“The Distributional Pattern of the Early Harappan Settlements Dupricates that of the Mature Harappan's” A delusion of an anthropologist

Abstract

In order to advance his theory that the Mature Harappan culture grew out of the “Early Harappan culture”, Dr. M. R. Mughal has particularly emphasized on that the Kot Dijian occupation was widespread throughout the Greater Indus Valley and even in northern and central Baluchistan, and that the distributional pattern of the “Early Harappan settlements almost dupricates that of the Mature Harappan's.” A fresh close examination of what Mughal includes in the extension of the Kot Dijian culture (which in fact equals his “Early Harappan culture”), however, leads one to find out that several groups of independent cultures had co-existed before the Mature Harappans expanded in around 2500 BC and that the Kot Dijian culture had only occupied the northern areas of the Indus river system. The fact that the Kot Dijian pottery certainly extends even up to Baluchistan can hardly be interpreted as a result of the extension of the Kot Dijian culture proper. The distributional duprication of both cultures therefore turns out false, and a single “Early Harappan culture” which Mughal thinks to have prepared the formation of the Mature Harappan culture seems to be delusive.