Harappan Drainage System

A portion of a large brick drain excavated at Harappa that survived the brick robbers. Dating to about 2400-2200 BCE, it was later filled in and the area leveled. The 5 images here show it in context, as well as some of the banded beads found in situ around it.

1. This view along Drain [8] into the mound shows details of the brick construction, the robbed out area at the east end of the drain (background), sloping strata above indicating the existence of an open street drain along the same line as the earlier baked brick drain, and the later Period 3C architecture built after the open drain was filled in and the area leveled. The bricks from the eastern part of the drain were robbed by tunneling into the sediment along the line of the drain from the East.

2. A portion of a large brick drain was discovered beneath the Harappan wall on Mound AB. This drain runs E-W and would probably have emptied into a larger N-S drain that flowed to the North through a now-missing gateway.

3. Brick robbing from both directions removed all but the central portion of this drain, but the remaining contents provide an important sequence of Harappan pottery spanning at least 200 years from 2400-2200 BC.

4. In the street levels above the drain a collection of banded sandstone and banded terracotta beads were discovered.

5. Banded sandstone beads and (bottom row) imitation stone beads made of different colors of clay.