Mature Harappan phase

History glossary

Also called: Urban Harappan phase · Topic: Harappan (Sindhu-Sarasvati) Civilisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Bricks, Beads and Bones"

Meaning

The Mature Harappan phase (also called the Urban Harappan phase) is the middle and most prosperous stage of the Harappan civilisation, c. 2600–1900 BCE. In this period, farming villages grew into planned cities with standard bricks and weights, seals, a script, skilled crafts and long-distance trade.

It matters because this phase is what we usually mean by the "Indus Valley Civilisation". It is the first urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. It also shows that Indian civilisation grew from its own roots. The idea was not copied from outside.

Explanation

Background: how it grew out of earlier villages

  • The Harappan story has three phases:
  • Early Harappan (6000–2600 BCE): farming villages, each region with its own pottery style.
  • Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE): the urban, most prosperous phase.

  • Late Harappan (1900–1300 BCE): decline and a return to village life ("successor cultures").

  • The roots go back to Mehrgarh in Baluchistan.

  • It is the earliest farming village of the subcontinent, c. 7000 BCE [2].
  • People there grew wheat and barley and kept zebu cattle.

  • Copper objects appear there, and by c. 4000 BCE it had become Chalcolithic (using both stone and copper tools). This laid the base for a Bronze Age civilisation.

  • Sites in the Sarasvatī belt, Bhirrana and Kunal, have radiocarbon dates of 7000–5500 BCE for pre-Harappan life. These are among the oldest dates in the sequence.

  • Many Mature Harappan features first appear in the Early phase.
  • Perimeter walls, seals and even the script have earlier forms.
  • These earlier forms include graffiti (scratched marks) on pottery and simple seals found at Harappa, Rehman Dheri and Kunal.
  • Bead-making centres already existed at Harappa, Kunal (Haryana) and Datrana (Gujarat).

The village → city change, c. 2600 BCE

  • Urbanisation (the growth of towns and cities) took firm shape around c. 2600 BCE.
  • NCERT stance: it was a slow change from inside, built on Early Harappan villages. It was not a city model borrowed from elsewhere, such as Mesopotamia.
  • Old crafts carried on and grew bigger. These include pottery, stone beads, shell bangles, terracotta (baked clay) and copper work.

Main features of the Mature phase

  • Planned cities:
  • Many cities had a raised citadel (a walled, higher part of the city) and a larger lower town where most people lived. Mohenjodaro is the best example.
  • Streets ran in a rough grid pattern, and the cities had covered drains.

  • Mohenjodaro has the Great Bath, a large tank probably used for rituals.

  • Standardised bricks: sun-dried or baked bricks kept a fixed size ratio of about 1:2:4 (height : breadth : length) across many sites.

  • Standardised weights: small cubes, usually of chert (a hard stone), with no markings. They were probably used for exchange and trade.
  • Seals and script:
  • Seals were usually made of steatite (a soft stone) and carved with animals and signs.

  • The Harappan script has not been deciphered (read and understood). It was probably written from right to left.

  • Craft specialisation (some people did only one kind of skilled work):

  • Bead-making, shell-working and metal-working were done in special centres.

  • Chanhudaro is known for beads. Nageshwar and Balakot are known for shell objects.

  • Long-distance trade:

  • Harappans got raw materials from far away. For example, lapis lazuli came from Shortughai (Afghanistan) and copper probably from the Khetri area (Rajasthan).
  • Mesopotamian texts mention trade with Dilmun (probably Bahrain), Magan (probably Oman) and Meluhha, which is probably the Harappan region.

Results and end

  • This was the high point of Harappan wealth, planning and trade.
  • After c. 1900 BCE the big cities declined. The Late Harappan phase followed, with smaller rural "successor cultures".

Time, place and evidence

  • Time: c. 2600–1900 BCE. All these dates are approximate and come from radiocarbon dating and changes in pottery.
  • Region: the Indus river system and the Sarasvatī (Ghaggar-Hakra) belt, spreading into Baluchistan, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
  • Key sites:
  • Harappa and Mohenjodaro (cities in present-day Pakistan)
  • Kunal and Bhirrana (Haryana)
  • Rehman Dheri (early seals)
  • Datrana (Gujarat, beads)

  • Chanhudaro (craft centre)

  • Base of the sequence: Mehrgarh, Bolan river valley, Kacchi plain, Baluchistan, near the Bolan Pass [2].

  • It was discovered in 1974 by the French Archaeological Mission led by Jean-François and Catherine Jarrige [2].

  • It was dug in 1974–86 and 1997–2000 [2].

  • How we know:

  • Only through archaeology, because the script is not deciphered. The evidence includes:
    • city plans
    • bricks, weights and seals
    • beads, pottery and burials
    • radiocarbon dates (from sites like Bhirrana and Kunal)
  • Mesopotamian records of trade with Meluhha, Dilmun and Magan.
  • Britannica describes Mehrgarh as a forerunner of the Indus Valley Civilisation, older than Harappa and Mohenjodaro [2].

Don't confuse with

  • Early Harappan phase: 6000–2600 BCE. These were formative (early, shaping) farming villages with regional pottery. The Mature phase (2600–1900 BCE) is the urban one.
  • Late Harappan phase: 1900–1300 BCE. This was a time of decline and rural successor cultures, not planned cities.
  • Mehrgarh: a Neolithic (new Stone Age) farming village from c. 7000 BCE [2]. It is a forerunner of the Harappan civilisation, not a Mature Harappan city.
  • Harappa (the site) vs Harappan civilisation: Harappa is one city. "Harappan" is the name of the whole culture, taken from the first site found.

Prelims Hooks

  • Chronological order: Early Harappan (6000–2600 BCE) → Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) → Late Harappan (1900–1300 BCE).
  • Mature Harappan = urban, most prosperous phase. Urbanisation took firm shape c. 2600 BCE.
  • Trap: seals, perimeter walls and script were not new in the Mature phase. Early forms are found at Harappa, Rehman Dheri and Kunal.
  • Early bead-production centres: Harappa, Kunal (Haryana) and Datrana (Gujarat).
  • Mehrgarh: Bolan river, Kacchi plain, Baluchistan. Oldest farming village, c. 7000 BCE. Discovered in 1974 by the French Mission (Jarrige) [2].
  • Bhirrana and Kunal (Sarasvatī belt) have radiocarbon dates of 7000–5500 BCE for pre-Harappan life.

Mains Points

  • Indigenous origin (Harappan cities grew from local roots):
  • Mature Harappan cities grew step by step out of Early Harappan villages. Crafts, seals and walls continued from the earlier phase.

  • This goes against diffusionist theories, which say that city life came from Mesopotamia.

  • A local technology base:

  • Mehrgarh shows the move from Neolithic farming to Chalcolithic copper use, c. 4000 BCE, happening locally.

  • So the Indus Bronze Age had local roots. This is useful in the debate on "pristine" civilisations (civilisations that arose on their own, without outside models).

  • Historiography and naming (how history is written and named):

  • Early dates from Bhirrana and Kunal in the Sarasvatī belt have shaped the "Sindhu-Sarasvati" name debate.
  • Both scholarship and politics affect how the role of the river system in the civilisation's origin is presented.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 12, Ch 1 "Bricks, Beads and Bones" (primary)
  2. 2Mehrgarh | archaeological site, Pakistanbritannica.com · tier 3