
!['A cubical die with 1 to 6 dots was found in rubble during excavations at Harappa. Many such dice were also found at Mohenjo-daro. John Marshall writes: "That dicing was a common game at Mohenjo-daro is proved by the number of pieces that have been found. In all cases they are made of pottery and are usually cubical, ranging in size from 1.2 by 1.2 by 1.2 inches to 1.5 by 1.5 by 15 inches. . .. The dice of Mohenjo-daro are not marked in the same way as to-day, i.e. so that the sum of the points on any two opposite sides amounts to seven. Instead of that, 1 is opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and 5 opposite 6. All the examples found are exceedingly well made with well-defined edges; the points are shallow holes averaging 0.1 inch in diameter. The clay of which they are made is light red in color, well baked, and sometimes coated with a red wash. These dice must have been thrown on a soft surface, such as a piece of cloth, or on dusty ground, for their edges show little sign of wear. It is not yet known whether these objects were used in pairs, but two specimens found in the Dk Area [of Mohenjo-daro], not far from each other, are exactly the same size." (Marshall, Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization, pp. 551-2)'](https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/s480x480/10801936_10153071135964846_8185171926848770652_n.jpg?oh=32480cd0ca59c4abd38b8a33305d93e6&oe=55AADF6F)
More on the neglect of Mohejo-daro,now in Pakistan could be destroyed by neglecyt with an illustrated essay just appeared on the BBC website http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31984489


http://a.harappa.com/content/finds-chanhu-daro



The splash of the new: pictures of mysterious seals from Harappa had appeared in specialized journals, but no fuller picture of multiple seals had been offered to the public until September 24, 1924 with this set of seals from the Illustrated London News. From the very beginning, the face of the unicorn was the face of the Indus civilization, and that is probably how its rulers had intended it to be.
!['The splash of the new: pictures of mysterious seals from Harappa had appeared in specialized journals, but no fuller picture of multiple seals had been offered to the public until September 24, 1924 with this set of seals from the Illustrated London News. From the very beginning, the face of the unicorn was the face of the Indus civilization, and that is probably how its rulers had intended it to be.
Sir John Marshall, who published the findings wrote "The animal most often represented on the seals is the apparently single-horned beast . . .. There is a possibility, I think, that the artist intended to represent one horn behind the other. In other animals, however, the two horns are shown quite distinctly. In some respects the body of this beast, which is always a male, resembles that of an antelope of heavy build, such as the eland or oryx, and in others that of an ox. The long tuffed tail may belong to either class. The horn is sometimes smooth . . . sometimes it has transverse ridges. In the latter case, the possibility of the creature being an ox is ruled out. The long pointed ears are also characteristic of the antelope. Perhaps we have here a fabulous animal which is a composite of the ox and antelope. And yet to the casual eye there is nothing fantastic about it, as about some of the other animals represented on seals; nor does it in any way resemble the unicorn of heraldry, which is made up of different parts of a number of animals, though it must be noted that the traditional unicorn was supposed to have originated in India" [Mohenjodaro and The Indus Civilization, Vol. II., p. 382].'](https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/s526x395/10422433_10153160951494846_8727371091309808053_n.jpg?oh=bfd82abcb69efa019e1eb4cc58176e74&oe=55778C11)




Video: Masters of the River is a well-made 52 minute program produced for French TV. It includes CGI recreations of Dholavira and its complex water management system http://a.harappa.com/…/indus-valley-civilization-masters-ri…


Material: terra cotta
Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width
Harappa, Lot 4651-01
Harappa Museum, H95-2486
Meadow and Kenoyer 1997
Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width
Harappa, Lot 4651-01
Harappa Museum, H95-2486
Meadow and Kenoyer 1997

Material: terra cotta
Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width
Harappa, Lot 4651-01
Harappa Museum, H95-2486
Meadow and Kenoyer 1997
Dimensions: 3.91 length, 1.5 to 1.62 cm width
Harappa, Lot 4651-01
Harappa Museum, H95-2486
Meadow and Kenoyer 1997





The vessel portrayed on this seal is boldly but roughly cut, apparently with a triangular burin, and is apparently not the work of an experienced seal cutter; hence its interest, because, probably as a consequence of inexperience, the motif is not a stereotypical one. The boat has a sharply upturned prow and stern, a feature which is present in nearly all archaic representations of boats; for example, the same boat appears in early Minoan seals, on the Predynastic pottery of Egypt, and on the cylinder seals of Sumer. In the last mentioned country, this type of boat was used down to Assyrian times. On the ivory knife-handle of Gebel-el-'Arak in the Louvre are depicted ships which bear a very close resemblance to the one on our seal; these and the other scenes on this handle are, indeed, explained by Petrie as not Egyptian, but the product of an Oriental people inspired by Elam and the Tigris region.

It will be noticed that this boat is shown as lashed together at both bow and stern, indicating perhaps that it was made of reeds like the primitive boats of Egypt and the craft that were used in the swamps of southern Babylonia. The hut or shrine in its centre also appears to be made of reeds and fastened at each end of it is a standard bearing an emblem comparable, though not in actual shape, with the ensigns on the Gebel-el-'Ark handle. At one end of the boat on the seal from Mohenjo-daro a steersman whose head is unfortunately missing is seated at a rudder or steering-oar. The seal-cutter here was not at all sure of his figure and placed it well above the seal.
The absence of a mast suggests that this boat was used only for river work, as are some of the wooden boats on the Indus at the present day; though the modern boats have a less acutely upturned prow and stern, they usually have a similar cabin-like erection in the middle, sometimes constructed of wood and sometimes of reeds. The boats of today are chiefly used for fishing and are either rowed or punted against the stream.
This seal is invaluable in indicating a type of vessel that was in use in ancient Sindh. Its owner was perhaps connected with shipping of some kind for in in engraving it most careful attention had been paid to detail. (E.J.H. Mackay, Further Excavations at Mohenjo-daro, 1938, p. 340-1).
Still, why do there seem to be so few depictions of boats in the ancient Indus tradition?

The four corners and steps of the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro. Click to open descriptive slides. More at http://www.mohenjodaro.net/greatbathgranary23.html





8)

Ancient Indus food, drink and cooking vessels would likely not be out of place in South Asia today, so familiar are the designs and materials A copper/bronze plate from Mohenjo-daro, terra cotta cooking pots from Nausharo (2200-2300 BCE), a stone (fuchsite) drinking vessel from Mohenjo-daro, and a copper/bronze cooking pot from Harappa.
!['Ledge shouldered cooking pots with low neck and flaring rim. One vessel has red slip on the neck and rim, while the other is fired grey-black. A small black fired bowl is seen in the foreground. Period III, Harappan, 2300-2200 B. C.
Material: terra cotta.
Dimensions: 20 cm height, 28 cm max dia.
Nausharo [Baluchistan], NS P7E, XVII /99.
Department of Archaeology, Karachi, EBK 5654.'](https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/s235x165/10929142_10153040196534846_8597652450374026777_n.jpg?oh=910250c917977ee905a75314a4a5a9fd&oe=55B982F2&__gda__=1438556935_6877330f3949f824ba397a331059ab7a)


Whether or not the recent new pushing back ancient Chinese civilization thousands of years is true or not http://www.newhistorian.com/chinese-civilisation-older-t…/…/, it is likely that the origins of all ancient civilizations will be pushed back in the years to come. We know very little about possible antecedent cultures, whether in Rakigarhi, Balochistan, southwestern Iran or northern China.

Decorated terra cotta cones are found at both Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, but no one knows what they may have been used for. Some scholars suggest that they were hung on a string as a plumb-bob for use by masons and carpenters. Others feel that they may have been toys or possibly used for writing. No traces of ink have been found on the tips, but many of the tips are worn smooth or chipped. What do you think they may have been used for?

An unicorn seal from the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford found at Harappa. Note the figure carrying something across his shoulders at the top right.
http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/…/sort_…/date/object/20119

!['What was an ancient Indus house like? John Marshall writes of House 8, an "average upper class house" in the HR section of Mohenjo-daro: "To the right of the porter's lodge [5] a short passage led to the central courtyard of the house (18), which was open to the sky and provided light and air to the rooms grouped about it on both the ground and upper floors. And here, let me say parenthetically, that the principle of the open courtyard encompassed by chambers was just as fundamental to house-planning at Mohenjo-daro as it was throughout the rest of the prehistoric and historic Asia, and as it has continued to be in India until the present day. In House VIII the courtyard measures approximately 32 feet square, but the square is not a true one. Like other open courtyards, it was paved with brick and provided with a covered drain. . . . What purpose Room 18a , on the north side of the court, served, is doubtful, but it is not unlikely that it was the kitchen, since there must have been a kitchen on the ground floor, and this is the only room that would have been suitable. The other remaining apartment on the ground floor (No. 17), with a curious passage on two sides, would have made a convenient guest-chamber, since, while it was more or less isolated from the rest of the house, there was ready access to it from the entrance hall. The ceiling of this room, which was unusually low (less than 7 feet above the floor), was carried on rafters of deodar (Cedrus deodara) and dalbergia sissoo, the charred ends of whcih were still found embedeed in the walls." (John Marshall, Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization, pp. 18-19).'](https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/l/t1.0-9/s526x395/10406700_10152947608429846_406066292829193461_n.jpg?oh=b6891e51449b85e386b46225f0cbe2f8&oe=55A61001)


to hold the pointed bases of large jars. In a corner of the room is a well, and nearby is the usual brick staircase. The premises may have been a public restaurant, but it is alternatively possible that the implied jars were, rather, dyeing vats." (The Indus Civilization, p. 51)


Image: Brick buildings in the HR area in Mohenjo-daro showing numerous building levels.


Ancient Pots. 1. A hand-built pot from about 3100 BCE, during the pre-Indus Ravi phase, is one of the earliest examples of the intersecting circle motif in the Indus region. 2. The second pot, found next to the first one, has a net and bird motif that did not continue into later main Indus phases. 3. A Ravi Phase cooking pot. 4. Ledge shouldered cooking pots with low neck and flaring rim from Nausharo in Balochistan

!['Ledge shouldered cooking pots with low neck and flaring rim. One vessel has red slip on the neck and rim, while the other is fired grey-black. A small black fired bowl is seen in the foreground. Period III, Harappan, 2300-2200 B. C.
Material: terra cotta.
Dimensions: 20 cm height, 28 cm max dia.
Nausharo [Baluchistan], NS P7E, XVII /99.
Department of Archaeology, Karachi, EBK 5654.'](https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/s235x165/10475319_10152823215529846_1200442391850837703_n.jpg?oh=8b080dc5164bebe4ff51c9fb92deba47&oe=55B3BE09&__gda__=1438311199_2fa6dd62443dbe58937655771e423c04)


New from Dholavira: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/…/articlesh…/44638220.cms
Located in the eastern reservoir of Dholavira by experts from the Archaeological Survey of India working with IIT-Gandhinagar, the site represents the largest, grandest, and the best furnished ancient reservoir discovered so far in the country.
It's rectangular and 73.4m long, 29.3m wide, and 10m deep. Another site, the ornate Rani ki Vav in Patan, called the queen of stepwells, is already on Unesco list.


Ancient Harappa as it may have appeared in late Period 3B/early Period 3C, around 2200 BCE, based on the archaeological evidence. The granary and working platforms of Mound F are in the northwestern corner of the city (upper left). Drawing by Mark Kenoyer, 2001.

The earliest known Indus writing finds from excavations at Harappa. The first inscription, dating to around 3300 BCE or the Ravi phase, is contemporaneous with early writing in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. These early signs show great similarity with later signs on Indus seals, suggesting a continuous development of the script. Besides the 5 images here, more also at http://www.harappa.com/indus2/124.html




Mohenjo-daro, the "city of wells." Mark Kenoyer writes: "On the basis of the number of wells found in the excavated areas, Michael Jansen has calculated that the city may have had over 700 wells. In contrast Harappa may have had as few as 30, since only 8 wells have been discovered in the areas excavated so far. The difference between these two cities may be that Mohenjo-daro had less winter rain and may have been situated far away from the Indus river. At Harappa a large dep...ression in the center of the city may represent a large tank or reservoir accessible to the inhabitants from all the different neighborhoods. The site of Dholavira has only a few wells, but most water for the city was collected during the rainy season in large stone cisterns. The drains for collecting rain water were built separately from drains used to take away dirty sewage water." (Kenoyer, Ancient Cities, p. 59)
Burials at Harappa. The body may have been wrapped in a shroud, and was then placed inside a wooden coffin, which was entombed in a rectangular pit surrounded with burial offerings in pottery vessels. The man was buried wearing a long necklace of 340 graduated steatite beads and three separate pendant beads made of natural stone and three gold beads. A single copper bead was also found at his waist.

Women of Harappa B: At the peak of the Indus Civilization (Period 3, 2600-1900 BCE), the most common dress for female figurines was the belt and/or short skirt usually situated at the same point on the hips as the figurine’s hands, shown in these two terra cotta figurines found at Harappa





Today an unusual and spectacular exhibition opens at the National Museum of Oriental Art (MNAO) 'Giuseppe Tucci' in Rome, Italy. Living Symbols presents a group of painted protohistoric objects from the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, illegally excavated in Balochistan and seized in 2005 by the Italian police. Although much about their provenance is lost, they are apparently from the little know Nal Buthi and Kulli cultures that preceded (Nal) and accompanied (Kulli) the height ...of Indus culture. They use of the zebu bull, pipal tree, tiger and other major motifs familiar to us from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.
These are among the most splendid objects ever found from the area, and show how vibrant the use of color was. They convey the sophistication of symbolism and art in the 4th and 3rd millenniums (4000-2000 BCE). The exhibition, organized by MNAO in collaboration with the Pakistan Embassy and with the support of Eural Gnutti s.p.a., represents a precious opportunity for a first encounter with the cultures that succeeded in Pakistan. Curated by Giovanni Lombardo (MNAO) and Harappa.com contributor Massimo Vidale (University of Padua, Italy). More at http://www.simbolivivi.beniculturali.it/english.html, and more about the cultures referenced at http://www.harappa.com/baluch/index.html



Mahadevan continues to work on the Indus script, and we plan to highlight more of his work in the coming months, including a radical interpretation of the function about the Great Bath (June). More on Mahadevan's views at http://www.harappa.com/script/maha0.html. A complete interview at his Chennai residence is at http://www.harappa.com/script/mahadevantext.html
An exceptional and controversial recent find in a private collection is analyzed by a leading Italian archaeologist in a fully illustrated complete online volume with possible implications for understanding ancient Indus culture. Massimo Vidale writes: "In Autumn 2009, I was invited by a private collector to see an artefact that was mentioned as unique and very complex, and reportedly belonged to the cultural sphere of the Indus civilization. I do not have professional links with the antique market and the world of private collectors, but the descriptions I had of the find were so puzzling that for once I accepted the invitation to examine the new find." More at: http://a.harappa.com/content/lady-spiked-throne




Scanning electron microscope photograph of jute textile feature found on a ceramic at Harappa. Very few fibers remain on artifacts from over 4,000 years ago, and this is the first evidence for jute as early as 2200-1900 BCE at Harappa. By Rita P. Wright, David L. Lentz and Harriet F. Beaulieu, the paper discusses how this evidence was extracted and its implications: http://a.harappa.com/…/new-evidence-jute-corchorus-capsular…

'"Pendant or medallion [from Mohenjo-daro] pictures the unicorn combined with many sacred symbols of the Indus religion. The body of the figure has a womb-shaped symbol in its belly, the same motif is elaborated to form the frame for the pendant, which is also a common design for shell inlay. Two leaf shapes of the sacred pipal tree are depicted at the animals shoulders and rump. A ritual offering stand is placed in front of the image. The deeply incised frame and the symbols on the unicorn would have been set with inlay." (J.M. Kenoyer, Indus Civilization, p. 188)
![''"Pendant or medallion [from Mohenjo-daro] pictures the unicorn combined with many sacred symbols of the Indus religion. The body of the figure has a womb-shaped symbol in its belly, the same motif is elaborated to form the frame for the pendant, which is also a common design for shell inlay. Two leaf shapes of the sacred pipal tree are depicted at the animals shoulders and rump. A ritual offering stand is placed in front of the image. The deeply incised frame and the symbols on the unicorn would have been set with inlay." (J.M. Kenoyer, Indus Civilization, p. 188)'](https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/q83/s480x480/10270745_10152389674814846_1910795793332098135_n.jpg?oh=74a07dd710dd8ef0e7f30daca435a032&oe=55B73C27&__gda__=1438005028_35715af5c3542da1621f4e1944d4c0c8)
The site belongs to the mature Harappan phase from 2600 BCE to 2000 BCE

Two gold beads originally part of the same ornament found in Harappa in 2000. Thin gold foil was placed over the outside of a sandy core around a copper tube.

Among the dangerous wild animals represented in the ancient Indus figurine corpus found at Harappa are large wild felines. One feline figurine with punctuate designs on the face (possibly representing spots) and an open mouth showing teeth is a relatively naturalistic representation of a large wild cat, possibly representing a leopard or a cheetah.

One of the mysterious "workingmen's platforms" at Harappa. The white is salt seeping up from the ground. No one has yet figured out their use. A possible clue is that bricks on their sides are often used in connection with water in South Asia, yesterday and today.

Cubical weights in graduated sizes. These weights conform to the standard Harappan binary weight system that was used in all of the settlements. The smallest weight in this series is 0.856 grams and the most common weight is approximately 13.7 grams, which is in the 16th ratio. In the large weights, the largest weight is 100 times the weight of the 16th ratio in the binary system. These weights were found at Harappa and may have been used for controlling trade and possibly for collecting taxes.

A rhinoceros seal from Mohenjo-daro.

Square seal with multiple headed animal depicting three important totemic animals: the bull, the unicorn, and the antelope. All three animals are seen individually on other seals along with script, but this seal has no script.

More on the subject of violence in the ancient Indus Valley - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…/130425-indus-civiliza…/