Cultural Continuity of the Indus Valley Civilization in

Sindh, Southern Pakistan

Mohammad Rafique Mughal

Pakistan’s oldest civilization climaxed in the Greater Indus Valley and parts of northern
India during the third millennium BCE and flourished until at least the middle of second
millennium. The most recent research indicates that its origins goes back to the first half
of fourth millennium BCE, now recognized as the Hakra cultural horizon that pre-dates
the Kot Dijian and its contemporary Early Harappan assemblages. Hakra was originally
recognized at Jalilpur as an early phase of the (Early Harappan) Kot Dijian cultural
component (Mughal 1972 and 1974) although at least one type of comparable pottery
with applique surface treatment was reported from Amri IA by J. M. Casal. It has now
been identified all over the Greater Indus valley inclusive of Cholistan (Mughal 1997: 33
and 40–44 with largest settlement of 26.3 ha), in Thar desert of southeastern Sindh, in
Mehrgarh III levels and at the Gomal Valley sites of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province
(Mughal 1982, 1990 and 1997). Contemporary Hakra sites of fourth millennium BCE such
as Girawad, Farmana and Bhirrana have been investigated by Dr. V. Shinde and Dr. L. S.
Rao in northern Indian Punjab and Haryana. The Hakra wares which are mainly
distinguished by their wheel made and handmade vessel forms, painted designs and
surface treatment, occur below the Kot Dijian (Early Harappan) occupations but
gradually overlap with those of the overlying Kot Dijian without any abrupt change or
cultural break. The recent discovery of Hakra occupation at Harappa is not surprising
because of its proximity to Jalilpur, an Early Harappan site where Hakra was first
identified during excavations by the author in 1971 and 1976. The Hakra assemblages at
Harappa are reported to occur below and also somewhat mixed with those found at the
beginning of Early Harappan Kot Dijian ceramics, just as they were discovered about
thirty years earlier at Jalilpur. It is unfortunate that an invalid and misleading label of
‘Ravi’ was attached to the Hakra wares at Harappa arbitrarily by the excavators (Kenoyer
and Meadow 2000) as if something new was discovered. There was nothing new or
different in the Hara materials at Harappa to justify a new name of what was already
known as Hakra since 1971 (Mughal 2012). Sir Mortimer Wheeler had unearthed
evidence of a Kot Dijian settlement at Harappa in 1946 which was recognized and
defined as Early Harappan in 1970. In brief, the material remains of the Hakra period
represent the beginning of the processes leading to the rise of Indus Valley Civilization.
On the present evidence, such cultural processes have not yet shown a direct link with
the Neolithic cultures of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A long period of cultural evolution eventually led to a fully mature and urbanized stage
that is known from the past and recent excavations at Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and a
number of other sites in the Indus River Valley of Pakistan and adjacent regions of India.

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 Map: Late Harappan Areas

(Bisht 1991; Nath 1998 & 1999; Meadow 1991; Rao 1973 and Thapar 1973). Several
distinctive and unique features characterize the Indus Civilization. For example, its
geographical extent far beyond the core region of the Central Indus Valley where
Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and unexcavated Ganweriwala (covering more than 81 ha area)
are located is most astonishing. No other civilization of ancient world has covered an
area so vast as did the Indus Civilization which approximates to one million sq. km
excluding the Indus remains found in Oman and the Gulf regions.

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The remarkable cultural configurations such as, town planning as demonstrated at
Mohenjo-daro with streets and lanes lined with public and private buildings and an
elaborate drainage system and water management, economic strength of cities, network
of exchange of finished and raw materials, availability of resources to mobilize labour
and construction of huge fortifications and public buildings such as Great Bath and
granaries will continue to attract attention of the world and create enhanced interest for
investigation of the unknown mysteries of the Indus Civilization. New information has
been added by excavations at Dholavira, Lothal, Kalibangan, Harappa and small sites
like Alladino. Many aspects of the Indus society are being reconstructed based on
inferences drawn from diverse categories of evidence such as the funerary objects,
specialized craft related activities of pottery making of specific shapes and functions,
decorative and ritual objects, production of seals and implements, bronze utensils and
weapons of war and standardized weights and measures. The mass production of
standardized articles of daily use, existence of high level of technology, availability of
economic surplus for keeping armies to defend cities and their wealth, creation of an
elaborate communication network and an effective political or administrative system
over a vast territory, did lead to the creation of a sort of pan-Indus cultural integration
not approached anywhere in the ancient world.

In the life history of the Indus Civilization, the beginning of second millennium is
considered very significant because of visible changes in the material culture and
settlement patterns that began to appear in the Indus Valley (Mughal 1990 and 1992 a).
These changes are now identified at a number of towns and cities in Sindh and elsewhere
in the Greater Indus Valley. Of special interest are absence of square Indus seals, rarity of
Indus script and virtual absence of cubical weights. These and other changes are
considered to be the signs of decline of civilization which had seen its climax around
2500 BCE. The causes of decline or cultural changes have been debated and discussed
ever since the excavations of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Several factors contributing to
decline such as climate change, diseases, floods, environmental degradation, depletion of
economic resources and foreign invasions have been considered and discussed
frequently with varying degree of emphasis.

Most recent research has confirmed that the onset of decline or Late Harappan period or
phase of the Indus Civilization did signal a number of changes in the material culture but
the basic Indus cultural fabric continued to survive for a considerable length of time in a
very large area of Sindh and southeastern Baluchistan (Map). Almost simultaneously,
the contemporaneous settlements in the upper Indus valley, Indian Punjab and Haryana,
cultural changes were taking place which are archaeologically recognized as the Late
Harappan Cemetery-H culture. The current research being carried out in the Thar and
Cholistan deserts of Pakistan also suggest that various cultural changes in the Indus
Civilization were actually induced by frequent hydrographic changes in the upper and
lower Indus Valley. The riverine plain of Sindh was profoundly affected by the changes
in river courses especially of the Ghaggar-Hakra River which once flowed all the way

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down to the Rann of Kutch skirting the Thar Desert in ancient times (Mughal 1982 and
1990a; 1992a and 1997: 55-61). In upper Sindh, as already pointed out, its old river course
is still visible and known under different names, most of which is utilized by the eastern
Nara canal now. On the basis of discoveries made in 1970s in Cholistan, it was suggested
that changes in the river courses during the second millennium BCE induced some
adjustments in the established social, economic and political structures of the Harappan
society. By the Late Harappan times or beginning around 2000 BCE, hydrographic
pattern of the entire Indus Valley had started changing due to tectonic activities. As a
result, the water deflected towards southeast to feed the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers and
the once perennial Hakra River gradually dried up. By the first millennium BCE, the
river had dried up completely as indicated by the location of Painted Grey Wares sites
right in the bed of the dry river.

The consequences of various environmental changes are seen in the abandonment of

settlements and weakening of Indus political and administrative system, forcing changes
in the organizational structure of the Indus society. The depletion of economic resources
and demographic changes due to migration or movements of population would have
weakened the culturally integrated Greater Indus Valley. However, the Harappan
culture and traditions lingered on for some time until about the middle of second
millennium BCE and most probably even later. This phase of the Indus Civilization was
identified in Sindh at the site of Jhukar, seventeen miles northwest of Mohenjo-daro. It
was named as ’Jhukar Culture’ after the site of its first discovery by N.G. Majumdar
(1934: 68-70). The Jhukar cultural assemblage was later excavated at the upper levels at
Chanu-daro, near Sakrand (Mackay 1945: 132- 37) and also recognized by the present
author in the last occupation levels of Mohenjo-daro in 1974. Prof. (Dr.) Nilofer Shaikh, a
scholar of Indus Civilization and now Vice Chancellor of Shah Abdul Latif University,
has been working in upper Sindh region with her colleagues namely, Dr. Qasid Mallah
and Dr. Ghulam Mohiuddin Veesar of the Department of Anthropology and
Archaeology (Shaikh 1997 and Mallah 2008). They have documented several late Indus
sites in Sindh. Already in early 1960s, J.M. Casal had carried out intensive diggings at
Amri in Dadu district and produced a long cultural sequence of settlement that includes
the Mature and Late phases of the Indus Civilization. All such evidence strongly
suggests that Sindh or lower Indus Valley was never abandoned completely at any time.
The human settlements continued to exist during the later or declining period of the
Indus Civilization when changes in the material culture and settlement locations were
taking place. Current field works being undertaken by Shah Abdul Latif University at
Khairpur in Sukkur and adjacent areas are yielding more information on the Indus
settlement patterns. Dozens of sites of the Indus Civilization have been documented in
the Thar desert along the old river bed of Hakra, also known as Wahind, Raini and Nara
locally.

To discover vital information pertaining to the later cultural phase of the Indus
Civilization and to determine cultural continuity through time, investigations were

4
undertaken by the present author, Gulzar Mohammad Khan and Masood-ul-Hasan
Khokhar at the site of Jhukar during 1973 and 1974. The purpose was to understand the
nature of cultural change from the highly developed form of Indus Civilization to what is
known as the ‚Jhukar Culture‛ of later period in Sindh. The Late Harappan period in the
lower Indus valley and adjacent areas has also been a topic of considerable attention and
interpretative descriptions. At Jhukar, good samples of materials were obtained through
excavations which had revealed evidence of cultural changes through time (Mughal
1992). At the smaller of the two mounds at Jhukar, important evidence belonging to the
Indus period was found but the high mound yielded limited information because most of
the accumulations were of later historical period. On the basis of ceramic types and their
frequencies, three phases of continuous occupation were recognized and designated as
Early, Middle and Late (last) Phases:
Late Jhukar Phase (layers 11-14 from top)
Middle Jhukar Phase (layers 15-17 in the middle)
Early Jhukar Phase (layers 18-20 at lowermost levels)
The new evidence changed our understanding and perspective of the Late Indus /
Harappan Cultural period in the lower or Southern Indus Valley. It was found that the
Indus ceramics as known from Mohenjo-daro and other cities, were present in all the
layers at Jhukar and found mixed with new or modified forms of pottery which are
labeled as ‚Jhukar‛ in the literature. It was also observed that fifty percent of the total
pottery types of the Mature Harappan period occurred in all the layers assigned to three
phases of Jhukar namely, Early, Middle and Late. There were less than ten new pottery
types but all these types were found associated with 80% of the Mature Harappan or
Indus pottery. The evidence was almost conclusive to establish for the first time that the
Jhukar culture is only a pottery style emerging in association with the continuing Mature
Indus ceramic tradition without any break or sudden change in cultural continuity in
Sindh.

In the literature, the Jhukar style of pottery has been over-emphasized to such an extent
that an erroneous impression has been created as if the ‚Jhukar Culture‛ marked a basic
change or break in the developmental sequence of the Indus Civilization. Indeed, a
change did take place, as reflected in the virtual disuse of square stamp seals and
appearance of circular ones like those of the ‘Persian Gulf’ seals which bear different
designs that were not known in the Indus Valley during the Mature Harappan period.
The cubical weights that were used by the merchants in the Gulf region and
Mesopotamia became rare, like the female figurines of terracotta thought to represent
‚Mother-goddess‛. In this period, there was an increase in the production of trade items
such as beads and faience manufactured in the workshops of Chanhu-daro and those of
western India. The Indus script persisted but on pottery only. These changes were
pointed out by the author a long time ago ( Mughal 1990) which are now accepted as
markers of change in the cultural tradition of the Indus Valley Civilization during the
second millennium BCE.

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On the western borders of Sindh and across the Kirthar Range, the hilly region of
Balochistan has always been within the Indus cultural sphere. A number of Mature
Harappan sites or materials are found along the ancient lines of communications passing
through Balochistan, a pattern that exists even today. However, regardless of the
intensity or frequency of interaction or inter-communication, the local Balochi cultural
configurations were neither transformed or replaced completely with new cultural
entities. Some sites of Indus Civilization are located in the Kech-Makran region in central
Balochistan and in the valleys of Gomal, Zhob, Loralai and Quetta. These Harappan
sites stand out as distinct colonies like colonial outposts amidst the settlements of non-
Harappan cultural traditions presumably showing little influence of one on the other.
These sites are indicative of wide ranging contacts between the Indus Valley and the
adjoining regions and even beyond with Iran, Central Asia and Mesopotamia that were
maintained throughout the life of the Indus Civilization (Mughal 1975).

Towards the end of third millennium, there is evidence to suggest that these contacts
were further enlarged to include southern Bactria and Margiana in Turkmenistan, Siestan
in Iran, southern Afghanistan and Bampur Basin in Iranian Balochistan (Jarrige 1985
and Mughal 1992). The best evidence of extensive interrelationships comes from Sibri,
South Cemetery at Mehrgarh and in Balochistan Province which were contemporary
with the Late Harappan or Jhukar period in Sindh. New research in Turkmenistan has
confirmed the existence of close cultural interaction between the Indus Valley and
Balochistan and further northwards to Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex region
(BMAC). As already pointed out, the Kech-Makran valleys and the Arabian Sea Coast
became an integral part of the Indus cultural landscape during the Mature period or
middle of the third millennium. Further southward, the Kulli materials in Balochistan
such as those from Nindowari II and III (Jarrige, Quivran and Jarrige 2011) show several
features which are comparable with those of the Mature and Late Harappan sites of the
Indus Valley. These comparisons now extend all the way to Bampur Basin and across
the Gulf to Umma-an-Nar and Hili among the settlements which are dated by
Radiocarbon to the end of third millennium BCE. The Kulli culture of southern
Balochistan as known from Nindowari III was contemporary with the Late Harappan
Jhukar culture in Sindh as discovered at the type site of Jhukar, upper levels of Amri ,
Chanhu-daro, Mohenjo-daro and from a number of sites recorded by N.G. Majumdar in
southwestern Sindh during 1930s. J. F. Jarrige and his colleagues in their admirable
publication (2011), have documented further evidence from sites in Baluchistan that
would support continuity from the Kulli to the sites of B.M.A.C. region in Central Asia.

A review of the archaeological and environmental data makes it clear that the Indus
Civilization did not disappear suddenly or abruptly, as most writers have suggested in
the past and who based their arguments on possible causes such as possible foreign
invasions, outbreak of diseases, recurrent floods and depletion of economic resources.
The Indus River like the Hakra River did change its course frequently. Various
paleochannels in lower Sindh have been mapped indicating frequent changes in river

6
courses that are believed to have been caused by frequent tectonic movements in the
Indus valley. The worst earthquake occurred in 1819 in lower Indus causing widespread
destruction and mass migration of population to other areas of the Indus valley. In an
event of similar situation in the past, the Indus cultural pattern could have been
weakened, bringing about changes in the settlement locations, subsistence base and
economy gradually. However, it is evident that initially the Indus tradition continued to
survive as indicated by the presence of Jhukar culture so far identified at Mohenjo-daro
and excavated at Jhukar, upper levels of Amri, and Lohumjo-daro (now destroyed). Shah
Abdul Latif University’s team of archaeologists led by Prof. Nilofer Shaikh has identified
at least 16 sites belonging to the late or last phase of the Indus Civilization. Even today,
many Indus traditions continue to survive in art form and daily life of the people. For
example, the use of shell bangles on the upper and lower parts of arms recalls the style of
famous bronze dancing girl of Mohenjo-daro. The short-wheeled bullock carts of present-
day Sindhi farmers are precisely identical in shape with those found at Indus culture
sites. The facial features of many local people in Sindh very much resemble those of the
famous ‚King-Priest‛ of Mohenjo-daro. Such examples demonstrate survival of several
aspects of the Indus Civilization since the third millennium BCE that would link the past
with the present and also future.

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