Early Developments of Art, Symbol and Technology in the Indus Valley Tradition Bibliography

| Conclusion |

On the basis of this brief review it is possible to conclude that some craft technologies came to be associated with status, symbol and power in the Indus valley while others remained basically utilitarian. During the Early Food Producing Era, most of the ornaments and symbolic objects appear to have been brought to the site of Mehrgarh as finished objects. In the following Regionalization Era, the trade in raw materials and the emergence of local production centers is seen at sites along the foothills as well as in the middle of the plain. At both Mehrgarh/Nausharo and Harappa the processes by which certain crafts came to be manipulated and controlled by elites appears to have been a relatively gradual process, and not the result of rapid political or ideological changes.

The earliest glazed steatite and faience beads of the Ravi Phase and Early Chalcolithic at Mehrgarh did not suddenly become adopted as a popular form of ornament. The technology for producing high quality compact faience may have been established by 2800 BC at Harappa, but still this did not become a common technology until some 200 years later, during the Integration phase of the Indus cities. Once could even argue that the ultimate development of the faience technology was to be seen during the Localization Era around 1900 BC, when it may have intersected with the emergence of glass technology (Kenoyer 1997b). Similarly, the development of gold and copper working, shell bangle making, agate bead making or even seal carving techniques were already well established during the Kot Diji period, but the elaboration of these technologies did not begin until after 2600 BC, during the Harappan Phase.

The gradual development and spread of important technologies is undoubtedly linked to more fundamental social processes that were going on during the initial phase of urban development (Helms 1993). The ability to create powerful symbols was something that could only be done through special technologies or by using specific raw materials that were not easily accessible to the common people (Kenoyer 2000). Therefore, the crafts that became most important for reinforcing social and ritual status were ones that could be efficiently controlled by new elites and powerful merchants of the Indus cities. While the knowledge of specific craft technologies were probably passed on from one generation to the next through kin networks and various forms of ritual practice (Kenoyer 1989), the access to specific materials could have been carefully regulated by controlling trade. At both Harappa and Nausharo, the building of massive mud brick walls around the settlements would have been the most effective way to control the access to raw materials. The walls and gateways would also have allowed for control of the export trade in finished commodities.

While some scholars have argued for a sudden emergence of a vast array of technologies associated with the urban integration of the Indus Valley civilization around 2600 BC (Possehl 1997), the current evidence suggests that this was not the case. The contrast between the Early Harappan and Harappan phase is not so much the presence or absence of specific technologies, but rather the ways in which specific technologies were used. During the Kot Diji Phase, around 2800 BC, we see the first elaboration of technologies such as faience working and seal carving. These crafts were undoubtedly associated with the emergence and consolidation of new social groups that used specific types of artifacts to distinguish themselves and their ideologies. The presence of similar crafts in the two adjacent walled areas at Harappa suggest that crafts played a very important role in legitimation of competing merchants and other elites.

|Acknowledgments|

This paper is a brief summary of a longer lecture ³ Art, Symbol and Technology of the Indus Valley Civilization² presented at the Ancient Orient Museum, Tokyo on September 29, 2000. I would like to thank Professor H. Kondo, Professor M. Konishi, Dr. M. Koiso, Dr. H. Shudai and all of the other colleagues who made it possible for me to visit Japan on the occasion of the Indus Valley Exhibition and present a talk on my work. Much of the data presented in this paper derives from the recent excavations at Harappa and I would especially like to thank the Government of Pakistan, Department of Archaeology for facilitating our continued work at Harappa. Special thanks to all the other colleagues who have participated in the research at Harappa and have been closely involved in the collection and analysis of the data. I also want to expecially thank Dr. Richard Meadow, Dr. Rita Wright, Dr. Rafique Mughal, Dr. Massimo Vidale, Dr. Manabu Koiso, Mrs. Barbara Dales, Dr. William Belcher, Dr. Heather M.-L. Miller, Mr. Asim Dogar and many others for their support and stimulating discussions on Indus crafts and technology. I would also like to express my special thanks to the French Archaeological Mission at Mehrgarh/Nausharo, Dr. J. F. Jarrige, Catherine Jarrige, Gonzque Quivron and other team members for their generous sharing of information and helpful discussions. My ongoing research at Harappa and the Indus Civilization has been supported by numerous organizations in the USA and I would like to specially thank the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the American School of Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University), the University of Wisconsin, and private donors.

|References|

Barthélémy de Saizieu, B. 1990 Le Cimetiere Neolithique de Mehrgarh (Balouchistan Pakistanais) Apport de L'analyse Factorielle. Paléorient 16(1): 23-43.

Barthélémy de Saizieu, B. and A. Bouquillon 1997 Evolution of Glazed Materials from the Chalcolithic to the Indus Period Based on the Data of Mehrgarh and Nausharo. In South Asian Archaeology 1995, edited by B. Allchin and R. Allchin, pp. 63-76. New Delhi, Oxford & IBH.

Helms, M. W. 1993 Craft and the Kingly Ideal: Art, Trade, and Power. Austin, University of Texas Press.

Jarrige, C. 1988 Les figurines humaines au Baluchistan. In Les Cités oubliées de l'Indus, edited by J.-F. Jarrige, pp. 65-70. Paris, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet.

Jarrige, C., J.-F. Jarrige, R. H. Meadow and G. Quivron, Eds. 1995 Mehrgarh Field Reports 1975 to 1985 - From the Neolithic to the Indus Civilization. Karachi, Dept. of Culture and Tourism, Govt. of Sindh and the French Foreign Ministry.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1989 Socio-Economic Structures of the Indus Civilization as reflected in Specialized Crafts and the Question of Ritual Segregation. In Old Problems and New Perspectives in the Archaeology of South Asia, edited by J. M. Kenoyer, pp. 183-192. Madison, WI, Dept. of Anthropology, U.W.-Madison.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1991a The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India. In Journal of World Prehistory 5(4): 331-385.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1991b Urban Process in the Indus Tradition: A Preliminary Model from Harappa. In Harappa Excavations 1986-1990, edited by R. H. Meadow, pp. 29-60. Madison, Prehistory Press.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1994 Faience Ornaments of Harappa and the Indus Civilization. Ornament 17(3): 35-39, 95.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1995a Interaction Systems, Specialized Crafts and Culture Change: The Indus Valley Tradition and the Indo-Gangetic Tradition in South Asia. In The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity, edited by G. Erdosy, pp. 213-257. Berlin, W. DeGruyter.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1995b Shell Trade and Shell Working during the Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic at Mehrgarh. In Mehrgarh Field Reports 1975 to 1985 - From the Neolithic to the Indus Civilization, edited by C. Jarrige, J.-F. Jarrige, R. H. Meadow and G. Quivron, pp. 566-581. Karachi, Dept. of Culture and Tourism, Govt. of Sindh and the French Foreign Ministry.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1997a Early City-States in South Asia: Comparing the Harappan Phase and the Early Historic Period. In The Archaeology of City-States: Cross Cultural Approaches, edited by D. L. Nichols and T. H. Charlton, pp. 51-70. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1997b Trade and technology of the Indus Valley: new insights from Harappa, Pakistan. In World Archaeology 29(2): 262-280.

Kenoyer, J. M. 1998 Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Karachi, Oxford University Press.

Kenoyer, J. M. 2000 Wealth and Socio-Economic Hierarchies of the Indus Valley Civilization. In Order, Legitimacy and Wealth in Early States, edited by J. Richards and M. Van Buren, pp. 90-112. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Kenoyer, J. M. and R. H. Meadow 1997 New Inscribed Objects From Harappa. Lahore Museum Bulletin IX(1 (1996)): 1-20.

Kenoyer, J. M. and R. H. Meadow 1999 Harappa: New Discoveries on its origins and growth. Lahore Museum Bulletin XII(1): 1-12.

Kenoyer, J. M. and R. H. Meadow 2001 The Ravi Phase Craft Traditions at Harappa, Pakistan. South Asian Archaeology 1997, edited by M. Taddei, in press. Rome, Is. I. A. O. Kenoyer, J. M. and H. M.-L. Miller

1997 Metal Technologies of the Indus Valley Tradition in Pakistan and Western India. In The Emergence and Development of Metallurgy, edited by V. C. Pigott, pp. Philadelphia, University Museum.

Mackay, E. J. H. 1938 Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro. New Delhi, Government of India. Marshall, S. J.

1924 First Light on a Long-Forgotten Civilization. Illustrated London News (20 September): 528-532, 548.

Meadow, R. H. 1996 The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in South Asia. In The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in Eurasia, edited by D. R. Harris, pp. 390-412. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press.

Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 1996 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 1996, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi.

Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 1998 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 1998, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi.

Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 1999 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 1999, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi.

Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 2000 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 2000, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi.

Possehl, G., L. 1997 The Transformation of the Indus Civilization. Journal of World Prehistory 11(4): 425-472.

Rissman, P. C. 1989 The Organization of Seal Production in the Harappan Civilization. In Old Problems and New Perspectives in the Archaeology of South Asia, edited by J. M. Kenoyer, pp. 159-170. Madison, WI, Wisconsin Archaeological Reports.

Samzun, A. and P. Sellier 1985 First Anthropological and Cultural Evidence for the Funerary Practices of the Chalcolithic Population of Mehrgarh, Pakistan. In South Asian Archaeology 1983, edited by J. Shotsmans and M. Taddei, pp. 91-119. Naples, Istituto Universitario Orientale.

Shaffer, J. G. 1992 The Indus Valley, Baluchistan and Helmand Traditions: Neolithic Through Bronze Age. In Chronologies in Old World Archaeology (3rd Edition), edited by R. Ehrich, pp. 441-464. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

Vidale, M. 1989 Early Harappan Steatite, Faience and Paste Beads in a Necklace from Mehrgarh-Nausharo (Pakistan). East and West 39(1-4): 291-300.

Vidale, M. 1995 Early Beadmakers of the Indus Tradition: The Manufacturing Sequence of Talc Beads at Mehrgarh in the 5th Millenium B. C. In East and West 45 (1-4): 45-80. Vidale, M. and Heather M.-L. Miller

2001 On the development of Indus technical virtuosity and its relation to social structure. In South Asian Archaeology 1997, edited by Giuseppe De Marco and Maurizio Taddei, In Press. Rome: Istituto Italian per l’Africa e l’Oriente (IsIAO) and Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples.

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\|Acknowledgments\|

This paper is a brief summary of a longer lecture ³ Art, Symbol and Technology of the Indus Valley Civilization² presented at the Ancient Orient Museum, Tokyo on September 29, 2000. I would like to thank Professor H. Kondo, Professor M. Konishi, Dr. M. Koiso, Dr. H. Shudai and all of the other colleagues who made it possible for me to visit Japan on the occasion of the Indus Valley Exhibition and present a talk on my work. Much of the data presented in this paper derives from the recent excavations at Harappa and I would especially like to thank the Government of Pakistan, Department of Archaeology for facilitating our continued work at Harappa. Special thanks to all the other colleagues who have participated in the research at Harappa and have been closely involved in the collection and analysis of the data. I also want to expecially thank Dr. Richard Meadow, Dr. Rita Wright, Dr. Rafique Mughal, Dr. Massimo Vidale, Dr. Manabu Koiso, Mrs. Barbara Dales, Dr. William Belcher, Dr. Heather M.-L. Miller, Mr. Asim Dogar and many others for their support and stimulating discussions on Indus crafts and technology. I would also like to express my special thanks to the French Archaeological Mission at Mehrgarh/Nausharo, Dr. J. F. Jarrige, Catherine Jarrige, Gonzque Quivron and other team members for their generous sharing of information and helpful discussions. My ongoing research at Harappa and the Indus Civilization has been supported by numerous organizations in the USA and I would like to specially thank the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the American School of Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University), the University of Wisconsin, and private donors.

\|References\|

Barthélémy de Saizieu, B. 1990 Le Cimetiere Neolithique de Mehrgarh (Balouchistan Pakistanais) Apport de L'analyse Factorielle. Paléorient 16(1): 23-43. Barthélémy de Saizieu, B. and A. Bouquillon 1997 Evolution of Glazed Materials from the Chalcolithic to the Indus Period Based on the Data of Mehrgarh and Nausharo. In South Asian Archaeology 1995, edited by B. Allchin and R. Allchin, pp. 63-76. New Delhi, Oxford & IBH. Helms, M. W. 1993 Craft and the Kingly Ideal: Art, Trade, and Power. Austin, University of Texas Press. Jarrige, C. 1988 Les figurines humaines au Baluchistan. In Les Cités oubliées de l'Indus, edited by J.-F. Jarrige, pp. 65-70. Paris, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet. Jarrige, C., J.-F. Jarrige, R. H. Meadow and G. Quivron, Eds. 1995 Mehrgarh Field Reports 1975 to 1985 - From the Neolithic to the Indus Civilization. Karachi, Dept. of Culture and Tourism, Govt. of Sindh and the French Foreign Ministry. Kenoyer, J. M. 1989 Socio-Economic Structures of the Indus Civilization as reflected in Specialized Crafts and the Question of Ritual Segregation. In Old Problems and New Perspectives in the Archaeology of South Asia, edited by J. M. Kenoyer, pp. 183-192. Madison, WI, Dept. of Anthropology, U.W.-Madison. Kenoyer, J. M. 1991a The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India. In Journal of World Prehistory 5(4): 331-385. Kenoyer, J. M. 1991b Urban Process in the Indus Tradition: A Preliminary Model from Harappa. In Harappa Excavations 1986-1990, edited by R. H. Meadow, pp. 29-60. Madison, Prehistory Press. Kenoyer, J. M. 1994 Faience Ornaments of Harappa and the Indus Civilization. Ornament 17(3): 35-39, 95. Kenoyer, J. M. 1995a Interaction Systems, Specialized Crafts and Culture Change: The Indus Valley Tradition and the Indo-Gangetic Tradition in South Asia. In The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity, edited by G. Erdosy, pp. 213-257. Berlin, W. DeGruyter. Kenoyer, J. M. 1995b Shell Trade and Shell Working during the Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic at Mehrgarh. In Mehrgarh Field Reports 1975 to 1985 - From the Neolithic to the Indus Civilization, edited by C. Jarrige, J.-F. Jarrige, R. H. Meadow and G. Quivron, pp. 566-581. Karachi, Dept. of Culture and Tourism, Govt. of Sindh and the French Foreign Ministry. Kenoyer, J. M. 1997a Early City-States in South Asia: Comparing the Harappan Phase and the Early Historic Period. In The Archaeology of City-States: Cross Cultural Approaches, edited by D. L. Nichols and T. H. Charlton, pp. 51-70. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press. Kenoyer, J. M. 1997b Trade and technology of the Indus Valley: new insights from Harappa, Pakistan. In World Archaeology 29(2): 262-280. Kenoyer, J. M. 1998 Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Karachi, Oxford University Press. Kenoyer, J. M. 2000 Wealth and Socio-Economic Hierarchies of the Indus Valley Civilization. In Order, Legitimacy and Wealth in Early States, edited by J. Richards and M. Van Buren, pp. 90-112. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Kenoyer, J. M. and R. H. Meadow 1997 New Inscribed Objects From Harappa. Lahore Museum Bulletin IX(1 (1996)): 1-20. Kenoyer, J. M. and R. H. Meadow 1999 Harappa: New Discoveries on its origins and growth. Lahore Museum Bulletin XII(1): 1-12. Kenoyer, J. M. and R. H. Meadow 2001 The Ravi Phase Craft Traditions at Harappa, Pakistan. South Asian Archaeology 1997, edited by M. Taddei, in press. Rome, Is. I. A. O. Kenoyer, J. M. and H. M.-L. Miller 1997 Metal Technologies of the Indus Valley Tradition in Pakistan and Western India. In The Emergence and Development of Metallurgy, edited by V. C. Pigott, pp. Philadelphia, University Museum. Mackay, E. J. H. 1938 Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro. New Delhi, Government of India. Marshall, S. J. 1924 First Light on a Long-Forgotten Civilization. Illustrated London News (20 September): 528-532, 548. Meadow, R. H. 1996 The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in South Asia. In The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in Eurasia, edited by D. R. Harris, pp. 390-412. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press. Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 1996 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 1996, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi. Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 1998 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 1998, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi. Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 1999 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 1999, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi. Meadow, R. H., J. M. Kenoyer and R. P. Wright 2000 Harappa Archaeological Research Project: Harappa Excavations 2000, Report submitted to the Director General of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Karachi. Possehl, G., L. 1997 The Transformation of the Indus Civilization. Journal of World Prehistory 11(4): 425-472. Rissman, P. C. 1989 The Organization of Seal Production in the Harappan Civilization. In Old Problems and New Perspectives in the Archaeology of South Asia, edited by J. M. Kenoyer, pp. 159-170. Madison, WI, Wisconsin Archaeological Reports. Samzun, A. and P. Sellier 1985 First Anthropological and Cultural Evidence for the Funerary Practices of the Chalcolithic Population of Mehrgarh, Pakistan. In South Asian Archaeology 1983, edited by J. Shotsmans and M. Taddei, pp. 91-119. Naples, Istituto Universitario Orientale. Shaffer, J. G. 1992 The Indus Valley, Baluchistan and Helmand Traditions: Neolithic Through Bronze Age. In Chronologies in Old World Archaeology (3rd Edition), edited by R. Ehrich, pp. 441-464. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Vidale, M. 1989 Early Harappan Steatite, Faience and Paste Beads in a Necklace from Mehrgarh-Nausharo (Pakistan). East and West 39(1-4): 291-300. Vidale, M. 1995 Early Beadmakers of the Indus Tradition: The Manufacturing Sequence of Talc Beads at Mehrgarh in the 5th Millenium B. C. In East and West 45 (1-4): 45-80. Vidale, M. and Heather M.-L. Miller 2001 On the development of Indus technical virtuosity and its relation to social structure. In South Asian Archaeology 1997, edited by Giuseppe De Marco and Maurizio Taddei, In Press. Rome: Istituto Italian per l’Africa e l’Oriente (IsIAO) and Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples.



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