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Harappan Outposts on the Makran Coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

George F. Dales
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Extract

The widespread remains of the Indus Valley or Harappan civilization—contemporaneous in part with the great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt—present at first glance a picture of sterile isolationism. Yet none of the great civilizations of the world originated or thrived in a cultural and economic vacuum. There are, in fact, certain material indications of contact between the Harappans and their western contemporaries? Also, there is a strong Mesopotamian seafaring tradition attested to in cuneiform economic documents and mythological literature. The discovery of Indus type stamp seals in southern Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf area suggested that at least part of the Mesopotamian seafaring activities were directed toward the east. The identification, some thirty years ago, of the Makran Coast site of Sutkagen-dor as a Harappan settlement added further weight to the probability of sea contacts between the Indus and the West.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 36 , Issue 142 , June 1962, pp. 86 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1962

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References

1 Described by S. Piggott, Prehistoric India, Penguin Books, London, 1950, and F. A. Khan, ‘Fresh Sidelights on the Indus Valley and the Bronze Age Orient’, Annual Report of the Institute of Archaeology, 1955, 51–68.

2 This paper is concerned only with Harappan period remains on the coast and geographical considerations. In addition, our survey included an examination of burial cairns at Jiwani, Gatti, Gwadar and Ormara; Portuguese remains at Gwadar and Pasni; gabarbands; and Kalmati and ‘Rumi’ tombs at Pasni and Ras Malan respectively. See G. F. Dales, ‘A Search for Ancient Seaports,’ Expedition, University Museum, Philadelphia, Winter, 1962. For Baluchistan and the Makran Coast see also H. Field, An Archaeological Reconnaissance of West Pakistan, 1955 (Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, vol. LII [Cambridge, U.S.A., 1959] and Mohamed Siddiqi, The Fisherman’s Settlements on the Coast of West Pakistan (Schriften des Geographischen Instituts der Universitat Kiel, Band xvr, Heft z [Kiel, 1956]).

3 E. Mockler, ‘On Ruins in Makran,’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 9, pt. 1, 1877, 131–134.

4 Sir Aurei Stein, An Archaeological Tour in Gedrosia (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. 43, 1931).

5 Damba-Koh, 35 miles west of Sutkagen-dor in Iran, still retains evidence of such structures and terraces. Cf. Mockler, op. cit., 126–131; Stein, Archaeological Reconnaissances in North-Western India and South-Eastern Iran, London, 1937, 70 ff.

6 Gedrosia, 64.

7 As defined by Mackay in Marshall’s Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization, London, 1931, Chapter XVII. The sherds from our survey were divided equally between the Pakistan Department of Archaeology and the University Museum.

8 E.g., E. Mackay, Further Excavations at Mokenjo-daro, Delhi, 1938, pl. LIV, 19; called ‘uncommon’ at Mohenjo-daro.

9 Ibid., pl. LXVII, 3–4; called ‘imported’.

10 Stein, Gedrosia, pl. 4. These discrepancies may result, in part, from the further exposure of wall lines by erosion since Stein’s visit.

11 Neither Mockler nor Stein published plans of their lower town excavations.

12 Cr. Mockler, loc. cit., 124–125; located between the 17 and 29 foot peaks on Stein’s plan.

13 We owe the discovery of Sutka-koh to information offered by Mir Ahmad Khan Kalmati, head of the Kalmati tribe at Pasni.

14 Especially basket-marked sherds. Cf. B. de Cardi, ‘New Wares and Fresh Problems from Baluchistan”, ANTIQUITY, 1959, 17, plate V, I.

15 Based partly on information supplied by members of the Geoglogical Survey of Pakistan, especially Mr. John A. Reinemund, American Advisor. Cf. new maps Geological Survey of West Pakistan (Colombo Plan Project) released 1960. See G. F. Dales, “The Role of Natural Forces in the Ancient Indus Valley and Baluchistan” (paper presented at the December, 1961 Denver Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science—to be published by the University of Utah, 1962); also Robt. L. Raikes and Robt. H. Dyson, Jr., ‘The Prehistoric Climate of Baluchistan and the Indus Valley’, American Anthropologist, 63, No. 2, Part I, 1961, 265–281.

16 Our survey of Astola (Haptalar) produced nothing but the remains of an abandoned Hindu shrine. Astola is usually identified with the island of Carnine or Nosala, visited by Alexander the Great’s admiral Nearchus, according to Arrian’s Indica.

17 At Gabd we saw five feet of water in the river bed at the height of the dry season.

18 Mockler, loc. cit., 124.

19 The presence of a modern militia post at Santsar, a mile north of Sutkagen-dor, does not discredit this suggestion, as it is only one of a chain of militia posts in the Dasht Valley.

20 Tidal water reaches as far north as the site today.

21 The identification of Harappan remains at Lothal in the Gulf of Cambay north of Bombay as docks, and wharfs—provides additional evidence for Harappan sea-faring activities. Cf. Illustrated London News, 25 Feb., 1961, 302–304; 11 Mar., 1961, 387–389.

22 I wish to thank T. Cuyler Young, Jr.—Assistant Director of the Expedition—for bringing this observation and its important implications to my attention.