Chapter 5: Grindingstone Acquisition Networks | Download PDF
New Introductory Paragraph by Randall Law, 2024
Grindingstones are, in terms of total weight, by far the most abundant kind of stone artifact found at
Harappa. Included in this category are querns, mortars, mullers, pestles, whetstones, burnishers and
adzes. The majority are made from some form of sedimentary rock such as sandstone, quartzite,
siltstone, or mudstone while a small percentage are composed of igneous or volcanic rocks. In this
chapter, grindingstone artifacts from Harappa are compared to geologic samples collected from stone
outcrops within the upper Indus Basin and from the hills and ranges surrounding it.
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GRINDINGSTONE ACQUISITION NETWORKS
Chapter introduction – The importance of grindingstones
Groundstone implements are, in terms of total weight, by far the most abundant kind of stone artifact found at Harappa. Included in this category are querns, mortars, mullers, pestles, whetstones, burnishers and adzes. Examples have been recovered in abundance from every chronological phase and on every habitational mound at the site. The only lithic categories containing more individually tabulated artifacts are those for steatite, chert and agate, which is certainly due in large part to the fact that a great deal of debitage is generated in the process of turning those raw materials into finished products. In this chapter, I examine the networks through which residents of Harappa acquired the largest, heaviest and perhaps most important kinds of groundstone implements - the querns and mullers that are essential for both processing foods and for performing many craft activities.
Preparing cereals for human consumption is a multi-stage procedure that usually involves several different kinds of implements. Evidence for cereal processing at Harappa mainly exists in the form of stone querns and hand mullers. Other implements used may have been made of perishable materials that have not survived. The use of wooden mortars and pestles to de-husk cereals by pounding prior to further processing with stone querns is documented in Eg ypt during this period (Nesbit and Samuel 1996: 51-53). The prevalence of querns and mullers at the site might reflect the differential preservation of processing implements and/or that some processing stages took place away from of the city. These objects were, nevertheless, indispensable tools for preparing staple cereals (and many other foods) and so having a reliable supply of them would have been especially critical to the development and maintenance of an urbanized society supported by agricultural surplus.
The role of craft activities in the economic and political development of complex societies in general (Costin 1991; Helms 1993) and the Indus Civilization in particular (Kenoyer 1989, 1992a) cannot be underestimated. It is therefore important to note that querns and mullers were also necessary for modifying a range of non-consumables such as wood, shell, bone, hide and minerals (Dubreuil 2004). In a burgeoning center of craft production like Harappa a reliable supply of these implements would have been essential.
Querns and mullers (hereafter referred to together as “grindingstones”) are the largest and heaviest utilitarian artifacts found at Harappa. Some of the few complete querns that have been recovered weigh in excess of 20 kg. Transporting these bulky items from distant sources to the site in the amounts necessary to fulfill the requirements of an urban population would have required some form of organized effort. As Harappa grew, it certainly would have demanded an increasing expenditure of energy over time. When that reality is considered together with the requisite need for grindingstones to process staple foods and in craft production (plus the fact that there are no local stone sources whatsoever), it makes this category of artifact an excellent one with which to investigate issues relating to economy, transportation capabilities and early urban lifeways at Harappa.
I begin by first examining the regions within and surrounding the upper Indus Basin that would have been the most likely sources of the grindingstones used at Harappa. Then I provide the details and results of a large-scale study in which geologic materials from those sources were visually compared to grindingstones recovered during excavations and surveys at the site. Lastly, I examine the geologic provenience determinations made in that study in relation to Harappa’s location, chronological sequence and spatial layout.
The rest of Chapter 5 is in the attached PDF below.
Images
Figure 5.1 Sites and source areas discussed in this chapter.
Figure 5.2 The southernmost Kirana Hills outcrop at Shah Kot - 120 km north-northeast of Harappa. For residents of Harappa, this would have been the closest source of stone of any kind. Note that the outcrop and the historic period site that abuts it are being destroyed by quarrying.
Figure 5.3 One of the northernmost Kirana Hills outcrops near Sargodha.
Figure 5.4 The Chiniot (foreground) and Rabwa-Chenab Nagar outcrops (background) at the point where the Chenab River passes between them.
Figure 5.5 Rock engravings at Rabwa-Chenab Nagar. Photo courtesy of Muzaffar Ahmad.
Figure 5.6 The Sulaiman Range near Ft. Munro.
Figure 5.7 Massive boulder beds at the base of the Sulaiman Range near Sakhi Sawar.
Figure 5.8 The southern base of the Salt Range, Pakistan.
Figure 5.9 Khewra sandstone, Salt Range, Pakistan.
Figure 5.10 A man near Lille (central Salt Range) displaying a locally made Khewra sandstone muller.
Figure 5.11 Red sandstone quarry at Dulmera, Bikaner District, Rajasthan.
Figure 5.12 The Siwaliks near Chandigarh, Punjab, India.
Figure 5.13 Sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic cobbles in the loosely consolidated conglomerate of the Siwaliks.
Figure 5.14 The gray granite of Dharan Hill, near Tosham, southern Haryana, India.
Figure 5.15 Tosham Hill, southern Haryana, India.
Figure 5.16 Sandy-textured Delhi Quartzite from Kaliana Hill, Haryana, India.
Figure 5.17 Grindingstone carver at Kaliana Village.
Figure 5.18 Quern, muller and mortar made from Kaliana Hills Delhi Quartzite.
Figure 5.19 Examining and recording grindingstones at Harappa.
Figure 5.20:Overall composition of the grindingstone assemblage at Harappa (without reference to period or context)
Figure 5.21 The Pab Formation, details of the types of sandstone found in it and examples of Pab sandstone artifacts from Harappa and other sites.
Figure 5.22 Workmen carving millstones out of Pab sandstone.
Figure 5.23 Detail of Pab sandstone millstone at Mardan showing a mixture of both brown-speckled and homogenous brown material.
Figure 5.24 Delhi quartzite outliers in southern Haryana, detail of stone types found there and examples of Delhi quartzite artifacts from Harappa and other sites.
Figure 5.25 Gray sandstone artifacts at Harappa, rivers draining the Himalayas, cobbles found in their beds and gray sandstone artifacts at other sites.
Figure 5.26 Kirana Hills outcrops, details of two types of stone found there and examples from Harappa.
Figure 5.27: Grindingstone source utilization through time (percentage calculated by number of individual objects)
Figure 5.28: Grindingstone source utilization through time (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.29: Grindingstone source utilization on Mound AB - Period 1 (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.30: Grindingstone source utilization by mound - Period 2 (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.31: Grindingstone source utilization by mound - Period 3A (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.32: Grindingstone source utilization by mound - Period 3B (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.33: Grindingstone source utilization by mound - Period 3C (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.34: Grindingstone source utilization by mound - Surface and disturbed contexts (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.35: Grindingstone source utilization on mound AB - Periods 4/5 (percentage calculated by total weight of each type)
Figure 5.36: Average weights of grindingstones (whole and fragmentary) by period.
The Chapter section titles are:
Potential grindingstone sources in and around the upper Indus Basin
The Kirana Hills
The Sulaiman Range
The Salt Range
Bikaner area occurrences
The foothills zone of the Himalayas
Tosham Hills and Aravalli Outliers
Determining the geologic provenience of Harappa’s grindingstones
The geologic provenience composition of Harappa’s grindingstone assemblage
Pab sandstone
Delhi quartzite
Gray sandstone
Kirana Hills stone
“Unknown” Provenience
Diachronic and spatial variations in grindingstone source utilization at Harappa
Site-wise diachronic trends in grindingstone source utilization
Ravi Phase – Period 1 (ca. 3300 BC to 2800 BC)
Kot Diji Phase – Period 2 (2800 to 2600 BC)
Harappa Phase – Period 3A (2600 to 2450 BC)
Harappa Phase – Period 3B (2450 to 2200 BC)
Harappa Phase – Period 3C (2200 to 1900 BC) and surface/disturbed context finds
Transitional and Late Harappa Phase – Periods 4 & 5 (ca. 1900 to <1300 BC)
Discussion – Patterns of grindingstone acquisition and discard at Harappa
Brief remarks on grindingstone acquisition patterns at other Indus cities
Chapter conclusion
