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The Mounds
Slide 1: Harappa Archaeological Site Topography Using data digitized from topographic maps, a digital terrain model of the entire site was constructed using EarthVision. The major source of the data was from M.S. Vat's excavations at the site in the late 1920s. The white lines represent structures excavated, except in the modern Harappa town area where they represent current structures. A series of surfaces representing the stratigraphic surfaces of the site were also produced. The topographical data were digitized from the original map and converted to the Harappa Archeological Research Project (HARP) coordinate system and metric units. The sitewide digital terrain model shows that the dominant topographic features are the archaeological mounds. Slide 2: Harappa Archaeological Site Topography There also appears to be a smaller mound that is present at the modern Harappa town site. This could be a modern representation of the processes that built ancient Harappa. This is especially noticeable since the surrounding topography in the floodplain of the River Ravi is essentially flat. Other noticeable features in the modern topography digital terrain model are the gullies in the mounds that are oriented in the cardinal compass directions. It is believed that these gullies are the remains of streets in ancient Harappa. It should be noted that Vats' topographic map does not reflect his and others' subsequent modifications of the terrain from extensive archaeologic excavations. The Gateway Slide 3: Mound E/ET Gateway Area Reconstruction The gateway area is located at the southeast corner of Mound E and is part of a mudbrick perimeter wall that was first recognized in 1990. The bastion area consists of a Period 3B (2450-2200 B.C.) wall built upon a Period 3A (2600-2450 B.C.) wall, with a major repair encompassing the exterior and some of the interior of the Period 3A wall. Where the perimeter wall turns from an east-west orientation on the southern part of Mound E to a north-south orientation on the eastern side of Mound E, a corner bastion was constructed. A four meter wide street adjacent to the perimeter wall's interior sets apart the wall from the habitation area. This street appears to have been in use throughout the wall's existence. The entrance street is approximately 2.6 meters wide during its initial phase of construction and would have been the main entrance into this part of the city, running along the edge of the Mound E perimeter wall. During the last phase of construction, it appears that the gateway was partially blocked and the large corbel-arch drain dug through its center, running north-south along the alignment of the old street. At this time, two north-south streets led north from the gateway area with the drain running between them. These streets were joined just inside the gateway area by a street running east-west across the corbelled culvert of drain. There may have been some traffic through the gateway along narrow passages still present at the edge of the drain. It would not have been possible to bring large carts through the gateway unless the entire drain exit was covered with wooden beams (as was done with the wooden covering for the water chamber at the corbelled drain exiting the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro). Slide 4: Mound E Gateway Reconstruction Using interpretations presented in Meadow and others (1995), a reconstruction of the bastion/gateway area was completed in EarthVision. The computer reconstructions were based on an artistic rendering completed by HARP archaeologists. These reconstructions show the configuration of the perimeter walls, drains, and gateway as they may have existed sometime in Period 3C (2200-1900 B.C.). The gateway rises above the corbeled arch drain and connects the perimeter walls that appear to encircle Mounds E and ET. In the EarthVision reconstruction, the eastern structures on the Mound ET perimeter wall are reconstructed as a side room building, with the Mound ET perimeter wall eroded to the ground surface. The actual gateway is located between large baked brick piers that are in turn connected to the massive mud brick perimeter walls. The entrance street was approximately 2.6 meters wide and would have been the main entrance to this portion of the city running along the eastem edge of the Mound E perimeter wall. The gateway appears to have been built during the initial Harappan phase of Mound ET occupation, when an extension of the Mound E city wall was built to enclose Mound ET. Radiocarbon dating and ceramic analysis place this initial phase of construction during period 3A (2600-2450 B.C.) and 3B (2450-2200 B.C.). The second phase of gateway construction took place during the early phases of Period 3C (2200-1900 B.C.) and a third phase of construction taking place at the final stages of Period 3C. Slide 5: Mound E/ET Gateway on Southern Wall The structures located at the southeastern corner of Mound E consists of a complex of massive baked brick/mud brick walls and baked brick drain complex. This series of structures is set between the southeastern corner of the mud brick city wall of Mound E and a similar mudbrick city wall that runs along the southern edge of Mound ET. This complex includes an original gateway, side rooms, sewage drains, and a large corbel arch drain that was constructed within in middle of the gateway during its last phase of use. The original mud-brick perimeter wall discovered in 1990 is approximately 5 meters in width and was constructed on natural soil (although excavations in the southeast corner of Mound E have not established the base of this structure). Although it is virtually impossible to ascertain the original height of the wall when built, it is believed to have stood more than 2 meters and was free-standing. No deposits of Period 1 (3300-2800 B.C.) were found. In some areas, this mud-brick wall cuts through deposits of Period 2 (2800-2600 B.C.) occupation. The wall is dated at the beginning of the Harappan phase occupation, or Period 3A (2600-2450 B.C.). A second (i.e., younger) mud-brick wall was constructed during Period 3B (2450-2200 B.C.). This wall was 5 meters in width and was built directly on top of the earlier mud-brick wall, which had eroded by this time. In order to prepare a flat surface for the second wall, the earlier wall was modified by leveling or construction of a foundation trench. This wall also appears to have been free-standing. The first major repair to the Mound E perimeter wall was accomplished to the exterior of the wall, along with parts of the interior of the wall and dates to Period 3C (2200-1900 B.C.). This repair (and other smaller repairs) to the inner and outer faces of the wall resulted in a structure chat was six to seven meters in width. At the same time, a comer bastion was constructed at the southeast comer of Mound E, where the perimeter wall tums from the east to the north. Baked brick facing appears to have been applied to the surfaces of this corner bastion, but was mostly removed by brick-robbers. Excavations in 1994 and 1995 revealed a large and complex series of baked brick and mudbrick walls and drains connected to mud brick bastions in both the west and the east, comprising the remains of a gateway. The westem mud brick bastion was described previously. The eastern mud brick bastion appears to be part of a mud brick perimeter wall that extends around Mound ET (Meadow and others, 1994). This reconstruction was completed and rendered using Bentley Systems MicroStation software. Slide 6: Mound E Gateway Reconstruction The overall gateway structure, including the street and side drains is bonded at either edge (east and west) by massive mud brick bastions, representing the Mound E and Mound ET perimeter walls. The area between these two mud brick perimeter walls was apparently filled with smaller structures, now destroyed. The baked brick gateway is built on top of a mud brick foundation on the west and an earlier mud brick wall on the east. The width of these mud brick structures and baked brick gateway ranges from two to three meters. At least three major rebuilding phases can be identified for this structure. These rebuilding phases appear to be correlative with the three rebuilding phases of the construction, reconstruction, and repair of the Mound E perimeter wall. The central corbeled arch drain is open at both the north and south ends and may have been a culvert beneath a street running east-west just inside the gateway and perimeter walls. The drain is set into horizontally laid layers of gravely deposits characteristic of streets. The drain is approximately 2 meters high by 1.5 meters wide with a length of approximately 5 meters. The drain interior is fommed by a corbel arch built over a rectangular channel. Approximately 1.2 meters of street deposits were eventually laid down over the top of the drain during its final period of street use. A smaller unlined drain (excavated into the natural soil) continues to the south and would serve to carry rainwater and debris farther outside the ancient city. This unlined drain appears to have limited traffic through the gateway to that on foot. An older, unlined drain appears to have been carved below the level of this drain and apparently carried sewage waste (as indicated by the greenish stain associated with the deposits). Directly to the west of the westem pier and set into the baked brick wall is what appears to be side drains. These three drains superimposed on each other and may have been used for sewage disposal as indicated by the-green-stained deposits. The earliest two drains are constructed on top of each other above the westem edge of the gateway pier. These drains are identical in shape and size. These drains have floors constructed of onedge baked bricks and slots apparently for wooden beams. These wooden beams could have comprised a moveable gate or grate. The third and latest drain is offset from the two previous drains and was constructed with a corbel arch with no slots for wooden beams. This reconstruction was completed and rendered in MicroStation. It should be noted that the computer generated graphics represent the top and bottom of each individual wall as an idealized planar structure and not the detailed topography of the individual surfaces. In general, structures built on top of earlier structures were constructed on surfaces planned off by the Harappans. Most of the measurements are from HARP notebooks and were not measured off sections and plan. While individual elevations of various archaeological features and structures may vary by several tens of centimeters over the entire site (where they can be traced across large areas), most elevations within relatively small areas (such as the gateway area) do not vary over more than a few centimeters. Slide 7: Mound E/ET Gateway Artists Conception A series of side rooms were also excavated along the eastem edge of the gateway in 1995. The latest phase of construction also included a large east-west oriented doorway leading through the eastem edge of the gateway. This doorway appears to have constructed with wooden beams with a threshold embedded in the baked brick structure. The size of these beams can be calculated from the sockets in the baked brick structure, with the upright posts being 33 cm by 44 cm in cross section and the anchor posts being 25 cm by 17 cm in cross section. This would give the door dimensions of 2.35 meters wide (measuring from the inside of upright posts) with a height of 3.5 to 4 meters (based on traditional proportions for large doors). Another north-south oriented second inner doorway is found on a second construction phase baked brick structure, but probably reused during the third phase. The sockets for the door posts are 16 cm and 20 cm square with an inside measurement of 1.6 meters wide. Using the traditional proportions for a door gives a height of approximately 2.5 meters. The function of the side rooms is not known from any artifacts, but may have been entrances to the city when the gateway was blocked by the corbelled drain or rooms for officials/guards assigned to the gateway. The Rise of the Mounds Slide 8: Mound Paleotopography prior to 3300 B.C. The paleotopography represents the pre-occupation topography as it may have existed about 5000 years ago. There may be some areas in the paleotopographic model that may not represent the actual paleotopography, but rather subsequent anthropogenic influences (perhaps by the ancient Harappans). This representation of the paleotopography is presented at 2.75 times vertical exaggeration to show the relatively subtle topography of the ancient River Ravi floodplain. It can be seen that there are two topographically high areas in the pre-occupation terrain. These represent the initial occupation site in the northwestern comer of Mound E and a hypothesized topographic high beneath the current site of the modern Harappa town. Both of these areas are probably composed of point bar deposits, which are topographic highs in a meandering stream environment. A meander channel of the ancient River Ravi is shown migrating to the south of the initial occupation site with another shallow channel (a chute channel) separating this topographic high from the one beneath modern Harappa It is possible that the main meander channel (south) could later have been abandoned, forming an oxbow lake. Fine-grained lacustrine deposits (silts and clays) could have been subsequendy deposited in this feature, creating a ready source of clay for brick works. This scenario is supported by evidence of possible ancient resource excavation directly south of Mound E. The topographic high beneath Harappa town is hypothesized on the basis of the current built up small mound beneath the village. This mound is an obvious modern topographic feature within a virtually flat alluvial plain. It is hypothesized that Harappan deposits probably exist beneath the modern town and may represent another site that may contain early Harappan deposits. No massive mudbrick walls have been discovered in the vicinity of Harappa town to indicate that the village mound has been intentionally built up (like ancient Harappa). Modern construction and recent debris has obliterated and concealed probable ancient Harappan deposits. It is believed that the current small mound beneath Harappa town may represent the build up of occupational deposits without revetment walls on a pre-existing topographic high. A small channel separates the Harappa town topographic high from the Mound E topographic high. This channel may be a chute channel, an erosional channel that develops across the top of a point bar deposit during floods. Because of the uncertainty involving this smaller mound beneath modern Harappa, it is not represented as pre-urban strata in the stratigraphic model. Slide 9: Period I Cultural Stratigraphy Early Harappan Phase, 3300-2800 B.C. Using maps and cross-sections of the cultural deposits from HARP, surfaces were generated to represent the interfaces of cultural layers in the mounds at Harappa. This represents the growth of the city of ancient Harappa vertically and through time. The stratigraphy at Harappa is based on ethnostratigraphic principles, with the layers being defined by artifacts and architectural style. The stratigraphic layers are the cultural remains of ancient Harappa. Each ethnostratigraphic unit has been assigned a chronological time fame based on the radiocarbon dating described previously. The city literally is built upon the foundations of its ancestors. Period 1 deposits represent a pre-urban phase of development and exist beneath the northwest corner of Mound E. Slide 10: Period II Cultural Stratigraphy Early Harappan/ Harappan Transitional, 2800-2600 B.C. Period 2 deposits represent a transition phase between pre urban and urban phases and exist primarily beneath Mound E. Slide 11: Period IIIA Cultural Stratigraphy Harappan Phase, 2600-2450 B.C. Period 3A deposits, representing an early urban phase, exist beneath Mounds E and also show expansion onto the area beneath Mound AB. Growth in the city of Harappa is shown to be both lateral and vertical. Slide 12: Period IIIBC Paleotopography 2450-1900 B.C. Harappan Phase, 2450-1900 B.C. Period 3B and 3C deposits essentially cover the entire modeled area and represent the greatest extent of the ancient urban center. J. M. Kenoyer has developed a model describing some of the processes that contribute to the urban growth at Harappa. Kenoyer's model is based on a shifting occupation during the several chronological periods at the site. Initial growth from a small site to a larger urban community occurred during Periods 1 and 2. Expansion of the settlement on Mound E occurred during the beginning of Period 3A. During later Period 3A, occupation either shifted or expanded to Mound AB. This shift apparently resulted in a lack of civic control resulting in refuse accumulation on Mound E. Kenoyer suggests that this shift may be from the development of new socio-economic groups and shifting power centers in Harappa. Renewal of Mound E occurred during Period 3B, possibly resulting in civic decay on Mound AB. Period 3C deposits show evidence of extensive congestion in all areas of the site and a lack of civil control. Slide 13: Period IV-V Paleotopography Late Harappan Phase, circa 1900-1700 B.C. Periods 4 and 5, representing a modification of cultural styles, exist at the tops of Mounds AB and E. Slide 14: Periods I-V Stratigraphic Cross-Section Circa 3300-1700 B.C.
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