only eighty-eight interments with skeletons in them—far short of the estimated number. Since the survey and excavation of the Kalibangan cemetery were done in such a thorough and competent way, we can reasonably depend on its findings. Perhaps some graves were missed in the excavation, but even if we double the number of graves found, it still falls far short of the estimated number of deaths. This suggests that the cemetery at Kalibangan may contain only the remains of some small portion of the population for whom burial was seen as the appropriate method of disposal after death. The most obvious of the two major axes for such differentiation are, of course, ethnicity and class, perhaps working together in some complex way.

  Figure 9.11 A brick-lined grave at Kalibangan (after Indian Archaeology A Review 1964—65)

  Pathologies of the Kalibangan Population

  The Kalibangan cemetery has evidence for (1) trepanation of a child, (2) a serious, unhealed axe wound to the knee, (3) the remains of an individual with serious bodily deformation, (4) some differentiation in the grave goods with skeletons, mostly expressed in the amount of pottery included.59

  Summary of the Kalibangan Cemetery

  There is not much anthropometric information on the Kalibangan population. But the available reports suggest evidence of ethnic differentiation based on burial type. While the evidence for cremation is equivocal at Kalibangan, it is not at Tarkhanwala, just downstream on the Sarasvati River.

  Human Remains from Tarkhanwala Dera

  Some 90 kilometers to the west of Kalibangan, but very much on the ancient Sarasvati, is the small site of Tarkhanwala Dera. An exploratory trench was laid at this Early Harappan—Mature Harappan site by A. Ghosh as a part of his exploration of the Sarasvati.60 On the top of an artificial platform he found evidence for at least five cremations that can be associated with the Indus occupation of the site. This is the only unequi
vocal evidence for cremation at an Indus site.

  BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE HARAPPANS

  The study of the skeletal biology of the Indus peoples has produced several important inferences concerning the nature of their society. There is also some information on their predecessors.

  Prior to entertaining this fascinating topic, a word of caution, or perspective, is necessary. When we contrast the human remains of hunter-gatherers with farmers and herders, it appears that food producers tend to be smaller, more gracile people, with fewer, or diminished, differences between males and females. Food producers are not necessarily healthier than hunter-gathers; they do suffer from bad teeth, more sickness, and a higher incidence of broken bones and wounds. Thus, when we notice that the people buried in Mature Harappan graves were healthy, this must be understood not as a contradiction of these conclusions, but true in relative terms.

  Inferences from Observations on Human Teeth

  J. Lukacs, a biological anthropologist specializing in the study of human dentition, focused on the results of his study of ninety-eight specimens from Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.61 He found that four dental diseases occurred with some frequency: an abundance of dental caries and abscesses, tooth loss prior to death, and gum disease. The relative incidence of these dental diseases was consistently higher at Harappa than at Mohenjo-daro, except for antemortem tooth loss, which was equal. He observes that in an overall way, his study of these materials is consistent with what could be expected from an urban, agricultural population, eating soft, starchy foods. The human remains from Mehrgarh were found to have high levels of fluorine, which may have protected them and the Mature Harappans from the worst incidence of these conditions.62