The physical examination of individuals from the excavated Harappan cemeteries indicates that the Harappans in general were well nourished and enjoyed good health, suggesting that social differences were not marked by differential access to adequate food and care. Admittedly these burials are only a sample of the population and not necessarily a representative one.
Around seventy skeletons from the R-37 cemetery at Harappa were examined: They were found to have been generally well fed and healthy, although three showed signs of arrested growth, due to childhood malnutrition or illness. Many individuals had, however, suffered from dental caries and other dental disease, due to a diet high in soft foods such as processed cereals. Women's teeth were worse than men's, suggesting that men had access to a more balanced diet: This may reflect cultural differences in the treatment of the sexes. Significantly, the occasional signs of childhood malnutrition were also found in female rather than male skeletons. Analysis of the animal bones from Dholavira showed that three-quarters of the bones from meat eaten by people in the Middle Town were from cattle or buffalo, while in the Bailey these accounted for only half the bones, with pig and caprines more important there than in the Middle Town. This may reflect some status differential in diet between the two areas, though data from other settlements are needed before any clear picture can emerge.
Some individuals suffered arthritis of the neck, probably due to stress from carrying heavy loads on their heads. One child who was buried at Kalibangan had suffered from hydrocephaly, and had undergone, and died from, trepanation, a dangerous operation in which a disc of bone is removed from the skull. Life expectancy seems to have been good: Nearly half the individuals studied from Harappa survived into their mid-thirties and almost a sixth lived beyond fifty-five.
Ironically the Harappans' obsession with water may have exposed them to disease, particularly at Mohenjo-daro. Seepage from the wastewater drains could easily have contaminated drinking water in the public wells. An outbreak of cholera in these circumstances could set in motion a vicious circle of contamination. While cholera is suspected but unproven, the presence of malaria has recently been demonstrated. Stagnant water, both inside the drainage system and in areas of flooded ground, provided the breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying the parasites that spread the disease. This situation would have been at its worst in the late period at Mohenjo-daro when civic standards were in decline. Many skeletons from Mohenjo-daro show signs of porotic hyperostosis, a thinning of the cranial bones probably due to anemia. Kennedy, a leading palaeoanthropologist, links this with the prevalence of malaria causing a high incidence of sickle-cell anemia (thalassemia), a debilitating genetically transmitted condition that, however, gives a degree of protection against malaria. In contrast, porotic hyperostosis was rare at Harappa.
World History
