NCERT Solutions For Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones

• The Harappans ate varieties of plant and animal products.

• They consumed grains and cereals such as rice, wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame, and millets.

• The Harappans domesticated cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo, and pig for meat and milk.

• They also ate the meat of wild animals (boar, deer, and gharial), and also fish and fowl.

• While grains and pulses were provided by farmers, we do not know whether the Harappans hunted the wild animals themselves or obtained meat from other hunting communities.

• The Harappan burial seems to be one of the best preserved archaeological findings.  
• The body is placed in north-south direction, and its head is tilted towards west.
• Funerary objects (pedastaled vessels, mud jars and pots) have been arranged around the head, suggesting a belief in life after death.
• The body is wearing shell bangles in its left hand; it is a skeleton of a woman.

• Materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation were stones like carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite; metals like copper, bronze and gold; and shell, faience and terracotta (burnt clay).

• There were many techniques for making beads. For example, steatite, a very soft stone, was easily worked. Some beads were moulded out of a paste made with steatite powder.

• This technique permitted making a variety of shapes, unlike the geometrical forms made out of harder stones.

• However, archaeologists are still not able to understand the technique used in the making of the steatite micro bead.

• Yes, the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning. It was carefully planned and constructed.
• Roads and streets were laid out along an approximate “grid” pattern, intersecting at right angles.
• It seems that streets with drains were laid out first and then houses built along them.
• The underground drainage system connected all houses to the street drains which were covered by stone slabs or bricks.

• Archaeologists reconstruct the pasts with material evidence. They study the remains of buildings made of stone and brick, paintings and sculpture.
• They also explore and excavate (dig under the surface of the earth) to find tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments and coins.
• They look for bones — of animals, birds, and fish — to find out what people ate in the past.
• For example, archaeologists have been able to reconstruct dietary practices of the Harappan society from finds of charred grains and seeds.
• Archaeo-botanists are specialists who study ancient plant remains.
• Grains found at Harappan sites include wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and sesame, rice and millets.
• Animal bones found at Harappan sites include those of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pig. Studies done by archaeo-zoologists (or zoo-archaeologists) indicate that these animals were domesticated.

• Raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan civilisation were: bronze, copper, gold, shell, faience, clay, stone, and varieties of wood, and precious stones like lapis lazuli, carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite.
• Harappans procured raw materials for craft production by establishing settlements (such as Nageshwar and Balakot) in areas where shell and blue stone were available.
• They procured lapis lazuli from Shortughai (in Afghanistan), carnelian from Bharuch (in Gujarat), steatite from Rajasthan and Gujarat, and metal from Rajasthan.
• They also sent expeditions to procure copper from the Khetri region of Rajasthan and gold from south India. Harappans also established communication with local communities.
• Recent archaeological evidence reveal that copper was also probably brought from Oman, on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

• Evidence shows that complex decisions were taken and implemented in the Harappan society.
• Similarity and uniformity of Harappan artefacts (pottery, seals, weights and bricks) from Jammu to Gujarat suggest a single centre of power.
• This evidence is further strengthened by the strategically built settlements in specific locations for various reasons.
• Archaeologists argue that building settlements required huge labour for making bricks and for the construction of massive walls and platforms, and the labour could have been obtained only by a single authority or ruler.
• However, archaeological records proving such a centre of power or a group of powerful people is rare. Even a palace-like large building found at Mohenjodaro does not reveal any such single ruler in the Harappan city.
• Archaeologists who discovered a stone statue labelled it as the “priest-king”, this is because they were familiar with Mesopotamian “priest-kings” and have found parallels in the Indus region.
• Harappan ritual practices have not been well understood yet, and it is not clear whether those who performed them also exercised political power.
• Other hypotheses suggest that Harappan society had no rulers, and that everybody enjoyed equal status.
• There are also scholars who argue that there were many rulers ruling Mohenjodaro and Harappan cities separately.

• Settlements in Mohenjodaro were properly planned and implemented.
• They are divided into two sections- the Citadel (smaller but higher mud brick platforms) and the Lower Town (much larger but lower).
• The Citadel buildings were walled and physically separated from the Lower Town.
• The Lower Town was also walled, and several buildings were built on platforms (elevated-foundations).
• Bricks (sun-dried and baked) with a standardised ratio were used in all buildings.
• Once the platforms were ready, all construction activities within the city were restricted to a fixed area on the platforms.
• The Lower Town has a properly planned drainage system; it is one of distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.
• Roads and streets were laid out along an approximate “grid” pattern, intersecting at right angles.
• Many residential buildings in the Lower Town are with bathroom, courtyard (for cooking and weaving, and ventilation) and wells which could be accessed by passers-by from outside through a separate doorway.

Archaeologists study (i) burials and (ii) artefacts to trace socio-economic differences in the Harappan society.

(i) Burials:

• At burials in Harappan sites, the dead were generally laid in pits. Some of such pits have bricks lined in their hollowed-out spaces.  
• Archaeologists wonder if this difference in the pits can shed light on the socio-economic differences.
• Some graves also contain pottery and ornaments, indicating a belief in a life after death.
• Ornaments such as shell rings, jasper beads and other micro-beads have been found in burials of both men and women.
• There are also pits with copper mirrors.
• Thus, the type of materials available in the pits can tell us the economic differences among the Harappans.

(ii) Artefacts:

• Archaeologists also study artefacts to identify social differences. They classify artefacts as utilitarian and luxuries.
• The utilitarian objects were made out of ordinary materials such as stone or clay. These include querns, pottery, needles and flesh-rubbers (body scrubbers). They are usually found distributed throughout settlements.
• Luxuries are rare or made from costly, non-local materials or with complicated technologies (such as little pots of faience). Only wealthy social groups could have used luxuries.