Much of the known evidence on settlement distribution, density, and size has come from surface surveys. In suitable areas these can provide a good indication of settlement distribution and density. One result of the drying up of the Saraswati River has been that sites along its branches have generally not been covered or disturbed by later settlement; in contrast, in other regions later settlement, agriculture, and other activities may have destroyed or masked Harappan sites. Some areas are not amenable to surveys, in particular Sindh, where thick alluvial deposits conceal the remains of former settlements unless, like those of Mohenjo-daro, they were substantial mounds visible above the alluvium. Conversely, changes in the course of the rivers has often eroded or
Mohenjo-daro’s citadel is visible high above the modern alluvium because it is crowned by a large Buddhist stupa (relic mound) built around 200 CE. Excavation around the stupa led to the city’s discovery. However, its presence means that, tantalizingly, the part of the citadel lying beneath it cannot be investigated. (Yousaf Fayyaz/Fotolia)
Destroyed settlements. The coverage of the greater Indus region has also been uneven: While intensive surveys have been conducted along the former Saraswati River, and in Punjab and Gujarat, investigation of other regions has been much less comprehensive. The picture obtained from surveys is therefore far from complete.
The types of material collected from the surface of surveyed sites, mainly potsherds but also industrial debris such as kiln pieces, copper slag, or flint chips, give some clues to the variety of activities that took place at each. In some sites, the ruins of mounds survive, and surface examination can reveal some architectural clues. However, survey alone is limited in the information that it can yield about settlements. Sites found in survey are generally allocated, by size and by the materials they have yielded, to categories such as campsite, settled village, town, and city. However, excavations have demonstrated that the size of a settlement is not an adequate guide to its complexity. There is an expectation that small sites were villages or pastoralists' camps, but some on excavation have proved to be specialist industrial, trade, or administrative centers, while a number of larger settlements were villages rather than towns. For example, the prosperous farming village of Rojdi eventually grew to 7.5 hectares whereas the important industrial and trading town of Lothal was less than 5 hectares. Other considerations may also affect the surface extent of sites. Those occupied over a long period, and especially those that were relocated within a short distance, can result in a spread of material over an area far larger than that occupied at any one time; this effect is exemplified by the long-lived settlement of Mehrgarh, which moved its area of occupation several times. Manure containing domestic debris may be spread onto fields around a settlement, giving a false impression of the latter's extent, and later disturbance and reuse of building materials can produce a similar result. Seasonal occupation by pastoralists outside a town may also result over the centuries in a spread of occupation debris over an area far greater than that occupied in any one year.
Settlement Patterns
The Harappan Regions. The most densely settled region seems to have been Cholistan, in the lower part of the Saraswati Valley. The many settlements identified here range from less than 2 to more than 100 hectares. This suggests that a dense network of farming settlements existed in this area, with many towns, satellite industrial villages, and at least one city, Ganweriwala. But this picture must remain hypothetical until excavations are undertaken in sample sites to verify what has been proposed.
Farther east, surveys in the upper valleys of the Sutlej, Saraswati, and Drishadvati Rivers also show a considerable density of settlement, though less concentrated than in Cholistan, with sites of a range of sizes. A number of the larger sites (most in the range of 10-30 hectares) have been excavated to some extent. These include Mitathal and the massive site of Rakhigarhi (80 hectares) in the east, Banawali in the center of this area, and Kalibangan at the confluence of the Drishadvati and the Saraswati.
In contrast, in the Punjab very few sites have been located, despite extensive fieldwork. This probably reflects the overwhelming importance of pastoralism in this generally arid region where cultivation would have been confined to the banks of the rivers: the Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas, and Indus. The only major settlement in this region appears to have been Harappa. Beyond these regions to the northeast, there were only a few outlying settlements, such as Ropar in the Siwalik Hills, located to exploit Himalayan timber.
The highlands west of the Punjab had been closely integrated with the Indus region in the Early Harappan period but did not form part of the Mature Harappan realms. Though politically separate, the northern highlands were probably friendly territory through which Harappan traders could pass to reach southern Central Asia and the Harappan outpost of Shortugai. Some pastoralists from this region may have brought their animals into the Indus region during the winter.
The situation was somewhat different in southern Baluchistan, where the people of the Kulli culture enjoyed a close relationship with the Harappans. To their south lay the Makran coastal region, whose inhabitants had previously depended on marine resources. This region was settled by the Harappans to facilitate maritime trade through the Gulf. Excavations have been conducted in the fortified settlements of Sutkagen-dor and Sotka Koh, and other coastal trade posts have also been located, situated at the mouth of rivers that offered routes through the mountains. There were also towns and villages, such as Balakot and Prahag, concerned with fishing and the shell industry.
Harappan sites were also located in the foothills of Baluchistan where seasonal streams provided water for agriculture and routes into the highlands. These included Ghazi Shah near the foot of the Kirthar Range. Pastoralists on their annual migrations from upland summer to lowland winter pastures passed through this border region, and some border settlements, such as 100-hectare Pathani Damb at the foot of the Kirthars controlling the Mula pass, may have functioned as customs' and warehousing centers for goods being transported by these pastoralists.
Encircled by these regions was Sindh, a region that on ecological grounds should have been densely settled with farming communities but where alluvial deposits are likely to have skewed the discovery of ancient sites toward the larger and therefore more visible settlements. Nevertheless, a few smaller sites have been located and excavated, including Allahdino whose tiny 1.4-hectare extent contrasts with its evident importance and organization. There are also sites of intermediate size, including Chanhu-daro on the Indus, and 25-hectare Judeirjo-daro on the interface with the Kachi plain, as well as the vast settlement of Mohenjo-daro, now reckoned at 250 hectares. The importance of the Indus as a highway also influenced settlement location in this region.
South of Sindh lies Gujarat, the southernmost Harappan province, and probable location of the Indus delta in Harappan times. The northern part, Kutch, was at that time an island and the southern part, Saurashtra, was separated from the mainland by the Nal Depression, possibly filled with water. Most of the farming settlements of the region were located in Saurashtra. These were relatively few in number; pastoralism was of more importance than arable agriculture in the region at that time. (The situation changed markedly in the early second millennium when the cultivation of kharif crops saw the expansion of farming settlement into rainfall-dependent areas.) Pastoral camps have been found in Saurashtra and in the seasonal grasslands of north Gujarat, home mainly to hunter-gatherers. This is the only region where rural settlements, such as Nesadi, Rojdi, and Kanewal, have been excavated. Other settlements, in the coastal regions and islands of Gujarat, were related to land and sea trade and to industry, such as shellworking and beadmaking. The city of Dholavira, the regional center, was at least 60 hectares; towns such as Lothal, Surkotada, Kuntasi, and Gola Dhoro were only a few hectares but were internally complex. The value of access to sea routes and marine resources is underlined by the existence of specialist settlements
Designed to exploit them, such as the shell processing settlement at Nageshwar and the salt production site at Padri.
Settlement Location. Regional factors determined the density of permanent settlements in the Harappan zones, with farming settlements concentrated in the Saraswati Valley and, it is assumed, in Sindh and being confined to the more restricted areas of suitable land in the Punjab and Gujarat. The archaeologically less visible, often temporary, camps of pastoralists and hunter-gatherers must have filled the apparent settlement gaps in many regions.
Other factors also influenced the location of settlements throughout the Indus realms. Access to water is an important consideration in settlement siting the world over. The majority of Harappan settlements were located near water sources such as streams and aquifers, but the Harappans were competent hydraulic engineers, sinking wells (as at Mohenjo-daro) and building reservoirs (as at Dholavira) where local surface water supplies were inadequate. They dealt with the problems of river flooding, annually variable in its location and force and a potential deterrent to settlement in some areas, by constructing many settlements with massive flood defenses in the form of platforms and walls.
Good communications and access to raw materials are also worldwide considerations in settlement location, but these seem to have been unusually important to the Harappans. Towns and cities were situated at strategic locations to facilitate and control communications, both within the Indus realms and with the outside world. Such settlements included those in Makran, founded to manage trade with and through the Gulf. Many villages and towns were focused on the large-scale procurement and processing of raw materials, such as shells at Nageshwar and Balakot or gemstones for beads at Lothal, and a number of such settlements were established on the borders or outside the Harappan polity, such as Manda in the Himalayas to procure timber and the distant settlement of Shortugai to obtain lapis and metals.
World History
