CHANHU-DARO— MACKAY 473 



which is the less surprising when we consider the marked afl&nities of 

 the pottery with the late ware of TcU Halaf. 



A number of bone awls polished by much use suggests that the 

 Jhukar people made baskets, and judging from the number of bobbin- 

 shaped objects that they left they seem also to have been workers in 

 textiles. The figurines of the Harappa levels teU us that the head- 

 dresses of that period were very elaborate, and this appears to have 

 been the case in the Jhukar period also; a very fine headrest of 

 painted pottery was undoubtedly intended to protect the headdress 

 of its owner from damage during sleep. 



Close beneath the Jhukar stratum we came upon buildings of the 

 Harappa culture at a level approximately 13 feet below the summit 

 of the mound. Here were found the remains of burnt brick houses 

 with the bathrooms, drains, and other conveniences now well known 

 at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Here, too, were found the copper and 

 bronze implements and tools that now form an important part of the 

 collection in the Museum. Two hoards of these implements were so 

 corroded together that it was not until the end of the season when 

 they could be chemically cleaned and separated that we became 

 aware of what we had found (pi. 3, fig. 2). Blade axes (pi. 4, fig. 1), 

 chisels, spear heads, and copper and bronze vessels of various shapes, 

 all go to show that Chanhu-daro was a great center of metal working; 

 but whether bronze or copper was the metal more commonly worked 

 can only be ascertained by analysis of the material obtained.^ Con- 

 siderable skill in the working and casting of bronze is shown in the 

 cosmetic jar (pi. 3, fig. 3), and especially in the toy cart with a pent 

 roof. The latter shows us a type of vehicle that was in common 

 use at the time, for a very similar little model has been found at 

 Harappa, well over 400 miles away to the NE.° 



Important evidence of metallurgical practice was the number of 

 small masses of lead that were found, evidently the remains of some 

 considerable working in this metal. These fragments of lead are 

 now being examined for their silver content, but it may be that any 

 silver that existed was extracted before the lead reached Chanhu-daro. 



No skeletal remains of either the Jhukar people or Harappa people 

 were found, save a skull that had been placed in a large storage jar 

 together with a small collection of metal objects and a large conch 

 shell. Some care must have been exercised in inserting this skull in 

 the jar, whose opening was barely wide enough to receive it; and why 

 the skull only was thus carefully preserved and not the other bones is 

 a matter for speculation. 



Bead making was practiced even more extensively at Chanhu-daro 

 than metal working. The long agate and carnelian beads of barrel- 

 cylinder shape, of which so many fine specimens were found at Mo- 



' At Mohenjo-daro, bronze was nearly as common as copper, even in the lowest levels. 

 • Ann. Kept. Arch. Surv. India, 1920-27, pi. 23, d. 



31508—38 34 



