Technology and other Facts

TECHNOLOGY
In many respects the Harappans were technologically backward in comparison with the Mesopotamians. The Sumerians very early invented knives and spear-heads with ribs in the middle for extra strength, and axeheads with holes for the shafts; but the blades of Harappa were flat and easily bent while the axehead had to be lashed to their handles. In one respect, however, they were technologically advanced compared to their contemporaries-they had devised a saw with undulating teeth, which allowed the dust to escape freely from the cut and much simplified the carpenter's task.

SOCIETY
The general view is that Indus Valley Civilisation was not the creation of a homogeneous people; it was a composite product of different races who lived and worked together in a particular environment. Mohenjo-daro had easy land and water communications. It was the meeting ground of people from different parts of Asia. However, in recent times, historians are veering round to the view that the Harappan culture is native to the soil, that the populations at these sites belonged each to a single biological group and probably descended from earlier populations in those re­gions.

From the skeletal remains so far examined it appears that some oithe Harappans w~re people of the longheaded, narrow-nosed, slender Mediterranean type. A second ele­ment was the Proto-Australoid, with flat nose and thick lips. A single skull of the Mongolian type, has been found, and one of the short-headed Alpin~ type. Father H. Heras has claimed that the Harappan lcu1guage was a very primitive form of Tamil.
DRESS AND ORNAMENTS The men wore robes which left one shoulder bare, and the garments of the upper classes were often richly patterned. Beards were worn, and men and women alike had long hair. The coiffures of the women were often elaborate, and pigtails were also popular. Women loved jewellery and wore heavy bangles in profu­sion, large necklaces, ear-rings, bracelets, finger-rings, girdles,
nose-studs and anklets. ­

Although no definite proof is available with rega~ the disposal of the dead, a broad view is that probably Ii were three methods of disposing the dead-complete bu
burial after exposure of the body to birds and beasts, cremation followed by burial of the ashes. The disc~ of cinerary urns and jars, goblets or vessels with as bones, and charcoal may, however, suggest that during flourishing period of the Indus Valley culture the t1 method was generally in vogue. The people prob, believed in ghosts and evil spirits, as amulets were WI