NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones - The Harappan Civilisation

NCERT
SOLUTIONS
CLASS - 12th

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-I Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 1 Social Science History

Class : 12th

Subject : History

Chapter : 1

Chapter Name : The Harappan Civilisation

Q1 List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the group who would
have provided these.

Answer. A wide range of plants and animals products were available to people in Harappan
cities. The food items available were grains like wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and sesame.
Harappans also ate fish. Animal bones were also found at Harappan sites which includes those
of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pigs. Bones of fish and fowl were also found. Studies done by
zoo-archaeologists suggest that these animals were domesticated but it was not ascertained
whether the Harappans hunted these animals themselves or obtained meat from other hunting
communities.

Products taken from plants : Food gatherers

Animal meat and fish : Hunting communities

Food products like grains : Agricultural or farming communities.

Q2 How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the
differences that they notice?

Answer. The archaeologists traced socio-economic differences in Harappan society through
certain strategies like studying burials and looking for luxuries.

→B ​ urials​ : The burials in Harappan sites, suggested that the dead were laid in pits.
Sometimes, there were differences in the way the burial pits was made in some instances, the
hollowed-out spaces were lined up with bricks. Some graves contained pottery and ornaments,
which indicates a belief that these could be used in the afterlife. Jewellery has also been found
in burials of both men and women.

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-I Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 1 Social Science History

→ ​ Looking for artefacts like "luxuries"​ : This technique is also used to identify social differences
by studying the artefacts, which archaeologists broadly classified as utilitarian and luxuries. The
first category includes objects of daily use made up of ordinary materials such as stone or clay.
It is assumed that if the objects are made up of rare or costly, non-local material or with
complicated technology then it belonged to the category of luxuries.

The differences that they notice from the distribution of artefacts are that - rare objects made of
valuable materials are generally concentrated in large settlements like Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa and are rarely found in the smaller settlements.

Q3 Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give
reasons for your answer.

Answer. Yes, I do agree that the drainage system was one of the most distinctive features of the
Harappan cities which showed that their town planning system was very strong.

Reasons

→ The roads and streets were laid out along an approximate "grid" pattern, intersecting
at right angles.

→ As per the plan of the cities it seems that streets with drains were laid out first and
then houses were built along them.

→ Every house had its own bathroom paved with bricks which connected through the
walls to street drains. If domestic wastewater had to flow into the street drains, every
house needed to have at least one wall along a street.

→ Every house was connected to street drains. The main channels were made of bricks
set in mortar and were covered with loose bricks that could be removed for cleaning.

This clearly shows how well the cities were planned with proper drainage system and it also
shows that the whole settlement was first planned and then implemented.

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-I Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 1 Social Science History

Q4 List the materials used to make beads in Harappan Civilisation. Describe the process by
which any one kind of bead was made.

Answer. Beads were made up of variety of materials, stones like carnelian (of a beautiful red
colour), jasper, crystal, quartz, and steatite; metals like copper, bronze and gold; and shell,
faience and terracotta or burnt clay. Some beads were made of two or more stones, cemented
together, some of stones with gold caps. The beads had numerous shapes like disc-shaped,
cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped, and segmented. Some were decorated by incising or
painting and some had designs etched onto them.

There were different techniques for making beads depending on the type of material. For
example: Steatite, a very soft stone, it was very easy to work with Steatite. Some beads were
moulded with the paste of Steatite powder and many shapes of beads were also made out of it
as it is a very soft stone.

The process followed to make the beads :

→ The beads were given different shapes like cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped,
disc-shaped, segmented, etc

→ The beads were then coloured and painted and some even had designs.

→ Then the nodules were chipped into rough shapes and then we're given their final
forms.

→ In the final stage the beads were grinded, polished and drilled at specialized centres
like Lothal, Chanhudaro and Dholavira.

Q5 Look at the figure 1.30 and describe what you see. How is the body placed? What are the
objects placed near it? Are there any artefacts on the body? Do these indicate the sex of the
skeleton?

Answer. The figure shows a Harappan burial. There is a skeleton lying in the burial.

The body is placed in the north-south direction.

There are some pots which are in different shapes and other objects placed near it which
suggests that they believed in an afterlife.

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-I Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 1 Social Science History

Yes, there is a bangle on the body and it indicates that it is a skeleton of a female.

Q6 Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.

Answer. The distinctive features of Mohenjodaro are :

​Town Planning​ : The settlement was divided into two sections. One was smaller but was higher
known as the Citadel and the other was much larger but was lower known as the Lower Town.

The Lower Town​ : It had residential buildings, many were centred on a courtyard, with rooms on
all sides. The courtyard was the centre of activities such as cooking and weaving. There was a
sense of privacy as there were no windows on walls at ground level besides the main entrance
does not give the direct view of the interior or the courtyard. Every house had its own bathroom
paved with bricks, with drains connected through the walls to the street drains. Many houses
have remains of stairs to reach a second storey or the roof. Many houses had wells often in a
room that could be reached from the outside and perhaps by the passers-by.

The Citadel​ : It was probably used for special public purposes. These include the structures like
the Warehouse and the Great Bath. The Great Bath was large rectangular tank in a courtyard
surrounded by corridor on all four sides. There were two flights of steps in the north and south
leading into the tank, which was made watertight by setting bricks on edge and using mortar of
gypsum. The structure was unique and suggested that it was meant for some special kind of
ritual bath.

Drainage system​ : One of the most distinctive features of this civilisation was it's drainage
system. The pattern of construction suggests that the streets with drains were laid out first and
then houses were built along them. Every house was connected to the street drains. The main
channels were made of bricks set in mortar and were covered with loose bricks that could be
removed for cleaning. Very long drainage channels were provided at intervals with sumps for
cleaning. Drainage system was not unique to the larger cities, but we're found in smaller
settlements as well.

Q7 List the raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan Civilisation and discuss
how these might have been obtained.

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-I Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 1 Social Science History

Answer. The raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan Civilisation were stone
nodules, whole shells, copper ore, etc.

The raw materials required for crafts were procured from various sources like :

→ Some materials like clay were locally available whereas many such as stone, timber and
metal had to be procured from outside the alluvial plain.

→ Shells were obtained from places like Nageshwar and Balakot.

→ Lapis lazuli, a blue stone was obtained from Shortughai, in far- off Afghanistan.

→ Carnelian from Lothal, which was a near source.

→ Steatite from south Rajasthan and north Gujarat.

→ Metal from Rajasthan.

→ Gold from south India and copper from Khetri region of Rajasthan have been procured by
sending expeditions.

Recent archaeological findings suggest that copper was also probably brought from Oman, on
the south-eastern tip of Arabian peninsula. Chemical analyses have shown that both the Omani
copper and Harappan artefacts have traces of nickel, suggesting a common origin.
Mesopotamian texts datable to the third millennium BCE refer to copper coming from a region
called Magan, perhaps a name for Oman and enough copper found at Mesopotamian sites also
contains traces of nickel.

Q8 Discuss how archaeologists reconstruct the past.

Answer. Archaeologists reconstruct the past in the following manner :

→Archaeologists conduct excavations in the ancient sites based on the evidence or accounts
left by the people who visited the site earlier in order to locate the early settlements.

→ They find out artefacts such as seals, bones, crafts, structures, ornaments, tools, toys,
weights, pottery, metals, remains of plants and animals etc.

→ They classify the findings in various groups like materials, tools, ornaments, etc.

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-I Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 1 Social Science History

→ They try to segregate the artefacts based on the context in which they were found by trying to
figure out the functions of the artefacts found.

→ These evidences are then studied by the experts like archaeo-botanists and
archaeo-zoologists to find out their existence through techniques like carbon-dating.

→ Archaeologists then try to trace the cultivation and eating habits of people through the
remains of grains available.

→ They try to figure out the profession or working patterns of people through the kinds of tools
available during that time.

→ Through crafts and seals they try to observe the kind of religious beliefs and practices of the
past.

→ The metals used and ornaments worn by people depicts the socio-economic status of the
people.

→ The burials and the things recovered from burial sites suggested the belief of people in
afterlife, etc.

Q9 Discuss the functions that may have been performed by the rulers in Harappan Society.

Answer. Archaeological records provide no immediate answers about the rulers or the ruling
authority during that time. A large building was found at Mohenjodaro and was labelled as a
palace by archaeologists but no evidence was found associated with it. A stone statue was
labelled as "priest-king" because archaeologists were familiar with Mesopotamian history and its
"priest-kings" and have found parallels in the Indus region.

As we see the ritual practices of the Harappan Civilisation are not well understood and there are
not even proper means to know whether those who performed them also held political power.

Some archaeologists opined that Harappan society had no rulers and everybody enjoyed equal
status. Others feel that there was no single ruler but several and Mohenjodaro had separate
ruler.

Few others state that there was a single state as there is a similarly in artefacts, the evidence for
planned settlements, the standardised ratio of brick size, and the establishment of settlements
near sources of raw materials. As of now, the last theory seems plausible, as it is unlikely that
entire communities could have collectively made and implemented such complex decisions.

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-I Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 1 Social Science History

Q10 On Map 1, use a pencil to circle the sites where evidence of agriculture has been
recovered. Mark an X against sites where there is evidence of craft production and R against
sites where raw materials were found.

Answer. Sites of agriculture : Harappa, Banawali, Kalibangan, Mohenjodaro, Dholavira
(Gujarat).

Sites of Craft Production : Chanhudaro, Nageshwar, Balakot.

Sites of Raw materials : Nageshwar, Balakot, Khetri.

Page : 27 , Block Name : Map Based Question

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