Little is known of the reasons for the abandonment of this great city in about 2000 b. c.e. Many other cities in Sind and the western Punjab, including HARAPPA, were also deserted at about the same time, although the Indus civilization settlements continued unabated to the east. In the uppermost layer of the site, Dales encountered clear evidence for the burning of a house. The wooden doorjambs had suffered a conflagration, pottery vessels littered the floor, and in a narrow lane five skeletons lay among the burnt debris of houses. Fourteen skeletons were found in a room in one of the houses of the lower city. Yet there is no evidence to date these remains, and they could well represent late burials with no reference to massacre in any shape or form. In the past, such evidence has been linked with the invasion of Indo-Aryan warriors who allegedly wrought the destruction of the cities of the Indus civilization, but this theory is no longer tenable because of a complete lack of evidence. Other theories to explain abandonment include an accumulation of river water due to tectonic movements, followed by a massive flood, but this interpretation has not stood the test of time either. It is, however, possible that salinization and overexploitation of the agricultural soil might have been a contributory factors.
Further reading: Dales, G. F. “The Mythical Massacre at Mohenjo Daro,” Expedition 6 (1964): 36-43; Kenoyer, J. M. Ancient Cities of the Indus Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998; Marshall, J. Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization. Ottawa: Asian Educational Services, 1996; Wheeler, R. E. M. Early India and Pakistan. London: Thames and Hudson, 1959.
Mojiaoshan Mojiaoshan is a large site of the liangzhu CULTURE, located on the northern margin of Hangchow Bay, central China. Excavations there in 1991-92 revealed a major center covering an area of more than 30 hectares (75 acres). It was founded in the early fourth century B. C.E. and was probably defended by a moat rather than walls. The Liangzhu culture of the lower Chang (Yangtze) Valley has many settlements that indicate a marked development of social ranking. Some graves were very richly endowed with jade offerings, and the size and presence of stamped-earth building foundations at Mojiaoshan are important indications of this trend.
Mokkan A mokkan is a wooden tablet bearing a written statement, found in the Japanese state of yamato by the second half of the seventh century c. e. and in considerable quantities during the period when heijo-kyo was the capital (710-84 C. E.). First recognized at Yui in 1928, mokkan were found in quantity at the Heijo palace at NARA (710-794 C. E.) in 1961. One of the first to be discovered was a request for supplies by a court lady. Mokkan have opened a new and exciting chapter in the study of documentary sources that illuminate early Japanese civilization. The vast majority are from Nara, but hundreds of other sites have also yielded them. Before their discovery, the study of documents relating to the Yamato state had been based largely on the NIHONGI, a historic tract completed in 720 C. E., which drew on earlier sources long since lost. The minute study of this text by historians had reached its effective limit, but many areas of disagreement remained. The mokkan records have contributed fresh information of considerable importance. one such contentious area, for example, is the nature of the so-called taika reform. These edicts, which were said to have been issued in 646 C. E., had the effect of putting the Yamato administration in line with that in Tang China, with particular attention paid to the taxation system and the organization of rural communities. Some historians found the relevant passages in the Nihongi inconsistent with this date. However, the discovery of contemporary records on the wooden tablets confirms the mid-seventh century date.
MOKKAN TYPES
Mokkan were fashioned from cedar or cypress wood to a length of between five and 20 centimeters (8 in.). The longest reach about one meter in length. one of these, sharpened at one end, announced the disappearance of a horse and may have been stuck in the ground so that passersby could learn of the loss and look out for the stray animal. The mokkan were recycled, sometimes on many occasions, by shaving off the existing text to make way for a new one. Thus they were shortened or became wafer thin. The texts vary Some are official documents. Many are labels attached to cloth, shellfish, seaweed, rice, or iron delivered as tax goods to the court. There were passports to permit travel and orders issued from the court. They open the fine details of the administration and tax system to analysis. The capital at Nara employed an army of bureaucrats to follow the emperor’s administrative demands, as promulgated in the Taiho code of 702 and the longer Yoro code of 720 c. e. How these were implemented and the mechanics of this administrative machine were little known until a hoard of more than 12,000 mokkan were discovered just outside the Nara palace.
World History
