kanmer: seals, sealing and other script material (chapter 8)
TRANSCRIPT
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Excavation at KanMER
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Harappan Script Material from
Kanmer
Though more than four dozen Harappan sites have
been excavated horizontally or vertically (Possehl
2002: 421-482), there are several challenging
issues yet to be addressed e.g., decline of the
mighty Harappans, was it a state society or not,
its hinterland trade mechanism and so on. The
decipherment of Harappan script has been one
of the most challenging issues. Several scholars
(Parpola 1994, Mahadevan 1977, Koskenniemi
and Parpola 1979, Zide, Arlane R.K. and K.V.
Zvelebil 1976, Rao et al., 2009a, b, Yadav et al.,
2008a, b, 2010) have made seminal contribution
on this aspect, but in the absence of any bilingual
text no consensus has been reached. The Indus
signs have generally been found on seals,
sealings, seal impressions, terracotta objects and
pottery and approximately 400 signs have been
identied. For comparison of signs from Kanmer,
we have referred to Parpola’s and Mahadevan’s
concordances.
At Kanmer cultural periods Pd I, II and III
belong to the Harappans and most of the script
material was discovered from Pd II i.e., belonging
to the urban phase. In all, five seals, three seal
impressions, a sealing, a potsherd with seal
impression, a few pot sherds with Harappan signs
engraved and executed with colour and about
three dozen potsherds with graffiti marks were
discovered. The Indus signs painted on potsherds
are identical to the ones found from Surkotada
(Joshi 1990: 357-369).
Most of the script material was discovered from
KMR Pd IIb. As many as three seal impressions, a
sealing and a square shaped button seal were some
of the important nds of this phase, besides many
inscribed potshards. In KMR Pd III also a faience
seal with geometric design or Indus signs and a
few pot sherds with graffiti marks were found,
including three Indus signs.
KMR I
At Kanmer a circular button seal of shell was
discovered from cultural period I besides a few
potshards with pre and post red grafti marks. It
seems that the early settlers of Kanmer had started
scratching certain signs on the potsherds, which
may have been precursor of the writing system.
The round or circular button seal (No. 08-
1805) of shell has squarish design on obverse and
smooth surface on the reverse (Tr. Z30, Layer 13).
Its diameter is 19.38 mm and thickness 2.24 mm.
This button seal appears to be somewhat similar
to the ones reported from Mehrgarh (Jarrige et
al., 1995: Fig. 3.17C: 204; Shah and Parpola
1991: Fig. no. Mr.-15A: 404), Harappa (Joshi and
Parpola 1987: Fig. no. H-127A: 195), Shaher-e-
Sokhta (Durante 1977: Fig. 9-12: 330) and Tarakai
Qila (Allchin and Knox 1981: 245-250 Shah and
Parpola 1991: Fig. no. Trq-4A: 414).
Grafti marks
As many as seven potsherds with graffiti marks
were discovered, out of which ve were identied
as pre red and two as post ring marks.
1. A thick fragment of jar or basin (Tr. AA28,
Layer 12), perhaps belonging the lower part
CHAPTER 8
SEALS, SEALING AND OTHER SCRIPT MATERIAL
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Chapter 8 Seals, Sealing and other Script Material
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of the body (No. 09-2060) has a pre fired deep
grafti mark which looks like division sign
. It appears to be identical to the findings from
Rehman Dheri (Durrani 1988: 1-204 Shah and
Parpola 1991:352-378) and a few other sites.
2. Another pre-red deep incised fragment was a
body sherd (No. 06-1253) of a red ware pot (Tr.
Y30, Layer 13). It has two marks i.e., a cross
which looks like English letter X and two parallel
lines. The signs are similar to Parpola’s 129b
and 245a and Mahadevan’s 87 and 137.
3. A pre red grafti mark (Tr. AA28, Layer 12),
which looked like tapered streak was found in a
base fragment (No. 09-2058) of a Red Ware pot.
4. Fragment of a bowl with inverted rim (No. 09-
2059) of Red Slipped ware with pre-red grafti
on the external part (Tr. AA28, Layer 12).
5. Rim fragment (No. 08-1928) of a basin of a Red
slipped ware was found with post firing graffiti
marks on inner and outer face of the neck portion
(Tr. Z30, Layer 16). Grafti is similar to Parpola’s
200a and 245a and Mahadevan’s 134 and
137.
6. A body sherd of Red Ware with chocolate
slip pot (No. 06-1217) was found with post
ring grafti (Tr. Y30, Layer 20). It is similar to
Parpola’s 200a or 296e and Mahadevan’s
134 or 328.
7. Rim fragment of Red Slipped Ware pot with
seven pre red deep incised marks. Out of these
two sets have three streaks each whereas one
appears separate.
Among these seven marks we could identify
only four as Indus signs and the remaining ones
could not be conrmed because either they were
partially survived or broken.
KMR Pd IIA
Kanmer Pd IIA was represented by remains of
urban phase of the Harappans. In the ceramic
assemblage of this period we found several
potsherds with incised or graffiti marks, besides
painted Indus signs. Their detail is as follows:
1. Three signs were found painted
in black pigment on a red slipped surface of a
stand of a dish on stand (No. 09-2047). All these
have survived partially and appeared to have been
executed in pre firing stage (Tr. Z28, Layer 9).
These signs are identical to Parpola’s 118b
, 48c and 118h and Mahadevan’s 326,
182 and 326.
2. A circle with intersecting lines is a popular
Indus sign as has been reported from several
sites. At Kanmer it was found depicted in black
pigment on the inner and outer surface of a pots
of Red Ware and Red Ware with buff slipped type
or on dishes, mostly in pre ring stage. As many
as five examples (No. 08-1948; Tr. Z30, Qua.
SW, Layer 10), (No. 09-2048; Tr. Z28, Layer
10), (No. 09-2049; Tr. Z28, Layer 10), (No. 09-
2050; Tr. Z28, Qua. SE, Layer 10), (No. 09-2053;
Tr. Z28, Layer 11) of this sign were found in the
assemblage. This sign is identical to Parpola’s
368b and Mahadevan’s 391. These signs
(executed with paint) are identical to one reported
from Surkotda Pd Ia (Joshi 1990: 357-369). A few
sites like Harappa (Shah and Parpola 1991: Fig.
no. H-1007A: 348), Rehman Dheri (Durrani 1988:
1-204; Shah and Parpola 1991: Fig. no. Rhd-
226A: 373), Kalibangan (Joshi and Parpola 1987:
Fig. no. K-120A: 324) have also yielded Indus
signs executed with pigment on pottery. The nd
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Excavation at KanMER
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of sign on inner wall of a pot sherd appears to be
interesting.
3. A Harappan Red Ware pot fragment was found
with a graffiti mark (Tr. AA28, Layer 9), which
looked somewhat like upside down English letter
Y (No. 09-2055). It was a post ring sign and it is
identical to Parpola’s 215d and Mahadevan’s
125.
4. A rectangular body sherd (No. 09-2051) of
a Harappan pot was found (Tr. Z28, Layer 10)
with two deep incised marks i.e., , .
Besides these, three horizontal streaks were also
noticed. These marks appear identical to the ones
reported by Parpola’s 219b , 245a and
Mahadevan’s 225 and 137.
5. An English letter U like sign (No. 09-2043) was
found in a Red Slipped pot sherd (Tr. Z28, Layer
8), which appear to identical to reported by
Parpola’s 319w and Mahadevan’s 347.
6. A base fragment of dish on stand of Red Slipped
ware (No. 09-2052) yielded a graffiti mark on
the inner surface (Tr. Z28, Layer11). It was a set
of two parallel lines, which may be similar to
Parpola’s 155d .
7. A rim sherd of Red Ware (No. 08-1283) has
an English letter X type mark (Surface finding),
identical to Parpola’s 245a and Mahadevan’s
137. It was made after ring the pot.
8. Another post-fired sign was found (Tr. Y30,
Layer 16) on a body sherd of a pot of Red ware
with chocolate slip (No. 06-905). This sign is
similar to English letter V. It is identical to the
sign documented by Parpola’s 200a or 296e
and Mahadevan’s 134 or 328.
9. A thin rectangular grafti mark was discovered
(Tr. AA28, Layer 12) from a pot sherd of Red
Ware (No. 09-2057), belonging to KMR IIA.
It was also a post fired mark and appears to be
similar to Parpola’s 266a and Mahadevan’s
237.
10. A rim sherd of Red Ware has two parallel lines
(No. 08-1928), which appeared to be post fired
signs (Tr. Z30, Qua. NW, Layer 13). Such parallel
streaks were quite common to several areas of the
Indus settlements. They are similar to Parpola’s
129b and Mahadevan’s 87.
11. On the base of Red Ware pot were found two
streaks (No. 09-2056). The left one is smaller
whereas the right one longer and slightly curved
towards left at the lower end (Tr. AA28, Qua.
SW, Layer 11). This set appears to be similar to
Parpola’s 126a and Mahadevan’s 123.
A sherd of Red ware with buff slip was found
(Tr. AA28, Qua. SW, Layer 8) with an squarish
impression, which looked like a seal impression
(No. 09-2186). The impression indicates that the
seal may have been squarish with deep engraved
lines.
Besides incised or graffiti marks and seal
impression, two shell tablets (No. 09-1242; Tr.
Z28, Qua. SW, Layer 9), (No. 08-1549; Tr. Z30,
Qua. SE, Layer 9) were discovered from this
cultural period. One of them was circular whereas
another one rectangular. We are not sure if they
were used as seals. As button seals have been
reported from many site e.g., Mehrgarh, Harappa,
Shaher-E-Sokhta and Tarakai Qila and so on, we
have included these objects under seals.
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Excavation at KanMER
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Figure 8.1 H-156 Figure 8.2 No. 06-1054 (Kanmer)
cm, weight 15.7 g. the sign is partially broken (Tr.
Z28, Qua. SW, Layer 8). Our close observation
of 3D image and drawing indicated that it may
be similar to Parpola’s 341e or f twin
times or 337b / c / d and 326 and
Mahadevan’s 261 twins or 403 and 317.
A broken clay sealing (No. 06-1054, Figure 8.2)
Length 2.05 cm, width 2.03 cm, thickness 0.90
cm, weight 2.7 g. or impression was discovered
from the south eastern area of the fortified
settlement associated with st. 16 (Tr. GG30, Qua.
NE, Layer 8). This sealing depicts a unicorn motif
and a few Indus signs on top .
This sealing is also circular in shape and perhaps
there was a perforation in this object too like the
earlier ones. The Indus sings are comparable to
Parpola’s 368b , 127a , 140a and
311j and Mahadevan’s 391, 99, 111 and 342.
Two signs appear to be identical
to the ones reported from a seal at Harappa (Joshi
and Parpola 1987: Fig. no. H-156: 202).
A seal from Mohenjo-daro also has these two
letters with some others. Besides, a pot sherd
discovered from Chandigarh has Indus signs
prepared by engraving (Joshi and Parpola 1987:
Fig. no. Ch-2A: 351). Two of them are identical to
the seal impression of Kanmer.
Unlike Mahadevan’s sign 391 in the text
from Kanmer, the text from Mohenjo-daro starts
with Mahadevan’s 267 as we go from right
to left direction. It must be noted that both
and are very frequent text beginner signs
of the Harappan script and both are known to
be succeeded by Mahadevan’s 99 . Also,
Mahadevan’s 342 is a very common ender
of the text (Yadav et al., 2008a, 2010). Hence
grammatically, the text from Kanmer is consistent
with the general pattern of sign sequencing in
Harappan texts even though its meaning is not
known (Nisha Yadav pers. comm.).
A squarish steatite seal (No. 09-1997),
length 1.06 cm, width 1.10 cm, thickness 0.48
cm, weight 0.4 g. with a perforated knob on
the reverse and depiction of an animal on the
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Chapter 8 Seals, Sealing and other Script Material
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obverse (Tr. X30, Qua. SE, Layer 9) is one of the
most interesting and impressive find of the site
(Kharakwal et al., 2009: 147-163). It is a small
button seal showing a standing animal facing left.
The neck part of the animal has two streaks. The
animal looks like an excited goat with its raised
short tail. There are two Indus signs at the top of
the gure, which are (Parpola’s 128b and 189b
and Mahadevan’s 97 and 211). This seal was
found in association with structure number 29 on
top of layer 9. Parpola (pers. com.) thinks that this
animal may be wild ass, a rare animal found in
Kachchh. He informed that this animal was earlier
identified in a seal from Mohenjo-daro (Parpola
pers. com.). It may be a common seal type in
Kachchh and eventually an identification of
Kachchh Harappans. Its similarity with seals from
Mohenjo-daro may also indicate contacts between
two sites or areas, if this identication is correct.
A broken steatite seal (No. 09-1996), length
1.03 cm, width 2.85 cm, thickness 0.67 cm,
weight 2.6 g. was discovered from st. 29I (Tr.
X30, Qua. SE, Layer 9). It is lower half of the
seal as legs of an animal besides some motifs
are visible. Perhaps it is a unicorn motif as the
style of legs and other associated survived motifs
match well with the depiction of seal impressions
discovered from the site.
2. A squarish object of shell with criss-cross motif
(No. 06-1007) Length 2.13 cm, width 2.17 cm,
thickness 0.26 cm, weight 2.6 g. was discovered
from north western corner of the settlement
(Tr. R21, Qua. SE, Layer 7). It is yellowish in
appearance and has two small perforations in the
central part, perhaps made for inserting thread for
hanging in the neck (!). Its reverse part is smooth.
It looks like a button seal, though we are not sure
as it may also be simply a pendant. As such seals
have also been reported as button seals from a few
Harappan sites, we therefore described this object
under this group. A sealing with somewhat similar
impression to this object has also been reported
from Gilund (Possehl et al., 2004: 18-29). It seems
that at Kanmer seal made of shell remained in use
throughout the Harappan as they were found from
all the cultural phases, though their type, size and
design pattern differs.
Grafti
Besides seals and seal impressions several pot
sherds were discovered with graffiti marks
from KMR IIB deposit. Both pre firing and post
firing examples were found in the assemblage.
Following is the detail of the representative ones:
1. A body sherd of a large Red ware jar (No. 08-
1285) has sign, which appears to have been
engraved in pre firing stage (Tr. Z30, Qua. NE,
Layer 8). It is identical to Parpola’s 41b
and Mahadevan’s 32 or 33 . Similar
sign on jar has also been reported from Harappa
(Kenoyer 2009: 13-32).
2. A popular Indus fish sign was found (Tr.
Z28, Qua. NW, Layer 8) engraved before firing
on the inner face of a dish (No. 09-1203), which
matches well with sign of Parpola’s 60a and
Mahadevan’s 59.
3. An interesting jig-jag kind of sign was
found (Tr. AA17, Qua. SW, Layer 4) on a basin
fragment of buff ware with chocolate slip, which
was created after ring. Grafti: sign - post ring
deep incision on top of rim shard (No. 08-1950).
It appears to be similar to Parpola’s 204a to g.
and Mahadevan’s 130.
4. A star like sign was found (from sondage
W2) on a rim of a pot (No. 08-1947), which is
similar to Parpola’s 256 and Mahadevan’s 141.
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Excavation at KanMER
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Figure 8.3 Perforated script pottery (No. 06-410)
5. Two post fired swastika signs (Nos. 06-168;
Tr. Z15, Qua. SW, Layer 2), (1226; Tr. GG29,
Qua. SW, Layer 5) were discovered on fragments
of jars of Red slipped ware and match well with
Mahadevan’s 148.
6. A plus or cross sign (No. 09-1878) was found
on the base of a Red Ware pot (Tr. AA28, Qua.
SW, Layer 9), which appears to be identical to
Parpola’s 245a and Mahadevan’s 137.
7. A cross and an English U type pre fired signs
were found (Tr. AA28, Qua. NW, Layer 6) close
to the base of a jar of Red Ware (No. 09-2061),
which appear to be identical to the ones recorded
by Parpola’s 245a and 296a or b and
Mahadevan’s 137 and 328.
8. A Red Ware pot sherd yielded interesting
grafti mark (No. 06-410, Figure 8.3) , which
was made during pre ring stage by perforations
forming a triangular sign (Tr. Y30, Qua. SW,
Layer 7). There are five small perforations in
each line, which makes the sign enigmatic and
interesting. We do know if this kind of sign has
something to do with astronomy.
9. A Red Ware rim sherd (No. 08-807) was found
with seven streaks. (Tr. Z29, Layer 5).
10. Two streaks were found (Tr. II30, Layer 1) on
the rim of a large black slipped jar (No. 06-1232),
which were made after ring.
11. Three incised marks (small parallel lines) were
found (Tr. Z28, Layer 9) on a body sherd of a Red
Ware pot (No. 09-2046), which were executed
before ring.
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Chapter 8 Seals, Sealing and other Script Material
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12. A star like sign was discovered (Tr. Z16,
Layer 1) on a large Red Slipped Ware jar (No. 08-
202), which was made after ring. It matches well
with Parpola’s 256 and Mahadevan’s 141.
13. A Red ware pot yielded three streaks near the
base (No. 09-2045), made before ring (Tr. Z28,
Qua. SW, Layer 8).
14. A large Red Slipped ware jar fragment
revealed (Tr. Z17, Qua. NE, Layer 3) an
interesting grafti mark. It has a set of two parallel
lines intersected by an oblique line . This
type of grafti has also been reported from Kotdiji
(Shah and Parpola 1991: Fig. no. Kd-13A: 399).
In several triangular and musthika type cakes
discovered from the site also have incised marks.
These marks may have some relation either with
the potter or with the Indus script.
Thus, besides several known Indus signs such
as fish, star, human type and swastika, we have
been able to record various other interesting signs
from the urban deposit at Kanmer, which appear
to be rare or unknown on pottery.
KMR III
A faience seal, a shell object and some graffiti
marks were discovered from cultural deposit
identied as KMR III.
Seal
An interesting rectangular seal of faience (No. 09-
1995), length 1.97 cm, width 1.38 cm, thickness
1.15 cm, weight 2.1 g. was discovered from
KMR III deposit (Tr. Q27, Layer 4) close to the
western arm of the fort. It depicts a geometrical
pattern with bold engraving. The design shows
comprtmented plans at four corners and a central
space separated by a cross like design. Could
this be depicting the inner plan of the fortified
settlement of Kanmer? The seal has a perforated
knob on the reverse. Though this object is dull
white in appearance, our close examination
revealed that it has light greenish glazed coating
all around. This squarish design is somewhat
similar to an Indus sign documented by Parpola’s
270a or d and Mahadevan’s 242.
Somewhat similar seal has also been reported
from Pirak but the design or sign are different
(Jarrige and Santoni 1979; Shah and Parpola
1991: Fig. no. Pk-18A: 381).
Shell object
A circular shell object (No. 158) discovered at
Kanmer has nine streak on the obverse which
look like representation of sun rays. Its reverse is
slightly bulging. We are not sure if it was used as
seal. It may also be a pendant. Somewhat similar
object was also reported from Sutka-gen-dor
(Stein 1931).
Incised pot sherds
1. A rim sherd of Red slip ware yielded (Tr. Z28,
Qua. NE, Layer 8) four streaks (No. 09-2044),
which were engraved after ring.
2. Two deep circular marks are found on the base
fragment of a Red Slipped ware bowl.
3. A Buff ware basin revealed three streaks (No.
09-2042), which were engraved before ring (Tr.
X31, Qua. SW, Layer 6).
4. A Red ware pot (No. 09-2054) yielded two
circular marks (Tr. AA15, Qua. SW, Layer 2).
5. Fragment of a Red slipped ware bowl (No. 08-
1951) yielded two streaks (Tr. MM28, Qua. SE,
Layer 6), which were made before ring.
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Excavation at KanMER
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6. Fragment of a Red Ware pot (No. 06-519)
yielded a rectangular sign. This pre red sign was
further divided into four equal parts (Tr. HH30,
Layer 2). This kind of sign reminds the geometric
design of faience seal described above.
7. A Red ware pot has a post ring sign perhaps
prepared by a sharp object . It looked like a
diamond shape.
8. A Red slipped ware pot (No. 808) yielded a
cross sign (Tr. Y12, Layer 4), which was prepared
after ring the pot.
Thus, signs recovered from KMR III were
mostly geometric, non-iconic or pictographic. The
urban phase tradition of sign making appears to
continue in KMR III. The discovery of faience
seal with plus or cross sign appears to be quite
interesting.
An overview of grafti marks
As the lower levels could be exposed in a very
small area at Kanmer, we have only about half a
dozen examples of graffiti, apart from a button
seal of shell. All the identified signs are as
follows:
Among these, nos. 3, 4 and 5 match with the
Indus signs whereas nos. 2, 3 and a broken button
seal with central perforation have parallels in the
Ravi phase at Harappa (Kenoyer 2009: 13-32).
The deep graffiti mark no.1 is quite similar to
the findings from Rehman Dheri (Durrani 1988:
1-204 Shah and Parpola 1991: 352-378). We do
Figure 8.4 Grafti marks①
1. 6.5.4.3.2.
1. 6.5.4.3.2. 7. 8. 9. 10.
1. 6.5.4.3.2. 7. 8. 9. 10.
11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
1. 6.5.4.3.2. 7.
Figure 8.5 Grafti marks ②
Figure 8.6 Grafti marks③
Figure 8.7 Grafti marks④
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Chapter 8 Seals, Sealing and other Script Material
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not know how far these early signs of Kanmer are
global in Harappan context.
The number of signs and symbols increased
in subsequent cultural deposit i.e., Kanmer IIA,
in which as many as 10 following signs were
identied:
Most of these are well known Indus signs. Sign
no. 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 have parallels in Kotdiji phase
remains at Harappa (Kenoyer 2009: 13-32).
KMR IIB: The quantity as well variety of signs
increased in the later half of the urban deposit
at Kanmer (KMR IIB). Apart from pot and pot
sherds the Indus signs were also found from
several seals, seal impressions and shell objects.
Following are the Indus signs obtained from this
cultural phase:
Among these sign no 1, 6, 7 were found from
urban phase at Harappa (Kenoyer 2009: 13-32).
The Swastika sign and vertical streaks appear to
be quite common through the cultural deposit at
several Indus sites.
In KMR III most of the Indus sign disappear
from the pottery. Besides, seals, terracotta cakes,
weights also disappear from the deposit. About
half a dozen following marks were identied:
These marks appear to be continuation of
earlier phase. Among these only three marks no. 5,
6 and 7 were identied as urban phase signs and
remaining appeared to be simple marks, though
sign no 1 or 2 are also known from Kotdiji and
Harappa phase (Kenoyer 2009: 13-32).
In brief the graffiti at Kanmer was largely
dominated from beginning to end by geometrical
signs, though iconic figures appear only during
the later half of the urban phase and disappear
towards its end.
Indus script and modern tattoos
of Kanmer
Rebari and Bharwad communities of Kanmer form
a major component of modern Kanmer village.
These communities get tattoos executed on their
hands, legs and other parts of the body in order
to beautify or ornate. An intensive documentation
of tattoos was carried out at Kanmer during the
excavation by Shahida Ansari (Ansari 2011) and
the authors to understand their meaning. Many
of these tattoos betray the Indus signs. Some of
the following signs documented by Ansari appear
to be exactly identical to the Harappan signs. It
is difcult to ascertain if the Harappans also had
the same meaning for these symbols. On the left
hand are modern tattoos whereas on the right side
matching Indus sign (s).
These marks include Swastika, animals, birds,
miscellaneous objects, male and female figure,
ower and so on.
Conclusion
Thus, grafti and Indus signs were found from all
the cultural phases at Kanmer. Their quantity and
variety increased during the later half of the urban
phase when iconic gures also become part of the
grafti. These nds appear to be similar in nature
to Dholavira and other Indus sites. The discovery
of certain seals indicate direct contacts of Kanmer
with main centres of the Harappa civilization.
Further study is required on this line if the seals or
script material has some direct relationship with
the local craft, resource management, production
and trade.
The find of over half a dozen seal and seal
impression indicate that the Harappan settlement
of Kanmer may have been quite important
for trade or certain craft. The discovery of
three identical seal impressions with different
symbols on the reverse suggests that they may
be names of different business families and look
like passports or identity cards (Kharakwal et
al. 2009). This kind of discovery seems to be
important, when the script is challenged by some
experts. Besides, careful study of development
8/12/2019 Kanmer: seals, sealing and other script material (Chapter 8)
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Excavation at KanMER
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Sl. No. Modern Tattoos at Kanmer Indus Signs
(Sign No. from Parpola’ s sign list)
1
2
8
7
6
5
4
3
46a
47a
81a
88a
88a
5
260c
91k
Figure 8.8a Indus script and modern tattoos of Kanmer
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Chapter 8 Seals, Sealing and other Script Material
- 12 -
Figure 8.8b Indus script and modern tattoos of Kanmer
Sl. No. Modern Tattoos at Kanmer Indus Signs
(Sign No. from Parpola’ s sign list)
9
10
16
15
14
13
12
11
91b
246
246
341h
120c
91g
245a
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Excavation at KanMER
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of strokes of Indus signs from early to late phase
and understanding the relationship of seals with
local craft production and trade may enhance
our understanding for decipherment of script.
The reference to ethnographic parallel also
appears quite interesting, which also needs to be
understood properly.
(Hansmukh Seth and J.S. Kharakwal, R.
Menaria and H. Bunker)
Sl. No.Modern Tattoos
at Kanmer Sl. No.
Indus Signs
(Sign No. from
Parpola’ s sign list)
Indus Signs
(Sign No. from
Parpola’ s sign list)
Modern Tattoos
at Kanmer
17
18
24
23
22
21
20
19
91m7c
150b
97a
26
25
105i
7c
380a
33a
190b
256
Figure 8.8c Indus script and modern tattoos of Kanmer