The Pre-Urban period in the Indus Valley, also known as the Early Harappan or Early Indus, started around 3200 and ended around 2600 BCE. Here we extend it to include the transitional century or so between the Early and the Mature Harappan. This period was characterized by the spread of farming communities across the Indus Basin, reaching as far as the Upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in modern-day North India. Overall, this was not a period of great innovation, but precursors of writing appear to have emerged at this time, and, together with the appearance of seals and weights, these point to a shift in organizational complexity.
[1]
Population and political organization
No population estimates could be found in the literature. There is also no clear picture of political organization at this time - seals have been found in relevant archaeological contexts, but the existence of a bureaucratic apparatus remains unlikely.
[2]
[1]: (McIntosh 2008, 67-72) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8.
[2]: A. Ceccarelli, personal communication to E. Cioni, February 2017.
| unknown [---] |
| Indus Civilisation |
| Kachi Plain - Urban Period I |
| continuity |
| Succeeding: Kachi Plain - Urban Period I (pk_kachi_urban_1) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Kachi Plain - Chalcolithic (pk_kachi_ca) [continuity] |
| quasi-polity |
| Year Range | Kachi Plain - Pre-Urban Period (pk_kachi_pre_urban) was in: |
|---|---|
| (3200 BCE 2501 BCE) | Kachi Plain |
Of the very large Mature Harappan (urban) sites, only Harappa has a documented pre-urban population. [1] However, there is no evidence for the existence or whereabouts of a capital.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. Revolution in the Urban Revolution: The Emergence of Indus Urbanization. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 19, (1990), p.270
The Early Harappan phase can be divided geographically into four regions with roughly equivalent chronologies
Amri-Nal
Kot Diji
Damb Sadaat
Sothi-Siswal
[1]
The Early Harappan sites of the Amri-Nal tradition are found in southern Baluchistan; but despite the presence of Nal pottery at Merhgarh (doubtless because it is associated with seasonal herdsmen) the Kachi Plain is not included in the distribution or in any other Early Harappan culture.
[2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 40
[2]: Possehl 2002, p. 41
The settlements and artefacts from this period suggest increasing complexity, although it is not clear what sort of polity (or polities) were present. It is likely that there was a form of centralised authority, based on the complexity of urban planning, but whether this was a chiefdom or incipient state is debated. [1]
[1]: Rita Wright: The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy and Society; Cambridge: CUP, 2010, pp. 79-105
The settlements and artefacts from this period suggest increasing complexity, although it is not clear what sort of polity (or polities) were present. It is likely that there was a form of centralised authority, based on the complexity of urban planning, but whether this was a chiefdom or incipient state is debated. [1]
[1]: Rita Wright: The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy and Society; Cambridge: CUP, 2010, pp. 79-105
levels.
[1]
[2]
1. Large settlementFor example, Quetta Miri (23 ha) and Mundigak (9 ha).
2. Possible medium-sized ’producer’ settlements
3. Small settlements
Worth noting: "Some settlements show signs of specialization in particular crafts or other industrial activities, such as the procurement of raw materials. For example, huge quantities of figurines were produced at Mehrgarh in this period, suggesting mass production. Lewan, a village in the Bannu Basin in northern Baluchistan, specialized in the production of stone tools, including querns, axes, and hammers, which were traded over a wide area. A degree of specialization had begun earlier, for example at Mehrgarh, but it was becoming more pronounced in this period."
[3]
[1]: (Possehl 2002, 44) Gregory Possehl. 2002. The Indus Civilization. Delhi: Published on behalf of Indian Archaeological Society [by] B.R. Pub. Corp.
[2]: New Delhi: distributed by D.K. Publishers’ Distributors, 1980.
[3]: (McIntosh 2008, 69)
1. Ritual specialist
In the broader Early Harappan tradition there is evidence that there were priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist". However, Possehl says there is no evidence for a state religion.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370
[2]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6.
In the broader Harappan tradition there is evidence for priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist".
[1]
[1]: Avari, Burjor, India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from C. 7000 BC to AD 1200 (London: Routledge, 2007), p.48; Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370
Period II: variety of barley used "could be grown only in the irrigated fields, it implies and improved method of farming in the Kachi plains." [1] In the broader Harappan context, water control technology began during the Amri-Nal period. This included the use of small shallow ditches to guide water onto a flat area, and investment in some kind of bunding - a low earthen wall or a gabarband. [2]
[1]: (Ahmed 2014, 321)
[2]: Gregory L. Possehl. Indus Age: The Beginnings. New Delhi, 1999, p.619
“By Periods VI and VII, Mehrgarh had clearly entered a new phase in its development. In Periods VI and VII, Mehgarh took on the configuration of a large village or town with streets and lanes and clustered residential areas. The communal storage in compartmented buildings of former periods was replaced by storage rooms, now securely located within individual houses." [1]
[1]: Wright, R. P. (2010) The Ancient Indus: urbanism, economy and society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. p53
Copper was present from Mehrgarh III [1] , but may not have been used as ’money’.
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Inferred lack of substantial circumvallation. [1] The data for fortifications is inferred. Possehl states that before the Urban phase (i.e. 2600 BCE) for only 3 sites out of 463 Pre-Urban sites the archaeological evidence could potentially be interpreted as having some sort of substantial circumvallation. [1]
[1]: (Gregory L. Possehl. ’Revolution in the Urban Revolution: The Emergence of Indus Urbanization’, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 19. (1990), p. 271)
Inferred absent from lack of evidence of significant warfare.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented" before the Indus period. [1] ground stone axe found in burial (Ahmed 2014, p. 316). - was this a battle axe? In one exceptional burial, a polished stone axe and three flint cores were placed in a basket and lay near the skull of the deceased. Sixteen blades from the same core were set in parallel rows along the spinal column [2]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX.
[2]: (Jarrige et al. 1995: 246)
Inferred due to lack of evidence of warfare [1] (From the ’Historical Dictionary of Ancient India’) Amri, mid-4th millennium BCE onward: "There is evidence for the domestication of cattle, sheep, goat, and donkey." [2]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991, p. 347)
[2]: (Roy ed. 2009, 17) Kumkum Roy. ed. 2009. Historical Dictionary of Ancient India. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham.
Evidence of armor made from organic materials has not been recovered from Mehrgarh.
Evidence of armor made from organic materials has not been recovered from Mehrgarh.