The northern end of Mound AB, shown here from the North, comprises more than 17 meters of occupational debris beginning on top of an old levee of the river Ravi and continuing up from the Ravi [Aspect of the Hakra] phase (Period 1 from before 3300 to ca. 2800 BCE) through the Kot Diji phase (Period 2, ca. 2800-2600 BCE), the Harappa phase (Period 3, ca. 2600-1900 BCE), and the Harappa/Late Harappa phase Transitional (Period IV, ca. 1900-1800 BCE) to the Late Harappa phase (Period 5, ca. 1800 BCE and later). The early Ravi phase materials shown in the following slides come from deposits below the horizontal red and white meter scale.

Ravi phase hand-formed (not in molds) mud-bricks were found in the early levels mixed with ash and broken pieces of pottery. They may originally have been part of a firing structure or kiln.

Ravi phase houses seem to have been constructed with wooden supports and walls made of plastered reeds. A lump of plaster with reed impressions is seen in this image.

Each Ravi phase stratigraphic layer was identified and excavated, and the many rodent holes, obvious both in the exposed area and in the section, were isolated. Here delicate trowel work has revealed the circular outlines of the top of a storage pit.

Normally in archaeology pits are emptied before earlier surrounding layers are excavated. In this case, however, in order to expose vertical sections of both the Ravi phase pit and of the earlier deposits, excavation of the floors around the pit were carried out before the pit was sectioned and emptied. The pit was plastered with a clay mixed with red ochre possibly to protect the contents from insects.

The cross section of the Ravi phase pit shows multiple episodes of filling and plastering. The contents were collected for flotation, which recovered seeds of barley and wheat as well as some charred wood.

Many broken and unfinished stone beads of carnelian (red-orange) and amazonite (blue-green) were found in the floor levels associated with the Ravi phase pits and hearths. (See also slide 119.).

This large Ravi phase pit was filled with domestic trash and some bead making debris. The broken amazonite bead in Image 368 can be seen just above the scale inside the pit to the lower right of the image.

Scanning electron microscope photos of a molded impression of the drill hole indicate that the amazonite bead (Image 368) was drilled with a tapered chert or jasper drill.

From different levels of the Ravi phase come these terracotta beads (center string) and hard stone beads made from carnelian, amazonite, and lapis lazuli.

Ravi phase microbeads of lapis lazuli (top row), amazonite, and carnelian (bottom row) indicate the size and nature of the drills used for perforation. The largest of the illustrated beads is less than one centimeter in diameter.

Chipped carnelian bead blanks indicate that the initial stages of bead manufacture were taking place in this part of the Ravi phase settlement.

J. Mark Kenoyer assisted by Peter Eltsov carefully uncover and mark Ravi phase bead manufacturing debris in preparation for mapping and photography.

Ravi phase bead manufacturing debris includes extremely fine microdebitage as well as flakes and drills (marked with the green flag).

After marking, the entire excavation team is called in to map and eventually collect the bead manufacturing debris and all of the sediment from each layer of Ravi phase floors.

After wet screening, the Ravi phase microdebitage, larger flakes, broken drills, and even microbeads are sorted according to type of artifact and kind and color of stone.

Tiny steatite microbeads (less than 1mm in diameter) such as those seen here were probably perforated with a sharpened copper wire, while stone drills with larger tips were used for carnelian, lapis, and amazonite beads.

Flakes of various shades of agate, carnelian, jasper, chert, and lapis lazuli indicate the range of raw materials being processed in this part of Harappa during the Ravi phase. All of these raw materials were brought to the site from distant resource areas, between 300 to 800 kilometers away.

During drilling, the tips of agate drills become hot and often spall off. Fine screens allow the collection of the spalled drill tips, the finding of which confirms that drilling as well as shaping of beads was done in this area of the site during the Ravi phase.

Jasper drill bits were used for drilling carnelian and amazonite beads during the Ravi and subsequent phases at Harappa. On the left are two snapped drill tips while on the right is a broken drill base. All are from the Ravi phase.

After excavation, the section view of the Ravi phase floors with agate manufacturing debris was drawn and photographed, and block samples were taken for micromorphological study.

Blocks of soil removed from the Ravi phase section were taken to the University of Wisconsin, where they were impregnated with resin and sliced thin for microscopic analysis of cross sections of the bead-making strata.

This plan shows concentrations of bead manufacturing debris on several superimposed Ravi phase floor levels that indicate the positions of actual work areas.

Harappa Mound AB, Trench 39N, showing the Kot Diji phase and later levels during excavation. The surveying tripod is standing next to two Kot Diji phase kilns, and the rod is leaning against a later Harappa phase baked brick drain.

Plan view of Trench 39N Kot Diji phase levels (Period 2: 2800-2600 BCE) with locations noted for major finds: sealing, elephant seal, inscribed sherds, limestone weight. This area appears to have been a street running between mud-brick structures. Having been built on top of its ancestral Ravi phase remains, this part of the Kot Diji phase settlement was perched many meters above the surrounding plain.

Excavations in 1996 revealed two Period 2 small kilns for making figurines and bangles, as well as preserved floors with Kot Diji style pottery, beads, and figurines.

The larger Kot Diji phase kiln, here shown under excavation, had a highly vitrified and reduced interior.

Kot Diji phase terracotta bangles include many styles and incised and painted decorations. Grey bangles were produced in kilns with a reducing atmosphere and red bangles were fired in an oxidizing atmosphere

The Kot Diji phase streets were filled with debris, including potsherds, charcoal, ash, animal bones, and occasional bangles and steatite beads.

This set of steatite disc beads, each about 1 cm in diameter, were found in the Kot Diji phase street and appear to be a necklace segment that was lost in the trash. The manufacturing marks are clearly visible. The matched nature of the beads suggests that a preform of raw steatite was shaped, drilled with a copper tube, and subsequently sawn into segments.

ExGold sequins found in the Kot Diji phase street suggest that some people were wearing clothing or paraphernalia decorated with rare and presumably costly materials.

During the Kot Diji phase many new types of raw material were brought to Harappa for making ornaments and tools, indicating expanded trade networks and suggesting a growing population of consumers. A wide variety of stones reflecting different stages of manufacture are shown here.

This unique green stone bead, hardly 1 cm long, was found in the ash at the edge of a Kot Diji phase hearth. The material has not yet been identified, but it may be a form of obsidian.

In preparing the basketry impression for removal, large numbers of broken Kot Diji phase ceramic vessels were uncovered, all discarded together into the street along with the basket.

The pedestaled basketry impression was covered with plastic and a plaster jacket applied to hold the column together when the sediment was cut loose.

HARP co-directors J. Mark Kenoyer and Richard Meadow discuss the excavation of a Kot Diji phase storage jar that was later covered by a hearth.

Careful excavation of the contents of the Kot Diji phase storage jar revealed a treasure of garbage that can tell us about the food the Kot Dijian people ate and discarded.

At the bottom of the Kot Diji phase storage vessel was a broken lid and charcoal that was used for dating the fill inside the pot. There is a 91 percent chance that the date obtained from this charcoal falls between 2602 and 2445 radiocarbon years BC based on calibration of determination # Beta-163718. The earlier part of this range is archaeologically more likely.

Numerous pots and hearths were discovered in mud-brick buildings along the western edge of the N-S oriented Kot Diji phase street.

In Kot Diji phase sediment that had washed into the street, Brad Chase discovered a button seal (close-up in image 404) quite similar to seals recovered from the site of Rehman Dheri in to the Northwest in the Gomal Valley.

On this Kot Diji phase steatite button seal from Harappa (H2000-4495 / 9597-01), traces of blue-green glaze can be seen (upper center and left center). Similar seals have been found at other Kot Diji period sites and even in distant Central Asia.

Along the eastern edge of the Kot Diji phase street on Mound AB at Harappa, a broken unfinished steatite seal was discovered in 2000 (close-up in images 406 and 407).

Obverse of an unfinished elephant seal (H2000-4474 / 8994-01) in steatite from the Kot Diji phase levels at Harappa. This is the earliest seal with an elephant motif known from the region and may have been a prototype for later Indus seals.

View of the reverse of the elephant seal (H2000-4474 / 8994-01) from the Kot Diji phase levels, shows manufacturing marks and traces of a perforated knob or boss that is characteristic of Early Harappan seals.

Overview of Harappa Mound AB, Trench 39N, showing the Kot Diji phase levels in the foreground and the Harappa phase levels above, beginning with a baked brick drain (on the far left) and ending with the brick wall that can be seen just behind and above the drain at the top of the excavated area. The Harappa phase levels are not much more than 2.5 meters thick in this part of the site.

North end of Harappa Mound AB, looking down on the Kot Diji phase levels from the heights above the Harappa phase baked brick wall (on the right) that has been covered with protective plaster for conservation. In the background (to the North) is Mound F where the circular platforms and "granary" are located.

Top of the northern end of Harappa Mound AB. Brick robbing has removed all of the large walls of substantial Harappa phase buildings, leaving the massive void visible on the right. Smaller divider walls and thresholds were often overlooked, allowing archaeologists to recover undisturbed the interiors of buildings.

A paving of brick rubble and broken ring stones, dating to late in the Harappa phase, was found on top of Mound AB to the west of the wall void shown in image 410.

A wavy ringstone fragment was found in erosion debris near the rubble leveling shown in Image 411.

Different sizes and colors of ringstones from upper Harappa phase levels of Mound AB, Trench 39N. The smaller rings may have been used to make decorative columns while the larger ones were probably column bases.

This Harappa phase ringstone was originally found many years ago while local residents were digging a well in Harappa town. After some time it ended up at a house in Harappa town where it eventually became buried in the courtyard. It was located by HARP through information supplied by local residents and was given to the Harappa Museum by the Harappa resident who had it in his courtyard.

Excavation assistant Abdul Jabbar from Harappa town begins cleaning the ringstone after excavation.

Laboratory assistants Mohammad Naim, Shokat Ali, Said Ahmed, and Mukthar Massih carry the cleaned and conserved ringstone to the Harappa Museum for display.

Fragments of a grooved red sandstone object or objects were found in the upper disturbed levels of Mound AB, Trench 39N. Similar fragments were recovered in the excavations by Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni in 1921-22, but so far none of them fit together into a complete object and their original function is unknown.

Carved stone fragment of what may be the leg of a composite sculpture, possibly of a large bull. This fragment came from Mound AB, Trench 39N (H98-3475 / 8306-2). No monumental sculptures of the Indus period have been identified, but this object suggests that they may have existed.

Top view of the carved stone sculptural component (Image 418) showing dowel hole for attachment to the rest of the sculpture.

A cubical die with 1 to 6 dots was found in the Harappan phase rubble.

Overview of the north-south oriented brick wall (Feature 50) and doorway of the large Harappan building in Trench 39N. Note the earlier drain that runs east-west underneath the wall.

The brick wall may have been the foundation for a wooden superstructure and the white tags show where wooden posts were fixed. The doorway and threshold are located on the right side of the photograph above the scale.

Plan view of Trench 39N Harappa phase levels with locations noted for some finds including the ring stones, terracotta beads, and sandstone beads. The baked brick drain (Feature 8) probably dates to sometime in Period 3B (ca. 2400-2200 BCE), while the remains of the long baked brick wall (Wall 50 ) and later wall fragments (including Features 10-21) date to Period 3C (ca. 2200-1900 BCE).

The original excavated structure here is being buried beneath a protective layer made from salvaged ancient Harappan bricks. A distinct layer of modern clay and straw plaster separates the original building from the reconstruction.

The reconstructed brick wall is covered each year with a protective coating of clay and straw plaster. The original structure and unexcavated levels remain safely buried beneath a layer of bricks and back dirt.

A portion of a large brick drain (Feature 8) was discovered beneath the Harappan wall (see Image 423). This drain runs E-W and would probably have emptied into a larger N-S drain that flowed to the North through a now-missing gateway.

Brick robbing from both directions removed all but the central portion of this drain, but the remaining contents provide an important sequence of Harappan pottery spanning at least 200 years from 2400-2200 BCE.

This view along Drain [8] into the mound shows details of the brick construction, the robbed out area at the east end of the drain (background), sloping strata above indicating the existence of an open street drain along the same line as the earlier baked brick drain, and the later Period 3C architecture built after the open drain was filled in and the area leveled. The bricks from the eastern part of the drain were robbed by tunneling into the sediment along the line of the drain from the East.

In the street levels above the drain a collection of banded sandstone and banded terracotta beads were discovered.

Banded sandstone beads and (bottom row) imitation stone beads made of different colors of clay.

The impressions of a pipal leaf found in the upper clay levels of the drain (shown here with a modern pipal leaf) indicate that what many think was a sacred tree even at that time was growing in the ancient city of Harappa.

Plan view of the east side of Mound E and the west side of Mound ET showing areas excavated between 1993 and 2001 (Trenches 9, 10, 11). The massive perimeter wall of Mound E encloses architectural remains of Harappa phase Periods 3B and 3C and probably also of Periods 3A and 2, although those were reached only in a sounding in Trench 11 outside (to the East) of wall [250]. "Ring roads" ran both inside and outside of the perimeter wall. Trash and building debris were discarded into those roads, causing both faces of the wall to become progressively buried through time.

Workmen are cleaning the Trench 11 area in preparation for photography during the 1997 excavation season. Perimeter wall [250] is on the left. The curtain wall in the center was constructed to retain trash that was thrown over the perimeter wall into the street below (see Image 435). In the upper right of the photo, excavations are being carried out in Trench 9.

The Trench 11 area showing the perimeter wall (on the left), the curtain wall, and the Period 3C drain that cut deeply into the Period 3B deposits (see the labeled plan in Image 432). The sediments outside of the perimeter wall are hard packed ashy debris deposits. These served to form a glacis that promoted drainage away from the wall and sealed earlier architectural remains beneath. Trench 9 excavations are in the upper right corner of the image.

Deposits of building debris and household rubbish were discarded over the perimeter wall into the open area below and were retained by the curtain wall. This infilling probably took place toward the end of Period 3B when the perimeter wall was being raised in height to accommodate the rising deposits inside the city. (See also image 144).

Ashy debris deposits continued to accumulate outside of the perimeter wall, covering the curtain wall. These date to the end of Harappa Period 3B and the beginning of Period 3C. The area continued to be devoid of structures, although what later remains there may have been have been eroded.

Cross-sections inside (top) and outside (bottom) of perimeter wall [250]. The wall itself, being of mud-brick, was heavily eroded, sometimes to a lower elevation than the adjoining more densely packed street debris. As can be seen in the bottom cross-section, the debris outside of curtain wall [296] was deposited later than the bricks and debris dumped between that wall and the perimeter wall. The absence of pointed-base goblets (Image 73) from all except the uppermost debris deposits indicate that the lower debris levels date prior to Period 3C at Harappa, probably to the second half of Period 3B.

A group of 16 three-sided incised baked steatite tablets, all with the same inscriptions, were uncovered in mid- to late Period 3B debris outside of the curtain wall. (See Image 146). These tablets may originally been enclosed in a perishable container such as a small bag of cloth or leather.

An additional six copies of these tablets, again all with the same inscriptions, were found elsewhere in the debris outside of perimeter wall [250] including two near the group of 16 and two in debris between the perimeter and curtain walls. Here all 22 tablets are displayed together with a unicorn intaglio seal from the Period 3B street inside the perimeter wall, which has two of the same signs as those found on the tablets. (See also Images 145-150). Quoting from R.H. Meadow and J.M. Kenoyer's article in South Asian Archaeology 1997 (Rome, 2001): "It is tempting to think that the evident loss of utility and subsequent discard of the tablets is related to the ìdeathî of the seal. Seals are almost always found in trash or street deposits (and never yet in a grave) indicating that they were either lost or intentionally discarded, the latter seeming the more likely in most instances. The end of the utility of a seal must relate to some life event of its owner, whether change of status, or death, or the passing of an amount of time during which the seal was considered current. A related consideration is that apparently neither seals nor tablets could be used by just anyone or for any length of time because otherwise they would not have fallen out of circulation. Thus the use of seals -- and of tablets -- was possible only if they were known to be current. Once they were no longer current, they were discarded. This would help explain why a group of 16 (or 18) tablets with the same inscriptions, kept together perhaps in a cloth or leather pouch, could have been deposited with other trash outside of the perimeter wall of Mound E."

Although neither of these specific molded terracotta tablet pieces comes from Trench 11, four less well preserved examples from the same mold(s) were found in debris outside of the perimeter wall in that area, clearly establishing a second half of Period 3B date for these tablets. Note the rear of the buffalo and the front of the gharial in the left tablet which overlaps with the iconography of the right tablet, although in this case they do not seem to come from the same mold. (See also Images 89 and 90.

In 2001, excavation of perimeter wall [250] was extended to the Northwest. Here the surface of the wall is being cleared and the bricks outlined. Note the excavation in the foreground left where there was no mud-brick. These regularly spaced rectangular areas may have contained baked brick pillars installed in Period 3C and subsequently robbed.

View of the preserved surface of perimeter wall [250] excavated in 2001 looking Southeast toward the area excavated from 1993 to1997.

Plan view of the portion of perimeter wall [250] excavated in 2001. The pattern of the bricks suggests a complicated series of additions to the inside of the structure that are not yet well understood. There may have been a gateway at the northwestern end, but this also requires further clarification.

In the South, perimeter wall [250] was preserved to a lesser altitude than in the North. In the very south of the area excavated in 1996, the lower portions of the walls of a mud-brick room were found attached to the inside of the perimeter wall next to what was originally thought to be a rectangular platform of baked-bricks set into that wall. This "platform" in fact may be the bottom course of bricks from a later (Period 3C) baked brick pillar. (See caption to Image 441 and see plan in Image 432.) In the street deposits just to the right (North) of the mud-brick room was found the intaglio seal illustrated in Images 145, 146, and 439. Note here also the curtain wall and its associated deposits in the foreground.

Excavations during the 1997-2001 seasons were carried out inside perimeter wall [250]. Here a partial plan of those excavations shows superimposed levels of Period 3C buildings, all mostly robbed of their baked brick walls. [Mud-bricks are hatched, baked bricks are either not-filled-in (1999 excavations) or light gray in color (2001 excavations).] (See also Image 432.)

Towards the east, in what was probably a low area, a series of radiating mud-brick retaining walls were built to contain rubble that was used as a foundation for later structures, only fragments of which are preserved. In the rubble were found a great deal of charcoal and ash as well as potsherds and fragments of broken terracotta objects and other artifacts. In this image, the dark-colored rubble has been partially removed. Note that North is to the left of the image.

In the rubble were found a number of inscribed pieces, including this intaglio seal, seen here in situ next to one of the radiating mud-brick walls.

Unicorn seal H2001-5139/11,756-01 was broken in antiquity and ended up in rubble foundation debris.

Structures in this part of Harappa were sometimes made of a combination of mud-bricks and baked bricks, sometimes mixed in the same wall as seen here in the case of both the southern part of the western wall and part of the northernmost wall. Walls that were made completely of baked brick, however, were often robbed as can be seen here in the case of the northern part of the western wall which has been completely removed by brick-robbers. (See plan in Image 445.)

450. Broken Harappa phase ringstone