Chapter Notes and Summary
• Life in City : Harappa was a busy place. Rulers planned buildings, traders travelled to distant places to procure raw materials and scribes prepared exotic seals.
• Story of Harappa : cities of Indus Valley Civilisation are known as Harappan cities. Rediscovered in 1920s after excavations in Sindh and Punjab in present day Pakistan, these cities flourished since 3300 BC.
• Scribe : A person who was employed to make copies of documents before invention of printing.
• Seals : Scribes prepared seals and used a special pictographic script. Pictures of birds and animals were also used.
This is earliest known form of writing in continent.
• Layout of Cities :
(i) Harappan cities were divided into two parts: citadel and lower town. Walls were fortified with bricks in interlocking patterns.
(ii) Streets were laid out straight and cut each other at right angles.
(iii) Drains ran parallel to each other and had covers.
(iv) citadel was located at a higher level and had special buildings.
(v) Great Bath in Mohenjodaro was a tank used for bathing rituals.
(vi) Kalibangan and Lothal had fire altars where sacrifices may have been performed.
(vii) lower town was residential area where houses were one or two storeys high and built around a corridor.
• Stone Weights and Beads : Stone weights made of chert were used for weighing precious metals or stones. Beads made of carnelian have been found which were used in ornaments. An artificially produced substance called faience was also used to make bangles and beads.