CBSE Class 12 History Bricks Beads and Bones the Harappan Civilization Assignment Set B

Very Short Answer Questions :

Question: What was the time period of Cunningham’s main interest in history?
Answer: 600 B.C.E. to 400 C. E.

Question: Who was the first Director General of A. S. I. ?
Answer: Cunningham.

Question: In Mesopotamians texts Dilmun, Meluhha and Magan words are used for which centres?
Answer: Dilmun for Bahrain, Meluhha for Harappa, Magan for Oman.

Question: The longest signs containing inscription contains how many signs?
Answer: 26 Signs

Short Answer Questions :

Question: Write a short note on the seals of Indus valley people.
Answer: More than 2000 seals have been found at the various sites.
– They are made up of various materials such as steatite, faience, ivory, pottery etc.
– They are very informative regarding dress, ornaments, hair styles etc.
– By the seals we know about the religions, commercial activities, etc.

Question: List the raw material required for craft production in Indus Valley Civilization and how these might have been obtained?
Answer: Stone -like carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz, and steatite.
– Metal – like- copper, bronze, gold.
– Shell , faience and terracotta
Method of procuring material for craft production-
(A)They established settlement near the source of material -eg Nageshwar, Balakot
(B)They might have sent expeditions to areas such as the Khetri region of Rajasthan (for copper) and south India (for gold)

Question: What were the differences in techniques adopted by Marshall and wheeler in studying Indus Valley Civilization.
Answer: Marshall tended to excavate along regular horizontal units, measured uniformly throughout the mound ignoring the stratigraphy of the site. Due to this technique valuable information about the context of these finds was irretrievably lost.
– Wheelers recognized that it was necessary to follow the stratigraphy of the mound rather than digging mechanically along uniform horizontal lines.

Question: Write a note on the drainage system of Harappa?
Answer: The drainage was made of mortar lime and gypsum.
– They were covered with big bricks and stones which could be lifted easily to clean the drain .
– Smaller drains from houses on both the sides were laid on the main channel.
– Pits were provided for sewage for the houses.

Question: How can you say that the Harappan culture was an urban one?
Answer: The cities were well planned into upper and lower town.
– The roads were straight and wide.
– The houses were made of burnt bricks and contained more than one storey. Every house had a well and bathroom.
– The Drainage system was excellent with house drains emptying into street drains.
– Existence of public buildings.
– Lothal had a dockyard and was an important trading Centre.

Question: What was the confusion in the mind of Cunningham while studying Harappan Civilization?
Answer: He used the accounts left by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who had visited India between the fourth and seventh century.
– He thought that Indian history began with the first cities in the Ganga Valley.

Question: How do archaeologists reconstruct the past?
Answer: Recovering artefacts through excavation.
– Classification of finds that finds are whether tools or weapons or ornaments or both or something meant for ritual use. 
– An understanding of the function of an artifact is often shaped by it resemblance with present day things. Beads, pots are obvious examples.
– Archaeologists reconstruct religious beliefs and practices by examining seals, some of which seem to depict ritual scenes
– Archaeologists often move from known to unknown that is from present to past regarding the reconstruction of religious practices.
– Remains of crops or pits are studied to identify food.
– By observing the different layers of sites they try to find out different things for the information of Socio-economic conditions, religious and cultural life of past people.
– Archaeologists also try to identify the function of an artefact by investigating the context in which it was found.
– Use of indirect evidence eg. for clothing they depend on indirect evidence like description in sculpture

Question: What do you know about trade and commerce of Indus valley civilization?
Answer: Internal Trade: – was advanced Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa were main trade Centre. Heavy and small weight has been found at these sites. These are made up in the multiple of two as 1:2:4:8:16 upto 12,800.
-There was strict control on weight and measure.
-International trade – They had trade relation with other countries such as Egypt, Oman.
-The trade was carried both by sea and land
-Probably the metals like gold, silver, Tin and copper and precious stones were imported from the other countries,

Source Based Questions :

Read the given passage carefully and answer the Questions that follow
:”Evidence of an “invasion”

– Deadman Lane is a narrow alley, varying from 3 to 6 feet in width. At the point where the lane turns westward, part of skull and the bones of the thorax and upper arm of an adult were discovered, all in very friable condition, at a depth of 4ft 2in. The body lay on its backs diagonally across the lane. Fifteen inches to the west were a few fragments of a tiny skull. It is to these remains that the lane owes its name. FROM JOHN MARSHAL, Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization, 1931.
– Sixteen skeletons of people with the ornaments that they were wearing when they died were found from the same part of Mohenjo-Daro in 1925.
– Much later, in 1947, R.E.M. Wheeler, then Director – General of the ASI, tried to correlate this archeological evidence with that of the Rig-Veda, the earliest known text in the subcontinent. He wrote:
– The Rig-Veda mentions pur, meaning rampart, fort or stronghold. Indra the Aryan wargod is called purandara, the fort destroyer.
– Where are – or were – these citadels? It has in the past been supposed that they were mythical … The recent excavation of Harappa may be thought to have changed the picture. Here we have a highly evolved civilization of essentially non-Aryan type, now known to have employed massive fortification. What destroyed this family settle civilization?
– Climatic, economics or political deterioration may have weakened it, but its ultimate extinction is more likely to have been completed by deliberate and large – scale destruction. It may be no mere chance that at a late period of Mohenjo-Daro men, women, and children, appear to have been massacred there. On circumstantial evidence, Indra stands accused.
FROM R.E.M. WHEELER, “Harappa 1946”, Ancient India, 1947.
In the 1960s, the evidence of massacre in Mohenjo-Daro was Questioned by an archeologist named George Dales. He Demonstrated that the skeletons found at the site did not belong to the same period: Whereas a couple of them definitely seem to indicate a slaughter, the bulk of the bones were found in contexts suggesting burials of the sloppiest and most irreverent nature. There is no destruction level covering the latest period of the city, no sign of extensive burning, no bodies of warriors clad in armour and surrounded by the weapons of war. The citadel, the only fortified part of the city, yielded no evidence of a final defense. 
FROM G.F. DALES, “The Mythical Massacre Mohenjo-Daro”, Expedition, 1964.
As you can see, a careful re-examination of the data can sometimes leads to a reversal of earlier interpretation.

Question: Name the archeologist who presented this source?
Answer: John Marshall

Question: Who corrected this evidence with Rig-Veda? Why?
Answer: R.E.M.Wheeler. Rig-Veda mentions pur, meaning rampart, fort or strong-hold. Indra, the Aryans’ war-god is called purandara, the fort destroyer.

Question: Which argument for the destruction of Harappa civilization, does this excerpt indicates?
Answer: This except indicates that the Harappa civilization was destroyed by foreign invasion.

Question: Who propounded the theory opposite to this? How?
Answer: George Dales. He hesitates to accept that this invasion was carried out by the AryAnswer: He demonstrated that the skeletons found at the site did not belong to the same period: Whereas a couple of them definitely seem to indicate a slaughter, the bulk of the bones were found in contexts suggesting burials of the sloppiest and most irreverent nature. There is no sign of extensive burning, no bodies of warriors clad in armour and surrounded by the weapons of war.