Social differences and crafts

The essentials

Archaeologists look for social differences through burials and through the distribution of artefacts. At Harappan burial sites, the dead were generally laid in pits. Some graves had pottery and ornaments, and a few had copper mirrors or more elaborate structures, but on the whole the Harappans did not bury very rich goods with the dead, unlike Egyptian pharaohs.

Another method is to classify objects as utilitarian (everyday items such as querns, pottery, needles, made of stone or clay) and luxuries (rare objects made from costly or non-local materials, or with complicated techniques, such as little pots of faience). Luxuries found mostly in large cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa suggest richer groups lived there.

Key points

• Chanhudaro was almost entirely devoted to craft production: bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making and weight-making.
• Beads were made of carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite, copper, bronze, gold, shell, faience and terracotta.
• Nageshwar and Balakot, near the coast, were specialised centres for making shell objects.
• Raw materials were procured by setting up settlements (like Nageshwar, Balakot, Shortughai for lapis lazuli, Lothal for carnelian from Bharuch) and by sending expeditions (Khetri region in Rajasthan for copper; South India for gold).
• Lothal in Gujarat was a craft and trading centre close to sources of raw materials.
• Contact with distant lands: copper probably came from Oman; Mesopotamian texts mention Meluhha, possibly the Harappan region, and products like carnelian and lapis lazuli.

Exam tips

• Learn how archaeologists identify craft centres: presence of raw material, tools, unfinished objects, rejects and waste.

Common mistakes

• Assuming all burials were equal; small differences in goods do appear.
• Mixing Shortughai (lapis lazuli, Afghanistan) with Lothal (carnelian, Gujarat).