Although most known Harappan settlements were towns and cities, the bulk of the Harappan population must have been farmers and pastoralists, as well as fisherfolk and hunter-gatherers, living in villages, hamlets, and seasonal camps. Few such settlements have been found, though a number have been located in Gujarat; the majority of those that have been excavated apparently date from the early second millennium. In some sites the only traces of occupation were artifacts and rubbish located within ashy patches of soil, marking the interior of a temporary or flimsy hut; sometimes, as at Oriyo Timbo in Saurashtra, there were also hearths and storage pits. These were probably seasonal campsites, and they are known particularly from the sand dunes of north Gujarat, where grassland and waterholes were available for some months after the monsoon.
In other cases, postholes marked the edges of circular huts built of a post framework with walls of mud, wattle and daub, or reeds and mud tempered with cow dung. Sometimes there was also a central post to support the roof. Floors were generally of beaten earth. Similar huts in modern Gujarat have a life expectancy of around fifty years. Internal fixtures generally included a hearth. Some of these villages were as large as or larger than many towns. For example, Kanewal in southern Gujarat, whose economy was probably based on a mixture of farming, animal husbandry, and hunting, was 6 hectares. It contained circular huts of wooden posts, wattle, and daub. Large pottery jars were used for storage. Similar huts were excavated in the pastoral villages of Vagad in Saurashtra and Zekda (Jekhada) in north Gujarat; at the latter some of the houses had a large porch, and in a few there was a rectangular platform on which to stand pots. Occupation debris at Zekda formed a number of thin layers, indicating that this was a seasonal site to which people returned on an annual basis. Nesadi (Valabhi) in Saurashtra was another such pastoral village, 4 hectares in extent, occupied during the winter months when local grazing was good and deserted by the rainy season when the area was flooded.
The integration of these rural settlements into the Harappan communications and distribution network is shown by the discovery in them of a few exotic or valuable manufactured pieces, such as beads of lapis and faience. For example, the inhabitants of Kanewal had fine pottery and copper ornaments as well as everyday objects such as beads, figurines, and cooking pots.
Rojdi. The Saurashtran village of Rojdi is a striking example of a rural settlement. A stone wall surrounded the village and probably dates back to the original occupation of the mound around 2500 BCE, when the village was 2.5 hectares in extent. In the Late Harappan period, the village expanded to its south and north, tripling its size. A large building was put up at the northern end, and an enlarged wall, with bastions and a substantial gateway, was constructed around the entire settlement. All the structures uncovered belong to this period (period C, 1900-1700 BCE), though some fragments of earlier architecture were found: several floors, a hearth, some fragments of walls built of stones and boulders, and a number of shallow clay-lined bowl-shaped depressions. The Late Harappan houses had stone foundations, probably with upper walls of mud; no bricks were used. A number were uncovered on the main mound: These were small rectilinear structures, of one to three rooms, often adjoining a yard or open area. Some of the structures were animal barns or circular grain stores, and there were also paved threshing floors. The layout of the village was organic rather than planned, with domestic and other units built as and where required. In the south extension, the structures included a triangular building attached to a long yard, partially roofed with wooden beams. Like the buildings on the main mound, this provided separate accommodation for people and their domestic animals. Beneath the structures in the south extension were rubbish pits belonging to the early periods of occupation. The finds from the village, including copper tools and some gold and silver jewelry, underline the settlement's prosperity.
World History
