Content uploaded by Gwen Robbins Schug
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Gwen Robbins Schug on Feb 10, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
CULTURE, TRADITION
AND
CONTINUITY
Disquisitions in Honour of
Prof. Vasant Shinde
Prabodh Shirvalkar
Esha Prasad
B.R. Publishing Corporation
Delhi - 110 052
CULTURE, TRADITION
AND
CONTINUITY
Disquisitions in Honour of
Prof. Vasant Shinde
Editors
Volume-I
Foreword
It is a matter of great pleasure and satisfaction to have this opportunity to write a
foreword to this Felicitation volume “Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in
Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde” edited by Prabodh Shirvalkar and Esha Prasad. The
Felicitation volume contains research papers which is being presented to Dr. Vasant
Shinde as a token of appreciation of his monumental work in archaeology in general and
proto-history in particular.
Deccan College Post graduate and Research Institute (Deemed to be University),
Pune is proud of Dr. Vasant Shinde who is connected with the Institute in various
capacities beginning as a student and retiring as a Vice- Chancellor covering positions
like research assistant, field archaeologist, reader, and professor. This speaks of his
intimate association which developed attachment and high regards for the institution.
It was due to his untiring zeal he conducted many meaningful excavations at
various places in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. He could catch
opportunities to participate in excavations aboard. His erudition and hard work have
been a source of inspiration to his younger colleagues and research students. Because of
his cordial way of maintaining relations he has gathered around him many research
workers who are doing wonderful work in their chosen field.
Most importantly he enthused, unlike many scholars, younger batch of archaeologists
to undertake research so that the continuity of archaeological excavations remains
uninterrupted befitting the legacy of the Deccan College (now University). He is a true
propagator of commendable Ancient history and enviable culture which is the oldest
unhampered culture in the world. He is one of the founders of SOSAA which endeavors
to create awareness of our ancient past. One can trust it develops in to a regular source
for research in these Asiatic countries.
Dr. Vasant Shinde is a scholar of international repute for he is in association with
important prominent academic governance bodies of international repute and has been
in touch with many stalwarts in archaeology. He travelled extensively and visited
countries like U.K, USA, Holland, France, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Iran, South
vi Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
Korea, Japan, Russia, Italy to name a few either to participate in seminars, conferences
or workshops. These helped him earning many friends and pandits from different fields.
The scope of professor Shinde’s researches is indeed very wide. Carving out adequate
time from his very busy schedule he has published more than 150 learned articles
bearing on many facets of archaeology and on Aryan problem, besides some books
throwing new light on proto-historical aspects. Some of his books are informative and
some insightful.
In view of his expertise and scholarship it was pertinent to have him on the various
learned bodies, institutions and various committees of the Government of India.
As Dr. Vasant Shinde has worked on various aspects of archaeology this volume is
a true dedication to his work. This felicitation volume will prove useful for reference and
study equally for the students and researchers in archaeology for it contains articles
which fall in to various categories like Proto- history, Paleontology, Rock Art, Microlithic
studies, Dental Anthropology, Roman contact, NBP culture, Terra-cottas, Buddhist
archaeology, Iconography, Numismatics to name a few. It is needless to say that all these
articles represent in-depth analysis covering as they do a broad range of topics from pre-
history to ancient and medieval history.
The volume has contributions by various experts of their fields and covers recent
work carried out. The articles reflect on various themes within archaeology itself and has
wide spectrum of information covering explorations, excavations, scientific analysis,
documentation among others. The authors that have contributed to this volume also
specialize in different branches of archaeology and are from different parts of the world.
It is a great pleasure to see that there are a good number of contributions from
archaeologists from Pakistan focusing on the recent excavations and explorations in
Pakistan. Overall the collection and synthesis of articles in the volume has academic
interest.
Personally I pray to the almighty to give long and fruitful life to Vasant Shinde a
versatile archaeologist who undertakes things and complete these with utmost devotion
and vigor.
To sum this felicitation volume qualitatively and from research point of view, is a
long lasting achievement for which archaeologists and scholars in the allied fields will
long be grateful to the editors.
G.B. Deglurkar
Former Chancellor,
Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute
(Deemed to be University)
Pune, Maharashtra
Preface
Prof. Vasant Shinde as a teacher, guide or friend is a personality which every
student liked and loved. The respect and love for Prof. Vasant Shinde is not because of
his stature in International archaeology but because of his humble personality and
simplicity. Throughout his services in Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research
Institute he always maintained dignity and helped each and every one.
The felicitation volume Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour
of Prof. Vasant Shinde was planned as a gift to him for his tireless and selfless dedication
to archaeology. For this volume it was difficult to accommodate each and every one for
practical reasons. In order to limit the number of articles we decided to have articles
from his Ph.D. students, his collaborators, friends and people who have contributed
immensely in the field of archaeology.
We have not restricted ourselves to Harappan studies or Chalcolithic studies which
is the major domain of Prof. Vasant Shinde rather we have collected articles from
different periods and disciplines which suits to his personality being versatile.The articles
in the book are organized in a chronological manner starting from Paleontology, Pre-
history, Proto-history, Early Historic, Historic, Medieval, Heritage Management and
contemporary times. Although most of the papers in the book pertain to India, some
paper on Pakistan and Thailand is also present.
The first four articles in the book are biographic in nature and authors have shared
their own experiences of working with Prof. Shinde. The 5
th
article addresses new scientific
and technological advances in the fields of Palaeontology. The 6
th
article summarizes the
Lower Palaeolithic (Acheulian) sites in the Deccan Trap region, Northern Deccan. The
7
th
article is largely conceptual in nature and attempts to understand the processes of
Neolithization. The 8
th
article discusses the classical seven circuit labyrinth occurring in
rock art of India and its symbology.
viii Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
Articles 9
th
to 31
st
pertains to the Proto-historic period with articles on Harappan
Civilisation and Chalcolithic cultures. The 9
th
article talks about the continuity of some
the characteristic features of Indian culture since Harappan Civilisation. The 10
th
article
highlights exploitation of resources by the Harappans in nourishing the textile industry
at the site of Rakhigarhi. The 11
th
article is a preliminary study of Harappan net sinkers
found in excavations at the sites of Padri, Kuntasi, and Lothal in Gujarat.The 12
th
article
is about the Harappan script, its problem of decipherment and the probable use of
interpreter like in the case of Khipu. The 13
th
article discusses the commonality and
differences on the seal carving techniques of the Early Harappan and the Mature Harappan
periods using SEM and PEAKIT(3D) observations. The 14
th
article describes variation in
the mortuary practices at Harappa and Rakhigarhi using nomothetic and social
archaeological approaches. The 15
th
article is on X-ray Diffraction Analysis of Whitened
Steatite Beads from the site of Kotada Bhadli, Gujarat. The 16
th
article attempts to
understand the volume or capacity measuring system that was likely utilized along with
the other measuring systems during the Indus Age based on lipid residue analysis. The
17
th
article is about Micro-wear analysis and typo-technology of stone tools from the site
of Dholavira, Gujarat.
The 18
th
to 20
th
article deals with archaeo-zoological and archaeo-botanical works at
some recently excavated Harappan sites. The 18
th
article aims to gain insights into the
diet of the Harappans at Kanmer. The 19
th
article explores the archaeobotanical evidence
of Datura L., from archaeological sites in India since Harappan times. The 20
th
article
examines the shell evidence from human burials belonging to the Harappan, Neolithic,
Chalcolithic and Iron Age period in India so as to learn about the extent of their use and
their possible role. The 21
st
article is about the survey in Tehsil Bori of District Loralai
and discovery of Kot Dijian and Harappan sites. The 22
nd
article is about the excavations
and dating carried out on the sites in the coastal region of Saurashtra belonging to late/
post Harappan, post urban or late Sorath.
Article 23
rd
to 31
st
explores work carried out in different Chalcolithic cultures in
India. Article 23
rd
compares the lithic assemblages from the sites of Gilund, Bagor, and
Jawasiya-Arni, all located in the Mewar Plain of southeastern Rajasthan,to look at
variations in social and economic practices. The 24
th
article explores the role of terracotta
cattle figurines within the Ahar Culture of Chalcolithic Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
The 25
th
article considers the relationship between the Gilund sealings and the parallel
wall structure in light of similar contexts at sites in the Near East and South Asia. The
26
th
article discusses the Lead isotope analyses conducted on metal artifacts from the
Indus Civilization and the adjacent and contemporaneous Ahar-Banas Cultural Complex
of southern Rajasthan. The 27
th
article discusses the microlithic assemblage from the site
of Kaothe, a Savalda culture site in Maharashtra. The 28
th
article is a study of Black and
Red Ware pottery from coastal West Bengal. The 29
th
article is about the dental
anthropological investigations carried out on the skeletons from the site of Banahalli,
Karnataka. The 30
th
article talks about exploratory work carried out in the Upper Krishna
Basin, Maharashtra. The 31
st
article is a review of establishment of civilization in Gangetic
plains from Neolithic period to Early historic.
Article 32-43 deals with Early Historic and Historic periods. The 32
nd
article is
about the Panchal Mahajanapad with special reference to the site of Ahichhatra, Uttar
Pradesh. The 33
rd
article is about the Indo-Roman trade based on archaeological and
literary data. The 34
th
article provides a comprehensive review of the archaeofaunal
record of the NBP cultural sites in Ganga Valley. The 35
th
and 36
th
article is a report on
the recent excavations at Chandravati, Rajasthan and Iswal, Rajasthan respectively. The
37
th
article is on the terracotta sculptures unearthed from the recent excavations at
Bhamala, Taxila region. The 38
th
article discusses recent archaeological finds regarding
Buddhism from the various excavations in India. The 39
th
article documents the locations,
dates and landscape contexts of the monasteries at Chiplun and Khed in southern
Konkan, Maharashtra and the article reassesses the dates of the early phase of cave
cutting. The 40
th
article is about the rock cut caves at Nasik. The article focuses on the lost
stupas during the second phase of cave construction. In the 41
st
article, an attempt has
been made to understand the significance of the rock-cut Jain Yakshi images of Amba-
Ambika cave complex at Manmodi hill, Junnar, Pune. The 42
nd
article is on Greco-
Roman influence on the narratives of Gandhâra art which tries to understand the
connections on the basis of time, space, narrative context and spatial depth. The 43
rd
article investigates into the iconography of Ganapati, Nritya Ganapati, through the
medium of Natyashastra. As a case study four sculptures of Nritya Ganapati adorning
the Hoysaleshwara temple, Halebid, datable to the 12
th
Century CE has been taken.
Article 44 onwards deals with the Medieval period to contemporary times. The 44
th
article tries to understand the coinage and currency system of Nizam Shahi and Adil
Shahi dynasties as reflected through their coins. The 45
th
article is about the newly
discovered silver coins of the Sultanate of Nizam Shahi of Ahmadnagar. The 46
th
article
discusses a very rare coin with the image of Baba Guru Nanak issued by Lahore Mint
stored in the coins collection at Lahore museum. The 47
th
article is on the documentation
of cannons in Assam State Museum, Guwahati. The 48
th
article discusses the traditional
knowledge system of hydraulic engineering of step well along with legends associated
with wells in the Mewar region of Rajasthan. The 49
th
article discusses the Swedish
archaeologist, Hanna Rydh and her contribution to the Rang Mahal Culture. The 50
th
article gives a documentation of mounds, Sikh Baradari, Gurudwaras, Havelis, Hindu
temples and Muslim mosques, tombs and graveyards in the Potohar Plateau, Pakistan.
The 51
st
article discusses the result of explorations carried out in the middle Tapi Basin,
Maharashtra.
Article 52, 53 and 54 are ethnographic in nature. The 52
nd
article is about the
indigenous pottery production at Wui village, Tuensang district, Nagaland. The article
documents how pottery production in Nagaland is integrated into everyday life as a
Preface ix
xCulture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
cultural heritage. The 53
rd
article is a detailed ethnographic data of Longneck Karen
people or Padong or Kayan at Mae Hong Son province also known as Giraffe women.
The 54
th
article is an overview of mithun or mithan cattle popularly known as ‘Cattle of
Mountain’ in North-eastern Regions of South Asia. The 55
th
article explores the notion of
routes within the World Heritage framework and UNESCO Conventions and elaborates
on the specific shaping of Project ‘Mausam’ by India with the aim of promoting cultural
exchanges in the spirit of the World Heritage Convention. The 56
th
article discusses
symbolic, political and ideological debates about Pakistan Monument at Islamabad. The
57
th
article is about the postal project. The article discusses about Philatelic Club and the
contributions of Stephen H. Smith.
We would like to thank all the contributors of this volume and hope that the
readers will enjoy the wide spectrum of articles provided.
Prabodh Shirvalkar
Esha Prasad
14
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between
Action and Symbolic Meaning
Gwen Robbins Schug
Introduction
Archaeologists and anthropologists have long been interested in mortuary and
other ritual behavior as a window into the symbolic, social, and political lives of past
people. It goes without saying that the interpretation of mortuary behavior provides an
opportunity to examine spiritual and secular meaning; it contains elements of collective
and individual identity, memory, tradition, ritual performance, and ideas about the
afterlife (Rappaport, 1999). This window into the social relations of the past, provides a
vision of structure refracted through agency (Inomata & Coben, 2006; Turner, 1982).
Mortuary tradition is enacted to transform; we interact with the dead to remember but
also to renegotiate and finally, to separate (Duncan et al., 2005; Van Gennep, 1960). In
this process power relations are both reified and renegotiated (Bell, 1997). The material
symbolism of the burial and the body provides a rich field for anthropological ventures.
Nomothetic approaches to mortuary data have been widely criticized in the
anthropological literature (see for example Pearson, 1982; Rakita et al., 2005) yet still
predominate because there is value in approaching these data in this way. Nomothetic
approaches to archaeological mortuary data, commonly known as the Binford-Saxe
program, seek to use inter-individual variation to define common rules or generalizations
that can then be applied to interpret social structure from death assemblages (Binford,
1972; Saxe, 1970). This approach includes a set of comparative, scientific, quantitative
methods that rely on typological thinking, classification systems based on grave
orientation, burial posture, types of grave goods, age or sex-based differences among the
graves’ occupants. Proportions are calculated, and non-parametric statistical significance
158 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
of differences is reported, resulting in predictions or inferences about the meaning of
differences for understanding the population as a whole.
However, as John Robb (2007:287) once put it, ‘All societies have multiple burial
treatments and these can be understood better as a coherent, meaningful mortuary
program than as isolated practices.’ Complex mortuary assemblages can meaningfully
demonstrate social structure, politics, status, and power relations if we account for the
probability that heterogeneous mortuary treatments reflect more than a functionalist
interpretation about social structure or social status: ‘…variants reflect different
biographical contingencies and are predicated upon cultural ideas of the body’ (Robb,
2007:287). Robb offers a solution to the problem of understanding mortuary variation
when we have a physical body with no social person attached to it: ‘The principal
strategy is to re-personalize or re-individuate the dead, to re-establish their identity as a
social person’ (Robb, 2007:287).
Thus, a supplemental approach to nomothetic mortuary archaeology has gained
increasing salience in bioarchaeology in the past decade: using osteobiographical data to
take an idiographic approach to behavior and symbolism surrounding death in the past
(e.g. Stodder & Palkovich, 2012). By focusing on “re-personalizing” individuals in cases
of exceptional, outlying, conflicting, and deviant mortuary practices, there is potential
for more complete understanding of the embodied personal, familial, traditional, social,
emotional, and phenomenological aspects of death and dying in past communities. In
many cases, where individual mortuary data can be combined with bioarchaeological
data from well preserved skeletal material, analysis of individuals can effectively address
questions about identity construction; social relations; power negotiations; perceptual,
performative, and communicative aspects of death. In this way, bioarchaeologists can
approach questions about discursive relationships between individual actions, symbolic
meaning, perception, emotion, and memory.
I use the word supplemental to stress that there is important information to be
gleaned from the basic, population-level, nomothetic data about the formal rules of
ritual performance, its contours and context. However, after describing and quantifying
these data, employing classificatory schemes, reporting proportions, and the results of
statistical tests, it can be equally valuable to turn to the post-processual aspects of
symbolic meaning in the ritual experience, its transformative power, its production and
reproduction, and its relationship to variation seen in the deathways of past societies. An
idiographic approach to mortuary archaeology requires that we respect differences.
Variation within a cemetery or between mortuary populations is to be expected; it is the
variable of interest. This chapter explores previously reported variation in the mortuary
practices of two Indus cities—Rakhigarhi and Harappa—to describe the typical range of
variation for Indus cemeteries. This chapter demonstrates that the single primary
inhumation of a supine, extended skeleton is not the normative practice in the mature
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 159
period, which actually included a very heterogeneous mix of mortuary treatments. Once
the parameters of variation are defined, this chapter has a goal of combining nomothetic
and social archaeology approaches to elucidate some of the structural and symbolic
aspects of death in Indus society.
Mortuary Behavior at Rakhigarhi: An Important Recent Contribution
Much of what has been learned recently about the complex and dynamic world
that was the Harappan Civilization has been uncovered and/or interpreted under the
direction of Professor Sri Vasant Shinde and colleagues. This is particularly true in
regard to the dating of the urbanization phase (Sarkar et al., 2016; Shinde, 2016a) and the
elucidation of Indus society, lifestyles, and behavior at the margins of Harappan territory,
outside the Indus Valley. Professor Shinde’s recent excavations at two of the greatest
urban centers in India, Rakhigarhi (Shinde et al., 2018) and Farmana (Mushrif & Shinde,
in press; Shinde et al., 2009; 2011), have demonstrated that the broad contours of this
civilization were consistent between the eastern margins and the core of Indus territory:
long-range exchange networks; sophisticated town planning; agricultural, industrial,
and hydraulic skill; Indus script; aesthetic, artistic, and decorative features; symbolic and
ritual objects; state-level administrative, social, and cultural features (Shinde, 2016b).
Mortuary behavior too has some homogenous aspects across Indus cemeteries that
have been studied: the designation of a formal cemetery, the inclusion of pottery and
other artifacts in graves, the apparently haphazard disregard for intrusion on earlier
interments, graves oriented roughly North to South for primary interments, and the
extended, supine posture of skeletons were typical of the Mature Harappan period at
Rakhigarhi (Shinde et al., 2018) and Harappa (Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016).
However, excavations at both Harappa and Rakhigarhi also demonstrate a significant
degree of heterogeneity in mortuary behavior (Shinde et al., 2018). Shinde and colleagues
found that 64% of the burials at Rakhigarhi were primary inhumations of a single
skeleton in a supine, extended posture and they thus refer to this practice as the typical
burial pattern. Another 13% of the individuals buried here were described as “atypical”
because they were not adults (there were 4 children and 4 adolescent individuals interred
in the cemetery) or they were adults whose graves were brick-lined on one side, the
burial contained more than one individual, the individual was not in a primary interment
(but instead asecondary burial inside of a pot), the body was in a prone posture, or face
down. One burial at Rakhigarhi was entirely ceremonial, with no evidence of skeletal
remains or grave goods, a practice also seen at Farmana.
The recent analysis of mortuary behavior at Rakhigarhi also yielded important
insights about heterogeneous mortuary behavior across the life-course and for males
versus females (Shinde et al., 2018). The greatest numbers of grave goods in an individual
grave were provided for four female individuals buried in brick-lined graves. However,
other than these four burials, female skeletons in general had fewer votive pots and were
160 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
preferentially buried wearing bangles. The number of votive pots offered to males
tended to be higher than the number for females (though the difference was not of
statistical significance) but for children’s burials, few ceramics or other grave goods
were present. One exception was an adolescent individual, of indeterminate sex due to
their young age. This individual was discovered wearing a large number of bangles and
necklaces that stood in contrast to the otherwise humble nature of the grave, according
to the investigators. The greatest number and variety of grave goods were found in one
grave that contained five individuals at Rakhigarhi, apparently at the same time. Of
these five, two were primary interments and the other three were secondary burials of a
few bone fragments.
All of the variants in mortuary treatment described as atypical at Rakhigarhi—
brick-lined graves, multiple burials, secondary pot burial, burial of children, and bodies
in a prone posture—have also been reported at Harappa (Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016;
Robbins Schug, 2016; 2017; Robbins Schug & Blevins, 2016; Robbins Schug et al., 2012;
2013; 2018; Sastri, 1965; Wheeler, 1968; Vats, 1940). Harappa is one of the only other large
Harappan cities for which there has been an extensive excavation of the burial areas.
Based on a comparison with the newly published data from Rakhigarhi and the reports
of skeletal and mortuary data from Harappa—recent reports on the HARP excavation of
cemetery R-37 (Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016; Lovell, 2014a; 2014b; 2016) and other mortuary
areas at the site, excavated in the previous century and recently reexamined (Robbins
Schug, 2016; 2017; Robbins Schug & Blevins, 2016; Robbins Schug et al., 2012; 2013;
2018)—this chapter seeks to understand these variants in Indus mortuary behavior and
their symbolic meaning.
Mortuary Behavior and Bioarchaeology at Harappa: New Bottles for Old Wine
The city of Harappa, at the heart of the Indus civilization, serves as a perfect
archaeological case study for understanding variation in mortuary behavior in the Indus
Age because there are human skeletal communities preserved from the urban, Mature
Phase (Cemetery R-37, 2550-2000 BCE), a transitional phase (Area G, 2000-1900 BCE), the
Disintegration Era or post-urban phase (Cemetery H, Stratum I, 1900-1700 BCE), and to
the succeeding Chalcolithic period (Cemetery H, Stratum II, 1700-1300 BCE). Large
numbers of skeletons too have been excavated from all of the diverse burial areas at the
city of Harappa and these skeletons are among the best described material we have so
far for the Indus Age.
What was Typical Indus Mortuary Behavior? The range of Variation at Harappa
Cemetery R-37 has received the most research attention of all the burial areas at
Harappa. This cemetery was first discovered in 1938 by K.N. Sastri, who conducted four
seasons of excavation in this area between 1938-1940 (Sastri, 1965). Sir Mortimer Wheeler
(1968) & M.R. Mughal (1968) each excavated in cemetery R-37 for a season, in 1946
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 161
and1966 respectively. The University of California, Berkeley project also chose this
cemetery for further investigation in 1987-88 (Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016).
Cemetery R-37 is located west of Mound AB, one of the principal areas of settlement
at Harappa and the location of the ‘citadel’. This cemetery, which contained the most
elaborate grave goods, was in use during the urban, or mature phase from roughly 2550-
2030 BCE. In all, 280 burials have been excavated in this cemetery; the majority of these
individuals were not primary burials of a skeleton positioned in an extended, supine
posture in a grave oriented North-South. Of the 66 individuals studied by the present
author from the pre-HARP investigations (out of 90 individuals excavated), 16 were
complete extended burials (24.2%), 29 were fractional burials (43.9%), and 21 individuals
were in multiple burials (31.8%). If we look at the entire sample of excavated burials
from Sastri (n=64), Wheeler (n=10), Mughal (n=16), and the HARP excavations (n=190),
there are a few examples of graves containing a single individual in a primary burial
(n=38, or 13.5% of the total burials excavated). A large number of burials at Harappa
consisted of miscellaneous bone deposited in a grave (n=92, or 32.8% of the total burials
excavated). Partial skeletons in a disturbed grave comprise 23 of the total burials excavated
at Harappa (8.2%); many burials contained crania only (n=67, or 23.9% of the total
burials excavated). Thus, the primary inhumation of a single extended, supine individual
can hardly be considered the normative burial practice for the mature period cemetery at
Harappa.
The graves in Cemetery R-37 also varied in regard to their dimensions, from ten to
fifteen feet in length and two and a half to ten feet in width; the depth ranged from two
to three feet below the surface at the time of excavation (Gupta et al., 1962).The width of
the graves appears to have been related to the number of grave goods, mainly ceramics
that were laid out near the head and, to a lesser extent, arranged around the rest of the
body. The ceramics were typical of household vessels (Kenoyer, 1998; Kenoyer & Meadow,
2016) and total number of pots ranged from two to forty but the average was fifteen to
twenty (Gupta et al., 1962). Personal ornaments for female skeletons included a truncated
cylindrical amulet, worn at the throat and shell bangles, worn on the left arm, among
other jewelry; beads were recovered from male and female burials although male burials
in general had the fewest ornaments (Kenoyer, 1998). Toilet objects included bronze or
copper handled mirrors, mother-of-pearl shells, shell objects like spoons, and antimony.
Cemetery H was in use during the post-urban phase, during a time when much of
the human population emigrated away from the ancient city.Cemetery H consists of two
burial clusters—Stratum II was in use during the Late Harappan phase (1900-1700 BCE)
and Stratum I was used in the Chalcolithic phase (1700-1300 BCE).Stratum II interments
were largely secondary burials and two different mortuary traditions are represented.
On the eastern end of the cemetery, burials were mostly complete skeletons and all but
one was laid out in an extended supine posture (sometimes legs were flexed) with an
162 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
East-West orientation. Two of these burials were described as ‘dismembered,’ or
purposefully disrupted (Vats, 1940). Burials in the Western half of this stratum were
fragmented and incomplete due to exposure prior to interment. This type of burial is
referred to in the South Asian literature as ‘fractional’ and the convention is used here
for the sake of continuity. Ceramics were included in the Cemetery H burials, although
vessels were fewer in number than Cemetery R-37.
Area G differs from the other burial areas at Harappa, in that it was an ossuary (a
‘pit of bones’) located South-East of the city wall surrounding Mound E, in a low-lying
field adjacent to some poorly preserved architectural remains. This ossuary contained a
large deposit of goblets, vases, and offering dishes; below this cache of ceramics was a
scattering of 20 human crania, three human mandibles, five longbones, a scapula, two
partial vertebral columns, a bovine cranium, and a canine vertebral column (Vats, 1940).
According to Vats, the crania were placed in four distinct piles in the trench but
anthropologists later described these interments as “disarticulated” and “disorderly”
(Gupta et al., 1962:2). A minimum number of 23 individuals, (including 12 adults and 9
subadults) were buried in this area. No absolute dates are available for Area G, so the
ossuary was dated using the ceramic typology. The styles were identified as belonging
to a time intermediate betweenthe Cemetery R-37 and Cemetery H “cultures” (i.e. circa
2000 BCE).
Multiple Burials, Prone Burials, and Burials on a Bed of Pottery
The presence of multiple burials, prone burials, and burials on a bed of pottery in
the cemetery at Rakhigarhi are of particular interest because these unusual features are
also found at Harappa. One grave at Rakhigarhi contained five individuals, interred
together in a single event. Three males in this grave were primary burials. They were
accompanied by two secondary burials containing individuals of unknown sex. Kenoyer
and colleagues did not find any multiple burials in the HARP excavation (Kenoyer &
Meadow, 2016). Five multiple burials were found during the Vats excavation at Harappa
(Vats, 1940). Interestingly, all of the cases of trauma (n=2) and infectious disease (n=2)
found by Robbins Schug and colleagues (2012, 2013) in the skeletons from Cemetery R-
37 were interred in these multiple burials.
Three individuals at Rakhigarhi were buried in a prone posture. One of the prone
individuals was a young adult female in a brick-lined grave, two others were young
adult males. All of these burials had a large quantity of fine ceramics, which the authors
took to indicate that high social status might have been ascribed to these individuals. In
all three cases, the face was turned to the left and there was no evidence of necrophobia
or intentional disrespect. The prone burial posture is relatively rare world-wide but has
been described at Kalibangan (Sharma, 1999) and in two burial areas at Harappa: cemetery
R-37 (Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016) and Area G (Schug et al., 2018). At Kalibangan, individual
29 was interred in a prone posture, over a bed of ceramics. Two Rakhigarhi burials also
occurred on a bed of pottery but the skeletons were not face down.
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 163
At Harappa, Kenoyer & Meadow (2016) state that all of the graves that they excavated
in cemetery R-37 that contained single individuals were laid out in a supine posture,
except for one adult female (152a), who was buried in a prone posture (Kenoyer &
Meadow, 2016). The description of this individual suggests the burial was disturbed and
the excavators were unsure if this posture was how the body was originally laid out or
was a product of later disturbance, particularly given the positioning of her feet on her
pelvis.
Vats (1940) also excavated a prone burial at Area G at Harappa. In this area we also
find a “multiple burial” of a kind and we find interment below a large deposit of
ceramics, not above (Vats, 1940). In this trench, located southeast of the city wall around
Mound E, there were 20 isolated human crania below a large assemblage of ceramic
vessels (Fig. 14.1). In addition to the piles of crania, there was also a collection of isolated
post-cranial remains of humans and other animals, and a single prone burial (Fig. 14.2).
This individual’s cranium (G.289) was placed to the left of the prone skeleton. The first
cervical vertebra (the atlas) was present and there is a cut mark running diagonally
across the left superior articular condyle (Fig. 14.3), suggesting deliberate post-mortem
dismemberment and decapitation. That individual also demonstrated lesions consistent
with lepromatous leprosy (Schug et al., 2013). This is the only clear example of prone
burial in the early phase of excavations at Harappa.
Fig. 14.1. A Large Assemblage of Ceramic Vessels Buried in a Pile above the Human Skeletal Remains
in Area G. Image Taken by M.A. Vats (British Museum collection)
164 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
Fig. 14.2. A Single Prone Burial (G.289) in Area G (View from Northeast Corner). The Cranium is
Placed to the Left of the Skeleton. Image Taken by M.A. Vats (British Museum collection)
Fig. 14.3. The First Cervical Vertebra from the Prone Skeleton in Area G (G.289) was Present and there
is a Cutmark Running Diagonally Across the Left Superior Articular Condyle, Suggesting Deliberate
Post-mortem Dismemberment and Decapitation
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 165
Shinde and colleagues (2018) report evidence for burial of 4 children and 4 adolescent
individuals at Rakhigarhi. Their report does not indicate the children were treated
differently other than that they had fewer grave offerings. Kenoyer & Meadow (2016)
report 15 immature skeletons (under 16 years of age) were excavated from cemetery R-
37 at Harappa as part of HARP. Like Rakhigarhi, infants and children buried in cemetery
R-37 at Harappa also had no pottery and no ornaments. There were 33 children in the
materials studied by Robbins Schug and colleagues (2012; 2013) from the earlier
excavations at Harappa: three from R-37, nine from Area G, six from cemetery H stratum
I, and 15 from stratum II. The infants in cemetery H at Harappa were buried with an
adult female and it is unclear whether all of them were recognized as such at the time of
the excavations. Little information about this aspect can be gleaned from early excavation
reports because infants and children were often not considered of archaeological interest.
Similarly, females buried at Rakhigarhi had fewer ceramics than male skeletons
(though this difference was not statistically significant); however, only the female skeletons
possessed bangles or other ornaments (Shinde et al., 2018). Mortuary ceramics in cemetery
R-37 were reserved for burials of adults and they included vessels for serving and
storing food, not those used in cooking or exchange (Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016). Graves
from the earliest mortuary deposits contained ceramics that were decorated with black
on red designs, which were subsequently painted over with unfired red slip before
burial. Later burials had undecorated ceramics or forms decorated very simply with
lines drawn in black on red slip.
Bangles at Harappa were associated with female skeletons and worn on the left
arm (Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016). Females also had copper and bronze mirrors, anklets,
a copper ring, and carnelian bead ornaments worn around the waist. Kenoyer and
colleagues report that one skeleton, estimated to be male based on skeletal morphology,
was buried with a shell bangle on the right arm, had shell circlets that may have been
worn in the hair, and had both micro-beads and jasper beads present in the burial
(Kenoyer & Meadow, 2016). Another skeleton, also designated as male based on skeletal
morphology, wore a long necklace of steatite, gold, and stone beads. These are fascinating
observations and deserve a more thorough treatment from an osteobiographical
perspective.
Bioarchaeological Evidence at Harappa
In 2011, Robbins Schug evaluated 160 of 235 individuals excavated at Harappa and
reported on evidence of trauma (Robbins Schug et al., 2012) and infection (Robbins
Schug et al., 2013) for 115 of those individuals who were buried in the urban to the post-
urban periods (cemetery R-37, cemetery H stratum II, and Area G). Evidence for pathology
and trauma was reported for all 160 individuals, including those from a Chalcolithic
deposit (1700-1300 BCE) at cemetery H, stratum I (Robbins Schug & Blevins, 2016).
Lovell has evaluated an additional 19 complete adult skeletons from urban period
166 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
cemetery R-37 for evidence of trauma and other pathological conditions (Lovell, 2014a;
2014b) and has addressed the bioarchaeological evidence as a whole on a variety of
research questions about Indus people (Lovell, 2016).
Previous bioarchaeological research on human skeletal remains from cemetery R-
37 has largely been focused on a sample of 90 of the skeletons excavated in the 1987-
88field seasons (Hemphill & Lukacs, 1993; Lovell, 1994; 1997; 1998; Kennedy et al., 1993;
Lukacs, 1992). Few pathological conditions were noted; primarily these consisted of
dental caries, degenerative joint disease, and evidence consistent with anemia. This
chapter focuses on describing pathological conditions in the 66 individuals recovered
during the 1938-1966 excavation seasons, which are stored at Anthropological Survey of
India in Kolkata (first described by Gupta et al., 1962; Robbins Schug et al., 2012; 2013).
Based on these analyses, we know quite a bit about bioarchaeological aspects of
these burials. We know that the rate of cranial injury at Harappa (15.5%) was the highest
of any skeletal collection in South Asia, from the Paleolithic through the Iron Age, when
skeletal material is limited because cremation became common. Despite a larger sample
of individuals from the Mature Period, the urban population only demonstrated a low
frequency (4%) of crania with evidence of traumatic injuries (Lovell, 2014a; Robbins
Schug et al., 2012). In contrast, 50% of the crania examined from the transitional period
and 38% of the crania examined from the post-urban period were affected by cranial
traumata (Robbins Schug et al., 2012). Not only was the percentage of affected individuals
greater, there were new types of injuries and a wider variety of people were affected in
terms of age and sex. In the transitional and urban periods, after 200 years of climate,
sociocultural, and economic change, we find this increased risk for violent injury among
men, women and children at Harappa. Males were more likely to have broken noses and
sharp force trauma. Females and children primarily sustained blunt force injuries, some
of which were likely fatal.
Robbins Schug also examined evidence of infection and infectious disease in the
skeletal material from Harappa (Robbins Schug et al., 2013). Aside from one non-specific
periosteal lesion and two individuals with localized periosteal reactions (probably related
to trauma), four individuals suffered from a maxillary sinus infection, 9 individuals had
skeletal lesions consistent with leprosy (Fig. 14.4), and two individuals had skeletal
lesions consistent with tuberculosis (Schug et. al., 2013). The earliest evidence for maxillary
infection (n=1) and leprosy (n=2) occurs in the Mature Period skeletons; however, it is of
very low frequency (1.5% and 3%, respectively). The low rate of infection and disease in
the urban period cemetery (R-37) was confirmed by Lovell (2014b), whose analysis of 19
complete burials demonstrated evidence for periostosis—a mild form of inflammation
or infection in the soft tissue adjacent to the bone—but no evidence of infectious disease.
This lesion is very common in skeletal assemblages and while it is present in some
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 167
infectious diseases, it is more commonly a result of a local injury and Staph infection.
The prevalence of severe infections increased dramatically though time at Harappa.
Both violence and infection were most prevalent in a marginal burial population that
existed during the transitional phase (2000-1900 BCE) and buried their dead in Area G.
In this area where parts of 23 individuals were interred, 2 individuals (8.7%) showed
signs of periostosis, one individual had an unspecified maxillary infection (4.4%), and 5
individuals demonstrated lesions consistent with leprosy (21.7%). Similarly, in Cemetery
H Stratum II, out of the 26 individuals available for analysis, one individual (3.9%)
showed signs of periostosis, 2 individuals had an unspecified maxillary infection (7.7%),
and 2 individuals demonstrated lesions consistent with leprosy (7.7%). This cemetery
also had two individuals with lesions consistent with tuberculosis infection (7.7%),
which was not seen in the other assemblages. So, while only two individuals in cemetery
Fig. 14.4. Skeletal Evidence of Lesions Consistent with a Diagnosis of Leprosy from the Post-urban
Period Cemetery H, Stratum II at Harappa
168 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
R-37 showed signs of infectious disease, 9 individuals in mortuary deposits from the
second millennium BCE demonstrated signs of infectious disease. This may not seem
like a large number but it is 18% (9/49) of the individuals available from the transitional
and post-urban periods at Harappa and there is only one other case of leprosy recorded
in protohistoric South Asia thus far (Robbins Schug et al., 2009).
Combined Data suggests Social Structure and Culture Change
Although we do not yet have pathological profiles for the Rakhigarhi skeletons, the
combination of bioarchaeological analysis and mortuary behavior provides the most
powerful reflection of social structure, symbolic aspects, social relations, and culture
change. We can discern aspects of tradition and social structure as they emerge from
mortuary archaeology. The social organization of the Indus civilization has been much
disputed over time, but largely it has been framed in light of prevailing trends in
archaeology as a whole (Robbins Schug, 2017). Initially, based on a West Asian analogy,
Piggott (1950) & Wheeler (1968) suggested that these ancient cities, like Harappa, fit a
model of hierarchical and exploitative state formation because of their monumental
architecture, craft specialization, standardization of weights and measures, and
development of a writing system. To them, these features suggested administration of a
uniform material culture and homogenous social landscape across vast distances. A
heterarchical framework (Crumley, 1995) was later mapped onto the civilization based
on the argument that the major urban centers were located far from one another and
were integratedonly through ideological means and shared values, as opposed to a
centralized administration.
In the latter scenario, it was argued that Indus social organization was best explained
using a ‘first among equals’ model (Possehl 1990; 1998; 2002). That is, the civilization
would best be represented by a model of semi-autonomous polities wherein shared
authority was granted to independent but interacting socio-political units across this
vast territory. Based on the preeminence of this model for several decades in archaeology,
the Indus civilization came to be widely viewed as a rare example of a large, urban, early
civilization that had formed and was operated in the absence of structural violence,
inequality, coercion or exclusion. Unfortunately, on both sides of the argument, inferences
about social organization were based on an absence of evidence for social exclusion and
structural violence (Cork, 2005; 2011). This makes sense in light of Crumley’s (2005)
suggestion that in hierarchical societies, exclusion should emerge from the archaeological
record, or Price & Feinman’s (2010) suggestion that hierarchy is evidenced by unequal
access to power and resources.
Although Harappa (and Indus cities in general) does not resemble the models of
state power and coercion we see in Mesopotamia or Egypt, an internal analysis of the
mortuary and skeletal evidence from Harappa demonstrates that individuals interred in
the city cemetery in the urban period (R-37) were much less likely to suffer from violent
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 169
injury to the cranium and were at much lower risk of demonstrating skeletal evidence of
infection (Robbins Schug et al., 2012; 2013; Lovell, 2014a; 2014b). The presence of people
with traumatic injuries and disfiguring infections in cemetery R-37 (although in very
low frequency) suggests that this condition was not a basis for exclusion. Rather there
were other social phenomena related to identity, community membership, or geographical
origin that were driving the different mortuary treatment (Robbins Schug, 2017).
Based on the variation in mortuary behavior, it is also possible that there were
cultural and ideological changes taking place over time at Harappa. Evidence of changes
in the mortuary treatment of people with leprosy through time suggest that the disease
was first recognized and perhaps negatively signified, in the transitional and post-urban
period (Robbins Schug, 2016). The mortuary treatment for individuals with infections
who were buried in the mature period was completely within the range of variation for
unaffected individuals. By the Late Harappan phase, the foot bones are missing from
burials of people with leprosy. Based on Foucault’s (1965) concept of tracing a trajectory
of “othering” from the zero-point of a disease, it appears possible that while people
buried in Area G (2000-1900 BCE) may have been vulnerable to violence and disease
because of some other aspect of their identity, the Late Harappans (1900-1700 BCE) were
making attempts to ameliorate the impacts of leprosy in the dead buried at cemetery H
(Robbins Schug, 2016).
The commencement of this “othering” process in the mid-second millennium BCE
is also in evidence in oral traditions of the time (the Atharva Veda), which described
leprosy as a mark of corruption but one that was curable through medical and ritual
practice. It was not until much later, in the Early Historic period (300 BCE), that this type
of skin disease is described as completely stigmatized, a mark of inter-generational
corruption, a divine retribution for particular criminal acts, and worthy of exclusion
from basic social life (Robbins Schug, 2016).
There is no evidence yet reported for trauma or infectious disease at Rakhigarhi,
among the 37 complete and well-preserved skeletons that could be analyzed. It will be of
interest to look at trauma and pathology at other Indus Age sites like Rakhigarhi,
bearing in mind that if there is an absence of evidence for disease, that is not necessarily
meaningful given 1) the small sample size at Rakhigarhi, 2) the low proportion of
trauma and infection at Cemetery R-37 at Harappa, and 3) the fact that the majority of
lesions found there were from individuals buried in the post-urban period, after the
social and biocultural upheaval of the Disintegration phase was already under way.
Similarly, the presence of metabolic bone disease (scurvy or anemia) at Rakhigarhi
would be fascinating but is not expected given it is only found in a few cases at mature
period Mohenjo-Daro (Lovell, 1998), Harappa’s cemetery H stratum I (Robbins Schug &
Blevins, 2016), and Farmana (Mushrif-Tripathy & Shinde, in press). The majority of
skeletal individuals from mature period deposits at Indus cities were skeletally healthy,
aside from some pathophysiological markers like spinal degenerative joint disease or
170 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
enamel hypoplasia (Lovell, 2014b; Lukacs, 1992). However, these analyses have yet to be
published for Rakhigarhi and are eagerly awaited.
Conclusion
There is much to be learned from the cemetery excavationsof Indus cities like
Harappa and Rakhigarhi. This chapter has presented evidence from a variety of published
sources that supports the suggestion that Indus mortuary behavior was very diverse. A
nomothetic analysis of the patterns of mortuary rituals suggests that there is no one
predominant form of burial. The single inhumation of a supine extended skeleton is not
the most common form when all of the data from these two sites is considered, although
it was the most common pattern at Rakhigarhi alone. This difference between the two
sites suggests the need for detailed excavation and analysis of additional Indus Age
burials is required to develop our understanding of what was ‘typical’ or not in this
period. There are ‘atypical’ (perhaps) burials at Rakhigarhi and at Harappa, which
deserve an osteobiographical analysis of paleopathology and bioarchaeological indications
of life history, to tease apart the significance of their different treatment in death. It is
only through a focus on the individual biographical contingencies and the re-
personalization of the dead that we can arrive at a reasonable interpretation of action
and symbolic meaning in these cases.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the organizers of this volume for inviting me to contribute. It
is a great honor. My research on Harappa has benefitted in innumerable ways and really
could not have been possible without cooperation from and collaboration with many
other people. First, I would like to extend my deep appreciation to Drs. V. Shinde, S.R.
Walimbe, V. Mushrif-Tripathy, V.N. Misra, R.K. Mohanty, and so many other faculty
and students affiliated with Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute. I have
been welcomed and well treated many times on research visits and I deeply appreciate
your continued support. I would also like to thank Dr. A.R. Sankhyan, who facilitated
my second visit to AnSI, and all of the Directors of Anthropological Survey in Kolkata
who were most helpful to me and allowed me to access the collections on two occasions
in 2004 and 2011, Drs. J.K. Sarkar, V.R. Rao, Dr. K.K. Basa, & Dr. K.K. Misra. I am deeply
indebted to them. Last but not least, I wish to thank the organizations that have supported
my research financially: Wenner Gren Foundation, Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research
Fellowship Program, Fulbright IIE, American Institute of Indian Studies, George Franklin
Dales Foundation, Appalachian State University College of Arts and Sciences, and the
Department of Anthropology.
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 171
References
Bell, C.M. (1997). Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York: Oxford University Press.
Binford, L.R. (1972). Mortuary Practices: Their Study and their Potential. In L.R. Binford (Ed.), An
Archaeological Perspective (pp.208–51). New York: Seminar Press.
Cork, E. (2011). Rethinking the Indus: A Comparative Re-evaluation of the Indus Civilisation as an alternative
Paradigm in the Organisation and Structure of Early Complex Societies. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Cork, E. (2005). Peaceful Harappans? Reviewing the Evidence for the Absence of Warfare in the
Indus Civilisation of North-West India and Pakistan (c. 2500-1900 BC), Antiquity 79(304):411-423.
Crumley, C.L. (2005). Remember How to Organize: Heterarchy across Disciplines. In C.S. Beekman &
W.W. Baden (Eds.), Nonlinear Models for Archaeology and Anthropology (pp.36–50). Ashgate:
Aldershot.
Crumley, C.L. (1995). Heterarchy and the Analysis of Complex Societies, Archeological Papers of the
American Anthropological Association 6(1):1-5.
Duncan, W.N., G.F. Rakita, J.E. Buikstra, L.A. Beck & S.R. Williams (2005). Interacting with the Dead:
Perspectives on Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium. Gainesville, FL: University Press of
Florida Press.
Foucault, M. (1965). Madness and Civilization. New York: Pantheon.
Gupta, P., P.C. Dutta & A. Basu (1962). Human Skeletal Remains from Harappa, Memoire, 74. New
Delhi: Anthropological Survey of India.
Hemphill, B.E. & J.R. Lukacs (1993). Hegelian Logic and the Harappan Civilization: An Investigation
of Harappan Biological Affinities in Light of Recent Biological and Archaeological Research. In
A.J. Gail & G.J.R. Mevissen (Eds.), South Asian Archaeology 1991: Proceedings of the 11th International
Conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe (pp.101-120). Stuttgart:
Franz Steiner Verlag.
Inomata, T. & L.S. Coben (Eds.) (2006). Archaeology of Performance: Theaters of Power, Community, and
Politics. Lanham (MD): Altamira Press, a division of Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Kennedy, K.A.R., N.C. Lovell, J.R. Lukacs & B.E. Hemphill (1993). Scaphocephaly in a Prehistoric
Skeleton from Harappa, Pakistan, Anthropologischer Anzeiger 51(1):1-29.
Kenoyer, J.M. (1998). Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Islamabad: American Institute of
Pakistan Studies.
Kenoyer, J.M. & R.H. Meadow (2016). Excavations at Harappa, 1986–2010. In G. Robbins Schug & S.R.
Walimbe (Eds.), A Companion to South Asia in the Past (pp.145-168). Boston: Wiley Blackwell.
Lovell, N.C. (2016). Bioarchaeology of the Indus Valley Civilization: Biological Affinities,
Paleopathology, and Chemical Analyses. In G. Robbins Schug & S.R. Walimbe (Eds.), A Companion
to South Asia in the Past (pp.169-186). Boston: Wiley Blackwell.
Lovell, N.C. (2014a). Additional Data on Trauma at Harappa, International Journal of Paleopathology
6:1–4.
172 Culture, Tradition and Continuity: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde
Lovell, N.C. (2014b). Skeletal Pathology of Human Remains from Cemetery R-37 at Harappa, Excavated
in 1987, Anthropology 115:388-410.
Lovell, N.C. (1998). The Biocultural Context of Anemia in the Ancient Indus Valley, Journal of Human
Ecology 9(3):205-219.
Lovell, N.C. (1997). Anaemia in the Ancient Indus Valley, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
7(2):115-123.
Lovell, N.C. (1994). Spinal Arthritis and Physical Stress at Bronze Age Harappa, American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 93(2):149-164.
Lukacs, J.R. (1992). Dental Paleopathology and Agricultural Intensification in South Asia: New
Evidence from Bronze Age Harappa, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 87(2):133-150.
Mughal, M.R. (1968). Harappa-1966 (Cemetery R-37), Pakistan Archaeology 5:63-68.
Mushrif-Tripathy, V. & V. Shinde (in press). Bio-archaeological Analysis on Human Skeletal Assemblage
from Harappan Site of Farmana. British Archaeological Reports.
Pearson, M.P. (1982). Mortuary Practices, Society and Ideology: An Ethnoarchaeological Study, Symbolic
and Structural Archaeology 5(1):99-113.
Piggott, S. (1950). Prehistoric India to 1000 BC. Middlesex: Penguin Books.
Possehl, G.L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Lanham (MD): Altamira Press,
a Division of Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Possehl, G.L. (1998). Sociocultural Complexity without the State: The Indus Civilization. In G.M.
Feinman & J. Marcus (Eds.), Archaic States (pp.261-291). Santa Fe: School of American Research
Press.
Possehl, G.L. (1990). Revolution in the Urban Revolution: The Emergence of Indus Urbanization,
Annual Review of Anthropology 19:261-282.
Price, T.D. & G.M. Feinman (2010). Social Inequality and the Evolution of Human Social Organization.
In T.D. Price & G.M. Feinman (Eds.), Pathways to power (pp.1-14). Springer: New York.
Rakita, G.F., J. Buikstra, L.A. Beck & S.R. Williams (2005). Interacting with the Dead: Perspectives on
Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Rappaport, R.A. (1999). Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity (Vol. 110). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Robb, J. (2007). Burial Treatment as Transformations of Bodily Ideology. In N. Laneri (Ed.), Performing
Death: Social Analysis of Funerary Traditions in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean (pp.287-
298). Chicago: The Oriental Institute.
Robbins Schug, G. (2017). A Hierarchy of Values: The Bioarchaeology of Complexity, Order, Health,
and Hierarchy at Harappa. In H. Klaus, A. Harvey & M.N. Cohen (Eds.), Bones of Complexity:
Osteological Indicators of Emergent Heterarchy and Hierarchy (pp.263-289). Gainesville: University
Press of Florida.
Robbins Schug, G. (2016). Begotten of Corruption? Bioarchaeology and “othering” of Leprosy in
South Asia, International Journal of Paleopathology 15:1-9.
Indus Mortuary Behavior: Between Action and Symbolic Meaning 173
Robbins Schug, G. & G.K.E. Blevins (2016). The Center Cannot Hold. In G. Robbins Schug & S.R.
Walimbe (Eds.), A Companion to South Asia in the Past (pp.255-273). Boston: Wiley Blackwell.
Robbins Schug G., E.K. Parnell & R. Harrod (2018). Changing the Climate: Bioarchaeology Responds
to Deterministic Thinking about Human-Environmental Interactions in the Past. In J.E. Buikstra
(Ed.), Bioarchaeologists Speak Out: Contemporary Issues, Deep Time Perspectives (pp.133-159).
Switzerland: Springer Nature.
Robbins Schug, G., K. Gray, V. Mushrif-Tripathy & A. R. Sankhyan (2012). A Peaceful Realm?
Trauma and Social Differentiation at Harappa, International Journal of Paleopathology 2(2-3):136-
147.
Robbins Schug, G., K.E. Blevins, B. Cox, K. Gray & V. Mushrif-Tripathy (2013). Infection, Disease, and
Biosocial Processes at the End of the Indus Civilization, PLoS One 8(12):e84814.
Robbins, G., V.M. Tripathy, V.N. Misra, R.K. Mohanty, V.S. Shinde, K.M. Gray & M.D. Schug (2009).
Ancient Skeletal Evidence for Leprosy in India (2000 BC), PloS one 4(5):e5669.
Sastri, K.N. (1965). New Light on the Indus Civilization: Disposal of the Dead, the Aryan Problem, and the
Atharva Veda. Delhi: Atma Ram and Sons.
Saxe, A.A. (1970). Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. Ph.D. Thesis Unpublished. Michigan:
University of Michigan.
Sarkar, A., A.D. Mukherjee, M.K. Bera, B. Das, N. Juyal, P. Morthekai & L.S. Rao (2016). Oxygen
Isotope in Archaeological Bioapatites from India: Implications to Climate Change and Decline of
Bronze Age Harappan Civilization, Scientific Reports 6(26555):1-9.
Sharma, A.K. (1999). The Departed Harappans of Kalibangan. Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan.
Shinde, V.S. (2016a). Harappan Civilization: Current Perspective and its Contribution. https://
www.sindhulogy.org/cdn/articles/harappan-civilization-curren t-perspective-an d-its-
contribution-vasant-shinde/
Shinde, V. (2016b). Current Perspectives on the Harappan Civilization. In G. Robbins Schug & S.R.
Walimbe (Eds.), A Companion to South Asia in the Past (pp.125-144). Boston: Wiley Blackwell.
Shinde, V., T. Osada & M. Kumar (Eds.) (2011). Excavations at Farmana, District Rohtak, Haryana, India,
2006-2008. Kyoto: Institute for Humanity and Nature.
Shinde, V.S., T. Osada & A. Uesug (Eds.) (2009). Harappan Necropolis at Farmana in the Ghaggar Basin.
New Delhi: The Indian Archaeological Society.
Shinde, V.S., J.K. Yong, J.W. Eun, N. Jadhav, P. Waghmare, Y. Yadav, A. Munshi, M. Chatterjee, A.
Panyam, H.H. Jong, S.O. Chang & H.S. Dong (2018). Archaeological and Anthropological Studies
on the Harappan Cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India, PloS One 13(2):e0192299.
Stodder, A.L. & A.M. Palkovich (2012). The Bioarchaeology of Individuals. Gainesville: University Press
of Florida.
Turner, V.W. (1982). From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play. New York: Paj Publications.
Van Gennep, A. (1960). The Rites of Passage, Translated by Monika B. Vizedomand and Gabrielle L. Caffee,
Etc. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Vats, M.S. (1940). Excavations at Harappa. Being an Account of Archaeological Excavations at Harappa
Carried out between the Years 1920–21 and 1933–34. Delhi: Government of India Press.
Wheeler, M. (1968). The Indus Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
