Prehistoric Age & Indus Valley Civilisation: previous-year questions

Answer: (D) Horse

Harappan seals, mostly square and made of steatite, show the 'unicorn' (the most common motif), humped bull, elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, buffalo, goat and ram, but not the horse. The absence of the horse (and of the lion and cow) from the seals is a standard point of contrast with Vedic culture, in which the horse is central; the horse bones reported from Surkotada remain disputed. The famous 'Pashupati' seal from Mohenjodaro shows a seated horned figure surrounded by an elephant, tiger, rhinoceros and buffalo, with two deer below. Sheep and goats were domesticated by the Harappans and horned rams appear in their art, so option C is not the answer.

Answer: (C) Gujarat

Lothal, the Harappan port town with its well-known dockyard, lies on the Bhogavo river in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat. Kalibangan is in Rajasthan, Banawali and Rakhigarhi in Haryana, and Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Answer: (A) Port

Lothal in Gujarat, near the Gulf of Khambhat, was a Harappan port town with a brick-built dockyard, one of the earliest known in the world. It was excavated by S. R. Rao. Large granaries are associated with Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, which is why (B) is the tempting option. No Harappan site is known for a zoo, and the dockyard, not a market, is what makes Lothal distinctive.

Answer: (A) Indus valley

The bronze 'Dancing Girl' was found at Mohenjo-daro, a city of the Indus Valley Civilisation, and was made by the lost-wax method. It is now in the National Museum, New Delhi. Araku valley is a hill area of the Eastern Ghats in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. Nubra valley lies in Ladakh, where the Shyok and Nubra rivers meet, and the Kashmir valley lies between the Pir Panjal and the Great Himalaya, drained by the Jhelum.

Answer: (D) Indus valley civilization

Harappa (excavated by Daya Ram Sahni in 1921) and Mohenjo-daro (discovered by R. D. Banerji in 1922) are the two great cities of the Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation. The Egyptian civilisation grew along the Nile. The Sumerian civilisation was the earliest part of Mesopotamian civilisation between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Harappan seals found in Mesopotamia show trade between the two, but they were separate civilisations.

Answer: (A) (a-2), (b-3), (c-1), (d-4)

Harappa (on the Ravi) was excavated by Daya Ram Sahni in 1921 and Mohenjodaro (on the Indus) by Rakhal Das Banerji (Bandyopadhyay) in 1922. Kot Diji in Sindh was noticed by G. S. Ghurye (1935) and excavated by F. A. Khan (1955-57). Kalibangan in Rajasthan (on the Ghaggar) was first identified by the Italian scholar Luigi Pio Tessitori and later excavated by B. B. Lal and B. K. Thapar. Hence a-2, b-3, c-1, d-4.

Answer: (C) Mehrgarh

Mehrgarh, near the Bolan Pass in Balochistan (Pakistan), shows farming of wheat and barley and herding of cattle, sheep and goats from about 7000 BCE, the earliest in the subcontinent. Burzahom in Kashmir is a Neolithic site known for pit-dwellings and burial of dogs with their masters. Utnur is a Neolithic ash-mound site of the Deccan, and Bagor in Rajasthan is a Mesolithic site giving early evidence of domesticated animals.

Answer: (B) Mehergarh

Mehrgarh (in present-day Balochistan) is the earliest known Neolithic farming settlement in the subcontinent, dating to around 7000 BCE.

Answer: (C) Both Surkotada and Dholavira are located in the Kutch region of Gujarat

Surkotada (known for horse remains) and Dholavira (known for its water-management system) both lie in the Kutch district of Gujarat.

Answer: (D) Banwali

Banawali is in Fatehabad district of Haryana, on the dry bed of the Saraswati/Ghaggar; it is known for good-quality barley and a terracotta model of a plough. The other three are in Gujarat: Surkotada (Kutch, remains of horse bones), Lothal (near Ahmedabad on the Bhogava river, dockyard) and Dholavira (Khadir Bet in Kutch, water reservoirs and a signboard; UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021). Other Haryana sites: Rakhigarhi, Bhirrana, Mitathal.

Answer: (C) Kalibangan

Kalibangan, on the Ghaggar river, is a major Harappan site in present-day Rajasthan; Mohenjo Daro and Suktagen Dor lie in Pakistan, and Lothal is in Gujarat.

Answer: (A) Kalibangan.

Rice cultivation evidence in the Harappan civilisation has been found at Kalibangan in Rajasthan. Lothal is known as a major port city with a dockyard; Kot Diji is in Sindh; Ropar is in Punjab.