Microscopic analysis of bead drill hole
Scanning electron microscope photos of a molded impression of the drill hole indicate that the amazonite bead (8) was drilled with a tapered chert or jasper drill.
HARP (Harappa Archaeological Research Project) a group of scholars from a variety of fields dedicated to advancing the study of the ancient Indus Valley civilization.
Scanning electron microscope photos of a molded impression of the drill hole indicate that the amazonite bead (8) was drilled with a tapered chert or jasper drill.
This large Ravi phase pit was filled with domestic trash and some bead making debris. The broken amazonite bead in (8) can be seen just above the scale inside the pit to the lower right of the image.
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.)
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.
Normally in archaeology pits are emptied before earlier surrounding layers are excavated.
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.
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.
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.
View of Harappa Mound AB Trench 39N from the North showing the earliest Ravi [Aspect of the Hakra] phase occupation levels (Period IA, ca. 3300 BC). These levels revealed traces of post molds from houses that were oriented N-S/E-W.
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