INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION:
HISTORY :
also known as Harrapan Civilization ,
Indus valley civilization, the earliest known Urban culture of Indian Subcontinent. The Indus Valley Civilization developed from Circa 3000/2600 BCE to 1500 BCE in the Northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent centered on the Indus river Valley. Some significant feature are giving below to understand the nature and the pattern of Indus Valley people and time.
HOMES :
Houses were flat one or two stories high made of baked brick, with flat roofs. Each was built around a courtyard, with windows overlooking around the courtyard.
Outside walls had no windows Each home had its own private well and bathroom. Clay pipes led from bathrooms to sewers located under the streets. Sewers drained into nearly rivers and streams.
CLOTHS of indus civilization :
Men and women dressed in colorful robes. Women wore jewelry of gold and precious stone, and even wore lipstick. Among the treasures found was a statue of a women wearing a bracelet.
ENTERTAINMENT :
A beautiful small bronze statue of a dancer was found, which tells us that they enjoyed dance and had great skill working with metals. Scientists have found the remains of a large central pool, with steps leading down at both ends. This could have been a public swimming pool or perhaps have been used for pool or perhaps have been used for religious ceremonies.
FOOD :
They were good farmers. They grew barley, peas, melons, wheat and dates.
Fish were caught in the river with fish hooks. Crops were grown and the harvest stored centrally, for in the town to enjoy.
Some of the toys found were small carts, whistles, shaped like birds, and toys monkeys which could slide down a string.
ART :
They have had marvelous craftsmen, skilled in pottery, weaving and metal working. Pottery that has been found is of very high quality, with unusually beautiful designs. They used to make small statues; scientists have found no large statues.
TRANSPORTATION OF INDUS VALLEY :
They used camels, oxen and elephants to travel over land. They had carts with wooden wheels. They used ships to sail around the Arabian Sea.
ANCIENT INDUS VALLEY SITES HARAPA:
Harappa was a city in the Indus valley civilization that flourished around 2,500Bc, in the western part of south Asia. It lies in Punjab Province Pakistan, on an old bed of the river Ravi. The Indus valley was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China. An abundance of terracotta figurines . Harappa provided the first clues in the 19th century to the ancient Indus valley- often abbreviated as Harappan
civilization.
It is probably the best known Indus Valley site. Mohenjo –Daro is in Sindh, Pakistan, next to the Indus River, not far from the very early human flint mining quarries at Rohri. Here the great bath, uniform buildings and weights, hidden drains and other hallmarks of the civilization were discovered in the 1920’s. Due to a rising water table, most of the site remains unexcavated, and its earliest levels have not been reached. Other sites are: DHOLAVIRA, LOTHAL, RAKHIGARHI, GOLA DHORO, GANERIWALA, DAIMABAD, CHANDARHO, SUTKAGEN, All these sites flourished for various periods between 3500 and 1700 BC.
FIGURINE :
(Small Statue/Small Sculpture)
The anthropomorphic and animal terracotta figurines from Harappa and other Indus civilization sited offer a rich reflection of some of the Harappan ideas about representing life in the Bronze Age. Several styles of carts as well as wheels made of terracotta have been found at Harappa.
Another style of early Harappan female figurine holds a round object, possibly a vessel, with both hands at the waist above a flaring lower body which ends in a (broken) forward- extending bas. The hair is bound at the back of the head into a tiered hairstyle.
Detail such as a necklace with long pendants, bangles, and grid-like lines possilbilly
depicting textile designs are painted in black. Approximately -dimensions (WxHxD) 3.7
x7.9x 2.4.
POTTERY :
what kind of pottery they made ?
Collection of burial pottery without any painted designs. These vassals come from one of the later burials towards the end of the Harappan period, possibly dating to 1900 BC. Tall jar with concave neck and flaring rim: The rounded base was originally supported in a ring stand. The black painted geometric designs are arranged in panels with a red slip as background.
After initial firing, the entire painted design was obliterated with a red slip and fired again at a low temperature that turned the exterior layer of the slip red through oxidation, but the inner layer remained gray. This over slip was not well bonded to the previously slipped
surface and was partially eroded when first discovered.
TYPES OF POTTERY Art :
So many types of pottery has been used by the Indus valley people, like, large jars, Dish-on- stands, plated, goblets, cup, vessels, bottles, bowls, shallow plate and deep plates. These were used for cooking and storage purposes.
The largest vessels were used for oil and other alcohol things. Some of them were used for the cosmetic, and other liquid things.
DECORATION ON INDUS VALLEY POTTERY :
Painted pottery with a variety of motifs appeared in many areas of the Indus valley sited.
SLIP DECORATION:
The outer or exterior surface of pottery mostly decorated with slips, that mainly reddish slip and brownish slip has been provided. Sometimes the slip applied on the throat area of the interior side the
pottery.
BANDS WITH BLACK LINES :
Sometimes on the slip the bands are provided and further enclosing with thin black lines. While in some examples the reddish band or brownish bands are provided on the plain pottery.
GROOVED WARE :
The relief pointed lines are made on the exterior of the plain pottery, in very few examples the shreds are treated with brownish or reddish slips.
INCISED POTTERY :
With pointed tool, the engraved lines are marked during turning of wheel by the potter are applied on the exterior surface that mainly in plain shreds examples can be observed.
PERFORATED POTTERY :
Sometimes the fabric of the pottery had been perforated during its initial stages that still pots were in the stage of its wetness. Such types of pottery also almost are found plain without decoration treatment.
HUMAN FIGURAL REPRESENTATION :
On the Indus valley pottery the representation of human has been shown in stylized form while in most case it represented in just outlines and in solid outlines. The facial features are not clear nor did they execute. The walking pose, and daily routine poses are shown on the surface of the shreds.
FAUNAL (Animals) Execution ;
There are considerable big collections of painted pottery, on the exterior of which animals are drawn in black colors. In the animal’s motifs the present flora of the ancient time has been represented, bull, mostly humped bull with curve horns in profile view has been shown.
Fish also can be observed sometime the fish scales have been executed on the reddish surface with black color lines. Goat, sheep, cranes, ducks, gazelles, and peacocks are made. Scorpion design in black outline with multi feet in exaggerated from also used.
FLORAL DESIGNS ;
In floral designs the trefoil pattern, trigrams pattern, piple leaf pattern, with hatched design has been shown. Besides the branches with leave just in outlines has been executed. Single leaf pattern, heart shaped leaf pattern with hatching design and solid leaf pattern are shown mostly on the reddish colored pottery. Elongated leaf pattern and solid loop pattern have been done in black color as well on the exterior surface of the shreds.
GEOMETRICAL :
In geometrical designs a variety has been shown that mostly done on the exterior surface of the red slip pottery. Square in hatched, with net pattern, rectangular with net pattern or simple hatched design are executed. Circles that mostly intersecting-circles are made in black color ion the reddish glossy slip that the typical design of the Indus valley civilization pottery of mature phase. Loops designs with wavy horizontal lines and some time with angular tip of the zig zag design are made.
Solid dots and horizontal solid dots are representing with loops and sometimes inside the loops have been executed on the same reddish slip shred on exterior surface. Triangles in outlines and solid form that representing lozenge design, steps designs, multi-steps designs also represented on the outer surface of the pot.
SYMBOLS :
On the Indus valley shred the symbols are also shown on their pottery. Sun symbol with rays, swastika symbol with solid and outline manner has been shown. The Indus script symbols are also made by the potters on the outer surface.
COLOUR SCHEMES :
On the Indus valley pottery mainly Red color slips has been used. Beside Red color, Brown, dark Brown. Chocolate color, orange, pinkish, black, white & off white, creamy white and blue white colors are
also used.
TECHNIQUES OF THE POTTERY :
Pottery has been made on wheel-made methodology, for the small pots the rapid speed wheels have been used, while in rare cased the handmade pottery is used.