Harappa Trench B 1923-24
This section presents the photographs from excavations led by Daya Ram Sahni in 1923-24.
Sahni published his brief report in the Annual Report Of The Archaeological Survey Of India 1923-24 in 1926. Many of the photographs published with his report are included in the slides here. Some of the photographs were also published in Madho Sarup Vats' monograph Excavations at Harappa: Being an account of archaeological excavations at Harappa carried out between the years 1920-21 and 1933-34. Volume I - Text; Volume II - 139 Plates.
To find out more about the excavation in the 1923-24 season, visit our description of The Second Season of Excavations at Harappa Conducted by Daya Ram Sahni 1923-24.
This section has approximately 60 photographs associated with the excavations at Harappa in the 1923-24 season. These appear in slideshow format in the 49 slides, with similar or closely related photographs of an object grouped together. The photographs include views of the mounds before they were cut into, the sections of the excavated trenches often with objects in situ, and images of objects after they had been cleaned and catalogued. This broad range of visuals available required us (at Harappa.com) to take some decisions about how to present this information in a way that provides some wider context without detracting from each image individually. To this end, we have loosely organised this visual narrative following the way Sahni presented the material in his 1923-24 report. This is done as follows: the first part of the series looks at Mound F, including images of its surface, trenches, excavation and the objects found there, we then do the same for Mound A-B, followed by smaller Trench E. To orient the viewer, we include maps for each of these areas Vats' monograph that situate the mound within the Harappan excavations, and we also insert plans and elevations where pertinent and referenced in the associated text. Our aim is to convey the sense of discovery as well as the unknown that would have prevailed in these initial seasons of excavation.
The role of these early records and photographs cannot be emphasised enough. Archaeological excavation by its nature and definition is considered inherently destructive. In fact, the word excavation derives from the Latin word excavo, which means to hollow out. The process of cutting into soil and, albeit systematically, moving and removing what is encountered changes the site. “Every archaeological site is itself a document. It can be read by a skilled excavator, but it is destroyed by the very process which enables us to read it. Unlike the study of an ancient document, the study of a site by excavation is an unrepeatable experiment."(Barker 1993:13) This is where these photographs become such a critical and vital source of information, offering us the possibility to see, once again, what the archaeologists saw and how the discoveries progressed. But these photographs should not be read as objective documentation. Everything that is recorded about an excavation in writings, drawings and photographs comes from the decisions and approaches of the people who are involved. As Roosevelt et al. note, "excavation is seen as displacement, a material intervention, and a form of archiving that incorporates an excavator's approaches, interpretations, and biases into the archive itself, with the implicit understanding that the archaeological record becomes subjective as soon as archaeologists engage with it." (Roosevelt et al. 2001:325)
These photographs from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that we are curating season by season from the excavations at Harappa, not only offer a fascinating glimpse into what the people working at the site of Harappa saw, and worked through, but also provide insights into the methods and approaches that were being used, revised and improved, both for excavating the site and in the use of photography in archaeology. These images also reveal to us things that the written archive sometimes renders invisible, but the camera has captured in the moment - the faces and stances of the local workers, the archaeologist looking out over the mounds, the trees, shadows and dust that form the landscape. Off-site, in the photographs of the artefacts, we can start to see how the archival record and its methods are developing, with information about scales and lighting incorporated, and corrections made when a figurine is inadvertantly pictured upside down!
We hope that this visual journey through the 1923-24 discovery of Harappa as recorded in the Archaeological Survey of India photographs will offer you new insights and help you understand more about this remarkable site and the process of its discovery.
- Dr. Nadine Zubair
References:
Barker, P. (1993) Techniques of Archaeological Excavation (third edition). London: B.T. Batsford
Christopher H. Roosevelt, Peter Cobb, Emanuel Moss, Brandon R. Olson & Sinan Ünlüsoy (2015) Excavation is Destruction Digitization: Advances in Archaeological Practice, Journal of Field Archaeology, 40:3, 325-346, DOI: 10.1179/2042458215Y.0000000004
Vats, M. S. (1940) Excavations at Harappā. Being an Account of Archælogical Excavations at Harappā Carried Out between the Years 1920-21 and 1933-34 Etc. [with Plates Including Maps.]. Calcutta: Government of India Press.
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1. Harappa Site Map This map of Harappa was published by Madho Sarup Vats in his 1941 monograph on Harappa Excavations at Harappa: Being an account of archaeological excavations at Harappa carried out between the years… |
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2. Mound F Site Map A close view of the plan for Mound F (where the so-called "Great Granary" is located) at Harappa from Madho Sarop Vats, Excavations at Harappa, Delhi, 1940, pp. 17, which was published some 16 years… |
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3. Trench A Excavations from Southwest "In January 1921, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni sank in the north-western part of this mound the diagonal Trench A, 16 ft. wide and 500 ft. |
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4. Trench A Excavations Harappa from SW "In January 1921, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni sank in the north-western part of this mound the diagonal Trench A, 16 ft. wide and 500 ft. |
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5. Harappa Excavations in Trench A (b) Trench A(b) is one of eastward trenches cut by Daya Ram Sahni in Mound F. |
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6. Parallel walls in Trench A (b) from S.E. In the 1923-24 season, Trench A(b) was one of the extensions dug by Daya Ram Sahni from the centre of Trench A in Mound F. |
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7. Trenches Aa and Ac in Progress "In order to trace some more walls of the two blocks of the Great Granary Mr. Sahni made a few stray extensions about the centre of Trench A both towards the east and west. |
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8. Trench and Jars This is a photograph of the same area as in Slide 7, Trench A (e) (Vats 1947, Plate IX), but taken from the northeastern edge of the trench looking north. |
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9. Earthen Jars insitu Harappa This photograph of a jar illustrated in the center of Trench A(e) (Vats 1947, Plate IX), shows the base of a large jar that was probably used as a latrine. |
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10. Excavations in Trench A from South "Four other trial trenches were dug in site F in places which appeared most favourable for examination. |
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11. Large earthenware Vat "Four trial trenches were dug in site F in places which appeared most favourable for examination. |
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12. Pointed Base Goblet "In order to trace some more walls of the two blocks of the Great Granary Mr. Sahni made a few stray extensions about the centre of Trench A both towards the east and west. |
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13. Tall Flaring Cylindrical Vessel This form of tall flaring cylindrical vessel was probably used as a drinking vessel. |
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14. Neck of Large Jar There are two photographs of the painted neck of an oval jar (A442) discovered in Mound F. |
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15. Two Historical Terracotta Vessels These two clay lamps were photographed together, however one (A419) was found in Mound F, and the other (Bg3) was found in Mound A-B. |
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16. Terracotta Head and Bull These two photographs are of two terracotta figurines, on the left is a female figurine with a scrolled headdress, and on the right is a humped bull with broken horns. In the first image (ASI no. 416… |
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17. Terracotta and Stone Objects From left to right, a miniature version of a cylindrical perforated jar made of terracotta, a cubical chert stone weight, a small terracotta cylindrical drinking vessel, with a toy terracotta… |
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18. Terracotta Bird Figurines "Animal figures, mostly in terracotta, have been found in very large numbers at Harappa. |
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19. Terracotta Animal Figurines "Animal figures, mostly in terracotta, have been found in very large numbers at Harappa. |
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20. Terracotta bull, female bust and bull head Smaller items start getting grouped for the photographs, in photographs from subsequent years we start to see many more objects grouped in each image. |
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21. Two Gaming Pieces This excerpt refers to mound F excavations in Extension Ab. |
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22. Faience Tablet and Button Seals "In order to trace some more walls of the two blocks of the Great Granary Mr. Sahni made a few stray extensions about the centre of Trench A both towards the east and west. |
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23. Three Inscribed Unicorn Seals These three seals all have the same unicorn animal motif and a ritual container placed below the head of the animal. |
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24. Three Inscribed Unicorn Seals Seals are numbered left to right. Seal 1: [no description found] Seal 2: A263, Mound F, north-western end of Trench A |
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25. Three Inscribed Seals The central unicorn seal is the same as the one pictured earlier. The rectangular seal fragment on the left is a style of seal without any animal motif and starts to be found at Harappa starting… |
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26. Steatite and Faience Seals and Tablets The seals are numbered 1-7 from top left to bottom right. Seal 1: Mound A-B |
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27. Mound AB Map A close view of Mound AB at Harappa from Madho Sarop Vats, Excavations at Harappa, Delhi, 1940, pp. |
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28. Mound AB Naugaza Mound "In the northern portion of this mound, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni excavated a considerable area (B) in the years 1920-21, 1923-24 and 1924-25. He began by sinking a trial trench 55 ft. |
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29. Harappa Trench B from East Trench B is the name given to a series of trenches dug in mound A-B over successive seasons by Dara Ram Sahni between 1921 and 1925. (See below for details in Vats' account) |
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30. Harappa Trench B 1923-24 "Due south of Mound F, and across the village road going west to the hamlet of Hafiz Bullah, stands Mound AB—the highest of all the mounds at Harappa (Pl. I). |
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31. Overview of the Excavation at the Northeast Corner of Mound AB The man at the center of this image is likely to be Daya Ram Sahni [see closer view], but further work is needed to absolutely be certain of identity of the individuals in the photographs. In this… |
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32. Late Brick Wall and Granary Note that Trench Bf was subsumed by Trench B over subsequent seasons. |
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33. Trench B Excavations Showing Overlapping Walls The section above the wall shows the remains of a deep pit left by the brick robbers. |
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34. Trench B Central Paving "In the northern portion of this mound, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni excavated a considerable area (B) in the years 1920-21, 1923-24 and 1924-25. He began by sinking a trial trench 55 ft. |
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35. Trench B East-West Wall The excavations on mound A-B revealed several strata of inhabitation with walls, platforms and drains indicated. Several objects were unearthed in these strata. |
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36. Trench B Northern Structures From Mound A-B, strata VI and VII. Image Plate XXc is published in the 1923-24 report. |
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37. Trench B Western Extension Looking from the northeast to the southwest, this photo shows the plinths left from the excavation of this area. |
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38. Trench B, Excavation Overview Mound A-B Trench B: General View from East-South East. This image was published in Vats' monograph as Pl XXX, d. |
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39. Mound AB View from the South A view of the fragmentary Harappa Phase building foundations located to the west of the Baba Noor Shah tomb. - Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, 2023. |
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40. Harappa Earthen Jar D27 There are several photographs of the earthen jar D27 that was found on Mound A-B. This was one of the earliest complete pots discovered at Harappa. |
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41. Painted Vase "The sites F and A-B and some of the other mounds bid fair to yield many more valuable relics and the deep ravines cut by rain water afford convenient places for reaching the earlier strata with… |
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42. Painted Pot Sherds These two pot sherds depict commonly recurring motifs on pottery at Harappa and Mohenjodaro. |
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43. Ringstones and Carved Stone from Trench B Mound A-B |
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44. Two Steatite Unicorn Seals The seals are published as Plate XIX, 8 and 9 in Sahni's report (Daya Ram Sahni, 1926. |
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45. Steatite Unicorn Seals It is worth noting that in these earlier reports, seals were photographed in their original form. |
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46. Steatite Seals These steatite seals are depicted in Sahni's report for 1923-24, although only only is described and its location provided. The four seals are listed clockwise from the top left. |
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47. Copper Toiletry Set "The sites F and A — B and some of the other mounds bid fair to yield many more valuable relics and the deep ravines cut by rain water afford convenient places for reaching the earlier strata with… |
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48. Two Fasciolaria Trapezium Shells Harappan shell working was carried out in many areas of the site using a wide range of marine shell species. |
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49. Large Storage Jar This complete large storage jar may have been recovered from Mound E, as it has a number E.1. painted on the surface. Harappans often used this type of vessel for storing water or other items. |