Fwd: Archaeological traces of invasions

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IndianCivilization, VAgarwalV@c... wrote:

Ratnagar [2000:30-31], has neatly summarized the kind of tell-tale

evidence encountered when sites destroyed by violent incursions

(leading to a hurried departure of its inhabitants) are excavated by

archaeologists:

 

QUOTE 1 BEGINS

"a) burnt buildings with their fixtures and appointments during

use still in place, though charred or broken. Items that were to be

baked may remain stacked near a kiln that was never lit, as at Ugarit

(Drower 1968). The tip of a spearhead may be found embedded in a

piece

of wood (Shahr-i Sokhta). A child's scarred skeleton may be found

clutching some object and lying under fallen roof logs (Shahr-i

Sokta,

Tosi 1983:88).

b) jars set in floors can be seen to have broken there, so that

they can be reconstructed from their pieces. The sherds on the floor

of a hurriedly abandoned room will tend to give the parts of entire

pots that were in use in that structure (Godin Tepe, Weiss and Young

1975)

c) walls with signs of recent repair or plaster

d) craft items left half finished at the place of manufacture as

at Ugarit (Drower 1968)

e) valuables or culturally significant items, of mo use to the

destroyers or to subsequent squatters, used in ways never intended.

After destroying Ugarit its pillagers used some clay tables inscribed

with religious texts to support shanty walls (ibid). At Dholavira, a

vandalized stone statue came to support a wall.

f) valuables or culturally significant items like a religious

emblems or statuary or rulers' inscriptions smashed or defaced

g) the dead hurriedly buried in non-customary spots or ways

h) safely or secretly deposited wealth items left behind in the

rush to flee the enemy. That these were secreted wealth and not

votive

offerings or ritual building foundation placements will be indicated

by disturbed floor paving.

i) W. Adams (1968) points out that evidence of burning is not by

itself proof of attack or invasion. Residents may burn down houses

because of vermin or disease. But in a kind of classic instance of

attack, at Tepe Hissar in north-eastern Iran (a settlement which will

be of relevance to our argument) we find several signs, such as

burned

and charred walls, recently renewed plaster, charred roofing

material,

a post-hole with charred wood remains, a number of flint arrowheads

in

the vicinity of the building, metal weapons, and crushed skeletal

remains. There were also splills of charred wheat and a storage room

with fifteen large pots crushed by roof collapse (Schmidt

1937:155-171). This burnt building at Hissar presents an

archaeological situation in total contrast to the evacuated palace at

Tell Brak. Most situations, however, fall somewhere between these

extremes."

END OF QUOTE 1

 

There is however another possibility that invaders do not cause

destruction because the oroginal inhabitants fled the approaching

invaders. Ratnagar [2000:31-32] again summarizes the archaeological

record of quick abandonment that took place without violence or

destruction:

 

BEGINNING OF QUOTE 2

"a) grain remaining in storage jars or silos

b) charcoal remaining in fireplaces

c) half-finished craft work, associated tools and raw materials

remaining in workshop areas

d) pottery (broken or intact) recovered in individual households

representing the entire range required for domestic use

e) clean-swept house floors and courtyards

f) the figurine or emblem of a family deity in its place in the

home

g) thick (say 30 cm) layers of roof collapse on disused floors

showing that roofs were not salvaged and subsequently fell in

(Schlanger and Wilshusen 1993:92-3)

h) buried wealth left unretrieved (?)

i) usable items left behind, these being obviously not part of

the day-to-day refuse of a family."

END OF QUOTE 2

 

Reference:

Ratnagar, Shireen; 2000; The End of the Great Harappan Tradition;

Manohar; New Delhi

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