speculation, since the written inscriptions found on Harappan sites cannot yet be deciphered. For the time being, therefore, the lives of the ancient Harappans remain shadowy for us; all we can now know of them is derived from such of their buildings as have survived, and the objects found in them. But quite a lot can be learned. For instance, we know that they understood town-planning. The "lower city" of Mohenjo-daro was laid out in a criss-cross pattern of streets which were evidently planned from the start. unlike those of Ur, in Sumeria, which seem to wander inconsequentially. There is, however, something depressing and a little sinister in this huddle of lanes and streets, all built of mud-brick and, as far as can be ascertained, unornamented. Few windows opened on those streets, though there may have been grilles for ventilation. Within, the chambers opened on to courtyards, and partitions were probably of matting, to assist in the circulation of air. The most astonishing feature, which makes the Harappan cities almost unique in the pre classical world of the ancient East, is the elaborate system of drainage and sanitation. Bathrooms are very much in evidence; there are latrines with waste-channels leading to cess-pits, which were evidently regularly cleared by municipal workmen. "The noteworthy and recurrent features," writes Wheeler, "are the insistence on water-supply, bathing and drainage, together with a substantial stairway to the upper floor. In some houses a built seat-latrine of Western type is included on the ground or first floor, with a sloping and sometimes stepped channel through the wall to a pottery receptable or brick drain in the street outside." And of the general layout of the Lower City he says, "The main streets are about 30 feet wide, and major Insulae or blocks are subdivided by lanes which are not infrequently doglegged, as though (like the side-streets of Avignon, for example) to break the impact of the prevailing winds." |
Besides private dwelling there were larger buildings which may have been industrial or commercial premises, and one, with conical pots sunk in the floor to take large jars, may have been a restaurant. Religious buildings have not been definitely identified, though the archaeologists discovered, in the Lower City, a complex of thick-walled building with a ceremonial approach leading to a central space which may have contained a sacred tree, or perhaps the statue of a deity. Near this building was found a piece of statuary representing a seated or possibly squatting man, bearded, with a shaven upper lip, and a fillet round his brow, which was sub-naturally low.. |