AIOU Course Code 5672-1 Solved Assignment Autumn 2021

ASSIGNMENT No. 1

1 Define Neolithic Revolution. To what extent did the Neolithic Revolution influence the cultural life of man. Explain with examples.

Political history: the story of government, political leaders, electoral activities, the making of policy, and the interaction of branches of government
Diplomatic history: the study of the relations between nations, diplomats, and ideas of diplomacy
Social history: the study of ways and customs, of family, education, children, demography (population change), and voluntary institutions (churches, for example)
Cultural history: the study of language and its uses, of the arts and literature, sport, and entertainment, in constructing cultural categories
Economic history: the study of how an entire system of production and consumption (or of any of its parts) works, of markets, industry, credit, and working people at all levels of the system
Intellectual history: the study of ideology and epistemology, analyzing how ideas affect human actions and how the material world affects human ideas
The Conservative-Consensus School views history in terms of broad continuities over time. Consensus historians believed that Americans agreed on basic ideas about politics and society; and American history is largely a success story. While criticizing numerous incidents in the American past, they generally approve of our nation’s society, economy, and politics, and regard them as flexible enough to adapt to new realities without major internal disruption. This tradition has its roots in the mid-nineteenth century when amateur historians (people who did not teach history or receive post graduate training in the field) promoted the romantic vision of America as unique. They then depicted Americans as carrying out a spiritual mission to bring democracy to the world. The Consensus school reached its heyday in the 1950s and, although it has since declined in influence, historians who emphasize the country’s pluralism and nationalism continue its legacy today. For pluralists, American history features interaction among a variety of groups and institutions, and major events grow out of a multiplicity of causes rather than single factors such as economics or ideology. The pluralists assume that U.S. institutions, both public and private, have provided a framework within which conflict can be channeled without major social disruption. Nationalists often exalt the virtue of the United States in its actions abroad.
Progressive-New Left: views our nation’s history predominantly as a series of conflicts between groups with different economic interests and stresses the way power and property have been used to repress weaker minorities at home and abroad. This school tends to criticize capitalism and support a variety of reform causes. It began during the 1900-1920 era after which it was named and Progressive historians flourished through the 1930s. During World War II and its aftermath, when criticism of the United States was discouraged, this school was eclipsed by the Consensus school. During the reform climate of the 1960s a resurgence of the school as labeled the New Left in order to distinguish it from an older group of communist and socialist writers. Historians of this school drew attention to the many groups that were left out of Conservative-Consensus history, including immigrants, women, African-Americans, Native Americans, and the very poor, often depicting them as victims of dominant elites and denied equal treatment. They also emphasized the role of economic motivation in the nation’s politics and foreign policy; and today’s “new political history” scholarship focuses on the history of different groups of people who either were or were not invested in a given vocabulary or prescriptive worldview. The more conservative trend that arose during the 1970s and 1980s created a hostile environment for the New Left from colleagues and students, however many of its central ideas, especially the need to include minority and women’s history in textbooks, has enriched every history survey course. Today there is no particular dominance of any one school, and ideas from both continue to appear in many of the historical works of recent.

Non Documentary Sources of Information: There are mainly two types of information sources. They are: documentary and non documentary. The documents are physical sources of information that are fit for physical handling or they are the record in some physical form. The non documentary sources of information are live sources that provide information instantly. The non documentary sources of information include research organizations, societies, industries, government establishment, departments, learned and professional bodies, universities, technological institutions, etc.

The non documentary sources of information are live sources which are extremely important in the process of communication. Very often, if a scientist working on an experiment needs some information, he would turn to his / her colleague working in the same laboratory rather than to a printed page. It is easier to have a dialogue with an expert than to use a bibliography or index or card catalogue or even a consultation with a reference librarian. Non documentary sources of information provide information instantly and it is very easy to handle. The main disadvantage of non documentary sources of information is that it involves high cost when distance between the people is large and that it also demands the use of highly sophisticated techniques i.e. computer system, video conference, telephone etc.The non documentary sources of information include government establishment, departments, universities, technological institutions, data centres, information centres, referral centres, clearing houses, consultants, technological gatekeeper, etc. Non documentary sources of information also include discussion with colleagues, visitors, participants of seminars and conferences, etc. The library through the referral service provides access to important non documentary sources of information which may include the following types:

i) Research Association: Research association may establish cooperative information centres. In such cases there is a possibility of firm to firm discussion and exchange of information between the members of an association.
ii) Learned Societies and Professional Institutions: A member of these bodies forms the core of a discipline or profession. The head quarters staff help the members personally on professional matter and sometimes they may direct the queries to the expert member of the body.

iii) Industrial Liaison Officer: These officers provide particularly the preliminary information needed to put a firm on the right track and for information which needs to be given personally and supported by practical advice in order to be fully effective. They visit firms, explore their needs and problems and help them to find solutions, sometimes directly on the spot, more often by putting them in touch with specialized sources of information and assistance or refer to some other specialists.

iv) Mass Media: Mass media is a means of communication of information through broadcasting and telecasting or a combination of these two for the masses, which is more effective than any documentary sources.

Sources of Documentary Information: A document constitutes embodied thought which is a record of work on paper or other material fit for physical handling, transport across space and preservation through time. It may include manuscripts, handwritten and engraved materials including printed books, periodical, microform, photograph, gramophone records, tape records, etc. The recent advances in science and technology helps originate another kind of document i.e. computer readable forms that includes C.D., DVD, pen drive, hard disk, web resources etc. All documents are the records of human observation and thought and in its creation direct human intervention is necessary. They provide some information to its readers or users. A library as a gateway of knowledge provides access to a variety of such documentary sources of information. The sources of documentary information can also be termed as an information product. It is generated out of a service to be provided to the user. It is a kind of consolidation and presentation process giving tangibility to information.

Classification of Documentary Sources of Information: Different authors classified the documentary sources of information into different categories. Some popular classifications are listed bellow
a) C. W. Hanson Classification: W. Hanson (1971) in the article “Introduction to science Information work” published in ASLIB (previously Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureau but now known as Association for Information Management) divides documentary sources of information into two categories i.e. primary and secondary.
i) Primary:The primary documents exist of their own and usually contain original information on the first formulation of any new observation, experiment, ideas, etc. Thus, according to C. W. Hanson, a monograph, an article in periodical, text book, and encyclopaedia are all primary documents. An article in encyclopedia or text book may not contain any new information on the subject but it presents the information in the particular form for the first time. The articles concerned are not a condensation or rewriting in any way of any existing document but has been written specifically for the text book or the encyclopedia.
ii) Secondary:All secondary publications present the contents of primary document in a condensed form or list them in a helpful way so that the existence of a primary document can be known and access to it can be made.

iii) Primary / Secondary Sources of Information: Conference proceedings, theses and dissertations, monographs, etc. have the characteristics of both primary and secondary sources of information. Those of documents representing new facts can be regarded as primary publication and those having the character of reviews can be grouped as secondary publication. As a result of such mixing of primary and secondary sources of information some expert doesn’t consider this division to be much practical utility.

b) Denis Grogan Classification:Denis Grogan, on the basis of level of reorganization, has classified the documents into three categories. They are: primary, secondary and tertiary.
i) Primary Sources:Primary publications are those in which the author for the first time supplies evidence, describes a discovery, makes or drives a new proposition or brings forward new evidence about previous proposition. It was created at or near the time being studied, often by the people being studied. It is a fundamental, authoritative document related to a subject of inquiry, used in the preparation of a later derivative work. Thus, the primary sources of information are basic sources of new information which are not passed through any filtering mechanism like condensation, interpretation or evaluation and are the original work of the author.
2 Enlist the name and describe some of the settlements of the early village communities in Baluchistan.

PEOPLE

A number of tribes constitute to make people of Balochistan. Three major tribes are Baloch (Baloch & Brahvi) and Pashtoon. The Balochi speaking tribes include Rind, Lashar, Marri, Jamot, Ahmedzai, Bugti Domki, Magsi, Kenazai, Khosa, Rakhashani, Dashti, Umrani, Nosherwani, Gichki, Buledi, Notazai, Sanjarani, Meerwani, Zahrozai, langove, kenazai, Khidai and Sirmastani. Each tribe is further sub-divided into various branches. The tribal chief is called Sardar while head of sub-tribe is known as Malik, Takari or Mir. Sardars and Maliks are members of district and other local Jirgas according to their status. The Baloch, believed to have originally come from Arabia or Asia minor, can be divided in to two branches: the Sulemani and Mekrani as distinct from the Brahvis who mostly concentrate in central Balochistan. Among the eighteen major Baloch tribes, Bugtis and Marris are the principal ones who are settled in the buttresses of the Sulemania. The Talpur of Sind aIso claim their Baloch origin.

Brahvi speaking tribe include Raisani, Shahwani, Sumulani, Sarparrah, Bangulzai, Mohammad Shahi, Lehri, Bezenjo, Mohammad Hasni, Zehri , Sarparrah, Mengal, Kurd,Sasoli, Satakzai, Lango, Rodeni, Kalmati, Jattak, Yagazehi and Qambarani , most of these tribes are bi-lingual and are quite fluent both in the Balochi and Brahvi Languages. The Pashtoon tribes include Kakar, Ghilzai Tareen, Mandokhel , Sherani, Luni, Kasi and Achakzai.

LANGUAGES

Balochistan, despite its scarce population, has an uncommon racial and tribal diversity. Most of the people in the cities and towns understand and speak more than two languages. In adddition to Balochi, Pashtoo and Brahvi, the majority of the population understand and speak Urdu, the national language. In Kachhi and Sibi districts, people speak Seraiki and Sindhi. Quetta city, the confluence point of all linguistic groups accommodates not only Urdu, Balochi, Pashtoo, Brahvi and Sindhi speaking people but Darri and Persian speaking ones as well. Dehwar tribe of Sarawan sub-division in Kalat, also speaks a language derived from Persian.

CULTURE

Cultural landscape of Balochistan portrays various ethnic groups. Though people speak different languages, there is a similarity in their literature, beliefs, moral order and customs. The cementing factor is religion which provides a base for unity and common social order.

Brahvi, Balochi and Pashtoon tribes are known for their hospitality. Guest is accorded is held in high esteem and considered a blessing from God. Better off people even slaughter sheep or goat for their guest. Sometimes, it so happens that where there are more houses, the guest is assumed to be the guest of the whole village. This open heartedness is the loving feature of the tribal people and is not as deep in the city or town dwellers.

Another adorable feature of Balochistan culture is faithfulness and sincerity in all relationships. There is no place or respect for unfaithful people in prevalent moral order. If fidelity is reciprocated with disloyalty or betrayal it is never forgotten.

MARRIAGES

Marriages are solemnized in presence of Mullah (a religious teacher) and witnesses. Life partners are commonly selected within the family (constituting all close relatives) or tribe. Except a negligible fraction of love marriages, all marriages are arranged. Divorce rate is very low.

A lot of marriage rituals are celebrated in different tribes. In some tribes, the takings of “Valver”, a sum of money paid by the groom to his to be wife’s family, also exist. But this custom is now gradually dying out since it has given rise to many social problems. The birth of a male child is taken as a source of p ride since he is though t to be the defender of this family and tribe.

DRESS

The mode of dress among the Balochi, Pashtoon and Brahvi tribes is very similar having a few minor dissimilarities. Turban is the common headwear of the men. Wide loose shalwar (a bit similar to loose trouser) and knee-long shirts are worn by all. The dress of the woman consists of the typical shirt having a big pocket in front. The shirt normally has embroidery work with embedded small round mirror pieces. Big ‘Dopatta’ or ‘Chaddar’, a long rectangular piece of cloth cascading down the shoulders and used to cover head, are used by the women.

FESTIVALS

There are religious and social festivals celebrated by the people of Balochistan. Two major religious festivals are Eid-ul-Azha and Eid-ul-Fiter. On these festivals people adorn their houses, wear new dresses, cook special dishes and visit each other. Eid-Meladun-Nabi is another religious festival. It is a celebration of the Holy Prophet’s birthday. Numerous colorful social festivals are also source of jubilation. Sibi festival that traces its roots to Mehergar, an archeological site of ancient human civilization, attracts people from across the country. It is attended by common folks, ministers and other government officials. Folk music performance, cultural dances, handicrafts stalls, cattle shows and a number of other amusing activities present a perfect riot of color. Buzkashi is a peculiar festival showing valour of Balochistan people. It is celebrated on horse-back by two teams that use their skills to snatch a goat from the each other.

3 Critically evaluate the causes of the decline of Indus Valley Civilization.

The Indus civilization was roughly contemporary with the other riverine civilisations of the ancient world: Egypt along the Nile, Mesopotamia in the lands watered by the Euphrates and the Tigris, and China in the drainage basin of the Yellow River and the Yangtze. By the time of its mature phase, the civilisation had spread over an area larger than the others, which included a core of 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) up the alluvial plain of the Indus and its tributaries. In addition, there was a region with disparate flora, fauna, and habitats, up to ten times as large, which had been shaped culturally and economically by the Indus.^[33][o]

Around 6500 BCE, agriculture emerged in Balochistan, on the margins of the Indus alluvium.^{[5][p][34][q]} In the following millennia, settled life made inroads into the Indus plains, setting the stage for the growth of rural and urban human settlements.^[35][r] The more organized sedentary life in turn led to a net increase in the birth rate.^[5][s] The large urban centres of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa very likely grew to containing between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals, and during the civilization’s florescence, the population of the subcontinent grew to between 4–6 million people.^[5][t] During this period the death rate increased as well, for close living conditions of humans and domesticated animals led to an increase in contagious diseases.^[34][u] According to one estimate, the population of the Indus civilization at its peak may have been between one and five million.^[36][v]

The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) extended from Pakistan’s Balochistan in the west to India’s western Uttar Pradesh in the east, from northeastern Afghanistan in the north to India’s Gujarat state in the south.^[23] The largest number of sites are in Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir states in India,^[23] and Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan provinces in Pakistan.^[23] Coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor^[37] in Western Baluchistan to Lothal^[38] in Gujarat. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan,^[39] in the Gomal River valley in northwestern Pakistan,^[40] at Manda, Jammu on the Beas River near Jammu,^[41] India, and at Alamgirpur on the Hindon River, only 28 km (17 mi) from Delhi.^[42] The southernmost site of the Indus valley civilisation is Daimabad in Maharashtra. Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on the ancient seacoast,^[43] for example, Balakot,^[44] and on islands, for example, Dholavira.^[

The first modern accounts of the ruins of the Indus civilisation are those of Charles Masson, a deserter from the East India Company‘s army.^[47] In 1829, Masson traveled through the princely state of Punjab, gathering useful intelligence for the Company in return for a promise of clemency.^[47] An aspect of this arrangement was the additional requirement to hand over to the Company any historical artifacts acquired during his travels. Masson, who had versed himself in the classics, especially in the military campaigns of Alexander the Great, chose for his wanderings some of the same towns that had featured in Alexander’s campaigns, and whose archaeological sites had been noted by the campaign’s chroniclers.^[47] Masson’s major archaeological discovery in the Punjab was Harappa, a metropolis of the Indus civilization in the valley of Indus’s tributary, the Ravi river. Masson made copious notes and illustrations of Harappa’s rich historical artifacts, many lying half-buried. In 1842, Masson included his observations of Harappa in the book Narrative of Various Journeys in Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the Punjab. He dated the Harappa ruins to a period of recorded history, erroneously mistaking it to have been described earlier during Alexander’s campaign.^[47] Masson was impressed by the site’s extraordinary size and by several large mounds formed from long-existing erosion.^[47][w]

Two years later, the Company contracted Alexander Burnes to sail up the Indus to assess the feasibility of water travel for its army.^[47] Burnes, who also stopped in Harappa, noted the baked bricks employed in the site’s ancient masonry, but noted also the haphazard plundering of these bricks by the local population.^[47]

Despite these reports, Harappa was raided even more perilously for its bricks after the British annexation of the Punjab in 1848–49. A considerable number were carted away as track ballast for the railway lines being laid in the Punjab.^[49] Nearly 160 km (100 mi) of railway track between Multan and Lahore, laid in the mid 1850s, was supported by Harappan bricks.^[49]

In 1861, three years after the dissolution of the East India Company and the establishment of Crown rule in India, archaeology on the subcontinent became more formally organised with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).^[50] Alexander Cunningham, the Survey’s first director-general, who had visited Harappa in 1853 and had noted the imposing brick walls, visited again to carry out a survey, but this time of a site whose entire upper layer had been stripped in the interim.^[50][51] Although his original goal of demonstrating Harappa to be a lost Buddhist city mentioned in the seventh century CE travels of the Chinese visitor, Xuanzang, proved elusive,^[51] Cunningham did publish his findings in 1875.^[52] For the first time, he interpreted a Harappan stamp seal, with its unknown script, which he concluded to be of an origin foreign to India.^[52][53]

Archaeological work in Harappa thereafter lagged until a new viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, pushed through the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act 1904, and appointed John Marshall to lead the ASI.^[54] Several years later, Hiranand Sastri, who had been assigned by Marshall to survey Harappa, reported it to be of non-Buddhist origin, and by implication more ancient.^[54] Expropriating Harappa for the ASI under the Act, Marshall directed ASI archaeologist Daya Ram Sahni to excavate the site’s two mounds.^[54]

Farther south, along the main stem of the Indus in Sind province, the largely undisturbed site of Mohenjo-daro had attracted notice.^[54] Marshall deputed a succession of ASI officers to survey the site. These included D. R. Bhandarkar (1911), R. D. Banerji (1919, 1922–1923), and M.S. Vats (1924).^[55] In 1923, on his second visit to Mohenjo-daro, Baneriji wrote to Marshall about the site, postulating an origin in “remote antiquity,” and noting a congruence of some of its artifacts with those of Harappa.^[56] Later in 1923, Vats, also in correspondence with Marshall, noted the same more specifically about the seals and the script found at both sites.^[56] On the weight of these opinions, Marshall ordered crucial data from the two sites to be brought to one location and invited Banerji and Sahni to a joint discussion.^[57] By 1924, Marshall had become convinced of the significance of the finds, and on 24 September 1924, made a tentative but conspicuous public intimation in the Illustrated London News:

According to Gangal et al. (2014), there is strong archeological and geographical evidence that neolithic farming spread from the Near East into north-west India, but there is also “good evidence for the local domestication of barley and the zebu cattle at Mehrgarh.”^[83][af]

According to Jean-Francois Jarrige, farming had an independent origin at Mehrgarh, despite the similarities which he notes between Neolithic sites from eastern Mesopotamia and the western Indus valley, which are evidence of a “cultural continuum” between those sites. Nevertheless, Jarrige concludes that Mehrgarh has an earlier local background,” and is not a “‘backwater’ of the Neolithic culture of the Near East.”^[85] Archaeologist Jim G. Shaffer writes that the Mehrgarh site “demonstrates that food production was an indigenous South Asian phenomenon” and that the data support interpretation of “the prehistoric urbanisation and complex social organisation in South Asia as based on indigenous, but not isolated, cultural developments”.^[149]

Jarrige notes that the people of Mehrgarh used domesticated wheats and barley,^[150] while Shaffer and Liechtenstein note that the major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from two-row barley.^[151] Gangal agrees that “Neolithic domesticated crops in Mehrgarh include more than 90% barley,” noting that “there is good evidence for the local domestication of barley.” Yet, Gangal also notes that the crop also included “a small amount of wheat,” which “are suggested to be of Near-Eastern origin, as the modern distribution of wild varieties of wheat is limited to Northern Levant and Southern Turkey.^[83][ag]”

The cattle that are often portrayed on Indus seals are humped Indian aurochs, which are similar to Zebu cattle. Zebu cattle is still common in India, and in Africa. It is different from the European cattle, and had been originally domesticated on the Indian subcontinent, probably in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan.^{[152][83][af]}

Research by J. Bates et al. (2016) confirms that Indus populations were the earliest people to use complex multi-cropping strategies across both seasons, growing foods during summer (rice, millets and beans) and winter (wheat, barley and pulses), which required different watering regimes.^[153] Bates et al. (2016) also found evidence for an entirely separate domestication process of rice in ancient South Asia, based around the wild species Oryza nivara. This led to the local development of a mix of “wetland” and “dryland” agriculture of local Oryza sativa indica rice agriculture, before the truly “wetland” rice Oryza sativa japonica arrived around 2000 BCE.

4 Kot Diji and Amri is the earliest known fortified town of pre-historic period elucidate.

The ancient site at Kot Diji was the forerunner of the Indus Civilization. The occupation of this site is attested already at 3300 BCE. The remains consist of two parts; the citadel area on high ground (about 12 m [39 ft])), and outer area. The Pakistan Department of Archaeology excavated at Kot Diji in 1955 and 1957.

Located about 45 km (28 mi)) south of Khairpur in the province of Sindh, Pakistan, it is on the east bank of the Indus opposite Mohenjo-daro.

The site is situated at the foot of the Rohri Hills where a fort (Kot Diji Fort) was built around 1790 by the Talpur dynasty ruler of Upper Sindh, Mir Suhrab, who reigned from 1783 to 1830 AD. This fort built on the ridge of a steep narrow hill is well-preserved.

The earliest site of this culture is Kunal (4000 BCE)^[2] in Haryana which is older than Rehman Dheri (3300 BCE).^[3] The type site, the first excavated site of this type of culture is Kot Diji.^[4] Rehman Dheri, which was considered oldest example of this culture, is now the second oldest example of this culture after Kunal was excavated and found to be older than Rehman Dher with similar older cultural artifacts then the Rehman Dheri.^[2]

Kot Diji and Amri are close to each other in Sindh, they earlier developed indigenous culture which had common elements, later they came in contact with Harappan culture and fully developed into Harappan culture. Earliest examples of artifacts belonging to this culture were found at Rehman Dheri, however, later excavations found the oldest example of this culture at Kunal. These are cultural ancestor to site at Harappa. These sites have pre-Harappan indigenous cultural levels, distinct from the culture of Harappa, these are at Banawali (level I), Kot Diji (level 3A), Amri (level II). Rehman Dheri also has a pre Kot Diji phase (RHD1 3300-28 BCE) which are not part of IVC culture. Kot Diji has two later phases that continue into and alongside Mature Harappan Phase (RHDII and RHDII 2500-2100 BCE). Fortified towns found here are dated as follows.^{[4][2][5][6][7]}

Kunal(5000/4000 BCE- ),^[2] in Hisar district of Haryana in India is the earliest site found with layers in phase I dating back to 5000 BCE^[8] and 4000 BCE,^[2] site’s culture is an older ancestry of the Pre-Harappan site of Rehman Dheri which was dated to 3300 BC. A button seal was discovered at Kunal during 1998-99 excavations by Archaeological Survey of India. The seal is similar to the Rehman Dheri examples. It contained a picture of two deer on one side, and geometrical pattern on other side. The similar specimen from Rehman-Dheri is datable to c. 4000 BCE, which makes Kunal site an older ancestor of Rehman Dheri.^[2] The second phase of Kunal corresponds to post-neolithic phase of Hakra culture’ (also called Early Harappan Phase, c.3300-2800 BCE or c.5000-2800 BCE) was also found.^[9]
Kot Diji (3300 BCE),^[3]is the type site, located in Sindh in Pakistan.
Amri(3600–3300 BCE), also has non-Harappan phases daring 6000 BC to 4000 BC, and later Harappan Phses till 1300 BCE.
Kalibangan(3500 BC – 2500 BC),^[7] in northwest Rajasthan in India on Ghaggar
Rehman Dheri, 3300 BCE,^[3]near Dera Ismail Khan and close to River Zhob Valleyin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

Amri is an ancient settlement in modern-day Sindh, Pakistan, that goes back to 3600 BCE. The site is located south of Mohenjo Daro on Hyderabad–Dadu Road more than 100 kilometres north of Hyderabad, Pakistan.

The earliest site of this culture is Kunal (4000 BCE)^[1] in Haryana which is older than Rehman Dheri (3300 BCE).^[2] The type site, the first excavated site of this type of culture is Kot Diji.^[3] Rehman Dheri, which was considered oldest example of this culture, is now the second oldest example of this culture after Kunal was excavated and found to be older than Rehman Dher with similar older cultural artifacts then the Rehman Dheri.^[1]

Kot Diji and Amri are close to each other in Sindh, they earlier developed indigenous culture which had common elements, later they came in contact with Harappan culture and fully developed into Harappan culture. Earliest examples of artifacts belonging to this culture were found at Rehman Dheri, however, later excavations found the oldest example of this culture at Kunal. These are cultural ancestor to site at Harappa. These sites have pre-Harappan indigenous cultural levels, distinct from the culture of Harappa, these are at Banawali (level I), Kot Diji (level 3A), Amri (level II). Rehman Dheri also has a pre Kot Diji phase (RHD1 3300-28 BCE) which are not part of IVC culture. Kot Diji has two later phases that continue into and along side Mature Harappan Phase (RHDII and RHDII 2500-2100 BCE). Fortified towns found here are dated as follows.

Kunal(5000/4000 BCE- ),^[1] in Hisar district of Haryana in India is the earliest site found with layers in phase I dating back to 5000 BCE^[7] and 4000 BCE,^[1] site’s culture is an older ancestry of the Pre-Harappan site of Rehman Dheri which was dated to 3300 BC. A button seal was discovered at Kunal during 1998-99 excavations by Archaeological Survey of India. The seal is similar to the Rehman Dheri examples. It contained a picture of two deer on one side, and geometrical pattern on other side. The similar specimen from Rehman-Dheri is datable to c. 4000 BCE, which makes Kunal site an older ancestor of Rehman Dheri.^[1] The second phase of Kunal corresponds to post-neolithic phase of Hakra culture’ (also called Early Harappan Phase, c.3300-2800 BCE or c.5000-2800 BCE) was also found.^[8]
Kot Diji(3300 BCE),^[2] is the type site, located in Sindh in Pakistan.
Amri (3600–3300 BCE), also has non-Harappan phases daring 6000 BC to 4000 BC, and later Harappan Phses till 1300 BCE.
Kalibangan(3500 BC – 2500 BC),^[6] in northwest Rajasthan in India on Ghaggar
Rehman Dheri, 3300 BCE,^[2]near Dera Ismail Khan and close to River Zhob Valleyin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age; the earliest period of human development, last until approx 8000 BC. The Paleolithic Period is divided into two eras: the Lower Paleolithic (to 40,000 BC) and the Upper Paleolithic (40,000–8000 BC).

Q.5 Write notes on the following topics.

a) Non-documentary sources

There are mainly two types of information sources. They are: documentary and non documentary. The documents are physical sources of information that are fit for physical handling or they are the record in some physical form. The non documentary sources of information are live sources that provide information instantly. The non documentary sources of information include research organizations, societies, industries, government establishment, departments, learned and professional bodies, universities, technological institutions, etc.

b) Contribution of foreign accounts to the early Indian history

In ancient times, a number of travellers from Greece, Arabs, Western Asia, and China visited India. These travellers left numerous accounts of the happenings seen by them. These foreign travellers had no obligation to any king of the region therefore their accounts are unbiased which provides first hand information on the subjects they touched upon. The invasion of Alexander provided a passage to the various Greeks and Roman explorers and travellers to India.

The Greeks and Romans

Herodotus

He is considered as first historian of the world. He mentioned Indian soldiers, fighting along the side of Persians. during the war between Persian and Greece.

Megasthenes

He was the ambassador of Seleucus Nicator in the court of Chandrgupt Maurya. He in his book ‘Indica’ describe the layout of Pataliputra during Maurayan Empire. He talked about social structure, caste-system, caste-relations etc. The original Indica is lost but its description can be found in the accounts of travelers who came into India after Megasthenes.

Ptolemy

He was a Roman geographer which provides information on geographical treatise on India.

Pliny

He in his book ‘Natural Historia’ described the trade relation between Rome and India, Indian animal and plants.

Peryplus of the Erythraean Sea

This travelogue is an anonymous work which gives us impartial and objective information on the Indo-Roman trade during Early Historic period. It informs us about the ports on India’s coast-line, trade-centres in India, the trade-routes-connecting trade centres and ports, distance between centres, the list of items-of-trade, the annual volume of trade, the rates, types of ships etc.

Chinese

Fa-Hien

He came India in 5th century AD. during Gupta period. He was a Buddhist monk, visited India to seek knowledge and visit Buddhist pilgrimage centres. During his three years of travel, he has written ‘Records of Buddhist Countries’ describing society and culture of North India during Gupta administration.

Hiuen-Tsang

He is Chinese Buddhist monk who visited India during Harshavardhana’s reign. He started his journey in 629 AD and reached in 630 AD. He visited Buddhist pilgrimage centres, stayed at Nalanda University and studied Buddhism. He read original Buddhist works, collected original manuscripts and mementos, made copies, attended Harsha’s assembly during his 15 years of travel throughout India, returned to China in 645 AD. He describes the political, religious and cultural life.

I-tsing

He is also a Buddhist monk who gives useful information about the social, religious and cultural life of the people of India.

Arabs

Sulaiman

He visited India in 9th century A.D. He had written about Pal and Pratihar rulers of his time.

Al-Masudi

He stayed in India for two years from 941 to 943 A.D. He had written about Rashtrakutas.

Albiruni

He is a Iranian scholar Muhammad ibn Ahmad Al Biruni arrived with conqueror Mahmud Ghazni who invaded India. He visited most parts of India during thirteen years in India and learned Sanskrit and Indian literature. He mentioned the conditions and culture in his book ‘Taqeeq-e-Hind’.