Mitathal

Mitathal is an important site for scholars investigating what Possehl (1992) has called the "Eastern Domain" of the Indus Valley or Harappan Civilization.

Recent studies have provided a fresh glimpse into this ancient settlement and the surrounding region during the later part of what is commonly termed the Mature Harappan period (ca. 2600-1900 B.C) of the Indus Valley Civilization.

• Early Harappan - Kalibangan-I Period - 3200-2800 BC
• Classic Harappan
• Period I -c. 2000-1900 B.C.
• Period II- c. 1900-1500 B.C.

Prior to excavation conducted by Kurukshetra University in 1968, under the direction of Suraj Bhan (Bhan 1969, 1975), copper artefacts, Indus-style pottery, beads and faience bangles were discovered at Mitathal.

Bhan’s excavations, although small in scale, revealed much about the site and the region. He identified a pre-Mature Harappan phase related to the Kalibangan I. Also he identified an early phase at the site of Harappa, which has been described as a ‘pre-defense’, 'or Kot Diji Phase'. This is also known in Haryana as 'Late Siswal culture'.

This was followed by a continuous sequence going through a Late Harappan phase. Bhan also defined the later Period I and Period II phases as belonging to c. 2000-1900 B.C. and c. 1900-1500 B.C., respectively.

The classical phase of the Indus Civilization (Mature Harappan) was indicated at the site by the presence of well-planned mud-brick structures, beads of carnelian, faience, steatite and terracotta, toy-cart wheels, wheeled toys, sling balls, discs with tapering ends, marbles and triangular cakes of terracotta as well as stone objects such as balls, hammer stones, saddle querns and mullers, and cubical stone weights.

The uppermost level (IIB) was designated the "Mitathal" culture (Late Harappan). Some Siswal/Kalibangan ceramic traditions survived and important finds from this phase include a celt, a parasu or axe, copper harpoon and a copper ring, which are known as Copper Hoards.[5]

Bhan suggested that Indus culture transformed into the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture (OCP) and hinted that the possible genesis of the OCP lay in the Siswal phase (Bhan 1975: 3).

Mitathal’s twin mounds were christened as 1 and 2 by Suraj Bhan. He recorded Mound 1 as being 150 x 130 m in area and 5 m in height, while Mound 2 was 300 x 175 m in area and 3 m above the agricultural fields. The two mounds whose northern periphery was demarcated by a modern irrigation canal (the Dang Minor) were 10 m apart.

Recent surveys show that large portions of the mounds have been destroyed due to agricultural activities. Mound 1 has been reduced both in the south and to the north.

On the south, the mound was levelled for nearly 40 metres (130 ft) and a section of nearly 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) is exposed. Mound 2 has likewise suffered extensive damage. A huge chunk measuring roughly 50 by 50 metres (160 ft × 160 ft) has been lost on its eastern side just in the past few years. Although this ongoing destruction is lamentable, it has provided a wealth of fresh archaeological materials for surface investigation.[6]

A large number of blue-green faience bangle fragments are found on the site’s surface; most are very fragmentary. Parallels are found for some Bangle types in the Harappa Phase (Period 3) levels at Harappa.[7]

Ash pits and kilns of considerable size were observed on the northwestern and eastern peripheries of the site. One among these was a feature that is suspected to be a series of faience kilns. Their furnace walls exhibit vitrification indicative of extremely high temperature craft activities.

In his discussion of Indus faience production Kenoyer mentions (1994: 37) the discovery of white rocky quartz at the site of Harappa, which might have been the raw material crushed to make the silica powder. It's found along with the kilns. This, and the unusually large numbers of faience objects suggest that Mitathal might have been a major faience production centre.

Other common surface finds were small bits of copper and some copper-alloy objects such as bangle fragments.

Broken pieces and a few complete examples[8] of stone querns and mullers were also abundant. The large majority of these stone artefacts were composed of a reddish-coloured quartzite with distinctive thin black seams.

A broken steatite seal of Mature Harappan period was discovered here in 2010. While a Harappan seal was collected previously from the surface of Rakhigarhi, no seal or sealing was found in Mitathal itself.

"The seal recovered is rectangular in shape, trapezoidal in section and inscribed on one side. The surviving portion measures 15.50 x 14.51 mm. The section of the top and bottom suggests that it was, when complete, convex backed with a perforated hole through the width. Seals of this type were used at the site of Harappa only during Period 3C (Meadow and Kenoyer 2001: 27) and this surface is dated to ca. 2100-1900 BC or the later part of what is commonly called the Mature Harappan Phase of the Indus Valley Civilization."[9]