Prehistory and the Indus Valley — Practice Questions
UPSC Prelims-pattern practice questions on Stone Age, Chalcolithic and Harappan India with full explanations — sites, rivers, finds and features.
Questions
These are original UPSC-pattern practice questions. Attempt each one before revealing the answer.
At which one of the following Harappan sites has evidence of a ploughed field been found?
Solution
Kalibangan (Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, on the Ghaggar) has a ploughed field with criss-cross furrows from its Early Harappan level — two sets of furrows at right angles, suggesting that two crops were grown together.
- Lothal — dockyard and bead factory.
- Chanhudaro — bead workshop; the only major city without a citadel.
- Surkotada — bones identified by some as horse.
Answer: A
Consider the following pairs:
| Harappan site | Present-day State |
|---|---|
| 1. Rakhigarhi | Haryana |
| 2. Surkotada | Gujarat |
| 3. Banawali | Rajasthan |
| 4. Alamgirpur | Uttar Pradesh |
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Solution
Pairs 1, 2 and 4 are correct. Banawali is in Fatehabad district, Haryana — not Rajasthan (the Rajasthan site on the Ghaggar is Kalibangan). Three pairs are correct.
Answer: C
With reference to Mehrgarh, consider the following statements:
- It is located near the Bolan Pass in Baluchistan.
- It provides the earliest evidence of farming in the Indian subcontinent.
- It was a Mature Harappan city with a citadel and a Great Bath.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Solution
Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Mehrgarh (Baluchistan, Pakistan) shows wheat and barley cultivation and animal herding from about 7000 BCE. Statement 3 is wrong — Mehrgarh is a Neolithic site, centuries older than the Harappan cities; the Great Bath is at Mohenjo-daro.
Answer: B
Which one of the following animals is not depicted on the so-called Pashupati seal from Mohenjo-daro?
Solution
The seal shows a figure seated in a yogic posture, surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros and a buffalo, with two deer below. The horse is absent — and its presence in the Harappan world is itself doubtful, a key contrast with the Vedic age.
Answer: D
Consider the following statements about the Harappan Civilisation:
- Its baked bricks followed a standard ratio of 4:2:1.
- Its weights followed a binary system in the smaller denominations.
- Its script was written mostly from left to right.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Solution
Statements 1 and 2 are correct — standard bricks and binary weights (1, 2, 4, 8, 16…) are the clearest evidence of Harappan standardisation. Statement 3 is wrong: the script, still undeciphered, was written mostly from right to left.
Answer: A
“The Harappan Civilisation declined, but its culture did not disappear.” Examine the elements of continuity between the Harappan Civilisation and later Indian culture.
Solution
Introduction: The Harappan cities declined from about 1900 BCE through gradual de-urbanisation, not sudden destruction. Many of their crafts, practices and symbols survived in village India and later traditions.
Body:
- Crafts and technology: lost-wax bronze casting (the Mohenjo-daro “dancing girl”) is still practised; bead-making in Gujarat; similar pottery forms.
- Material life: the bullock cart with solid wheels (terracotta models); the criss-cross ploughing seen at Kalibangan; cotton cultivation.
- Religion: female figurines and a Mother Goddess cult; the pipal motif; reverence for animals; fire altars at Kalibangan and Lothal; the seated figure of the Pashupati seal, read by some as a proto-Shiva (debated).
- Personal ornament: bangles and other ornaments in forms that survive.
- Planning ideas: water harvesting (Dholavira) and drainage echoed in later step-wells and tanks.
- Limits of the argument: the script and urban system disappeared; interpretations of religious continuity rest on unread evidence and should be presented with caution.
Conclusion: Continuity lay less in cities than in everyday culture — crafts, farming, ritual and ornament — showing that Indian civilisation developed through layers rather than clean breaks.