Read the passage and answer the questions:
The Urban Planning of a Civilisation
Perhaps the most unique feature of the Harappan civilisation was the development of urban centres. Let us look at one such centre, Mohenjodaro, more closely. Although Mohenjodaro is the most well-known site, the first site to be discovered was Harappa. The settlement is divided into two sections, one smaller but higher and the other much larger but lower. Archaeologists designate these as the Citadel and the Lower Town respectively. The Citadel owes its height to the fact that buildings were constructed on mud brick platforms. It was walled, which meant that it was physically separated from the Lower Town. The Lower Town was also walled. Several buildings were built on platforms, which served as foundations. It has been calculated that if one labourer moved roughly a cubic metre of earth daily, just to put the foundations in place it would have required four million person-days, in other words, mobilising labour on a very large scale. Consider something else. Once the platforms were in place, all building activity within the city was restricted to a fixed area on the platforms. So it seems that the settlement was first planned and then implemented accordingly. Other signs of planning include bricks, which, whether sun-dried or baked, were of a standardised ratio, where the length and breadth were four times and twice the height respectively. Such bricks were used at all Harappan settlements. Although Harappa was the first site to be discovered, it was badly destroyed by brick robbers. As early as 1875, Alexander Cunningham, the first Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), noted that the amount of brick taken from the ancient site was enough to lay bricks for “about 100 miles” of the railway line between Lahore and Multan.
Traces of ‘canals’ have been found at which Harappan site?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Shortughai
Most Harappan sites lay in semi-arid lands, where farming probably needed irrigation. Traces of canals have been found at the Harappan site of Shortughai in Afghanistan, but not in Punjab or Sind. The ancient canals there may have silted up long ago, and water drawn from wells was probably also used for irrigation. Punjab and Sind are regions, not sites, and they are the very places where no canals have been traced.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 21-05 S1 29-05 S2* | 13-05 S2* | – | 23-05 S1* 30-05 S2* 02-06 S3* 06-06 S1* 09-06 S1* 10-06 S3* | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2025-26): “2.1 Agricultural technologies … Archaeologists have also tried to identify the tools used for harvesting. Did the Harappans use stone blades set in wooden handles or did they use metal tools? Most Harappan sites are located in semi-arid lands, where irrigation was probably required for agriculture. Traces of canals have been found at the Harappan site of Shortughai in Afghanistan, but not in Punjab or Sind.…” |