Which of the following metals was NOT known to the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation?
- A.Copper
- B.Iron
- C.Gold
- D.Silver
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Iron. The Harappan Civilisation is a Bronze Age culture, and no iron object has been recovered from any of its levels. Iron comes into use in the subcontinent only in the later Vedic period, centuries after the cities were abandoned, which is why the word iron in a question of this kind is almost always the answer to a negative stem.
Option A, copper, was mined at Khetri in Rajasthan and used for tools, vessels and the famous bronze Dancing Girl, which is an alloy of copper and tin. Options C and D, gold and silver, were both worked into ornaments, and hoards of jewellery have been found at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Lead was known as well. Remember also what else the Harappans lacked: coins, temples and a script that can be read.
Read the full article: Indus Valley Civilisation: Sites, Town Planning and Decline
Practice Questions
View allThe Great Bath of the Indus Valley Civilisation was found at which site?
- A.Harappa
- B.Mohenjo-daro
- C.Lothal
- D.Kalibangan
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The Great Bath stands in the citadel of Mohenjo-daro in Sindh. It is a brick tank about twelve metres long and seven metres wide, with flights of steps at two ends, small rooms around it and a layer of natural tar below the floor to stop water from seeping away.
Read the full explanation →The only Harappan site with an artificial dockyard has been identified at which place?
- A.Lothal
- B.Surkotada
- C.Chanhudaro
- D.Banawali
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Lothal lies on the Bhogava, a tributary of the Sabarmati in Gujarat, and its eastern side holds a large brick basin connected to the river by a channel.
Read the full explanation →Harappa was excavated in 1921 by which archaeologist?
- A.R. D. Banerji
- B.Sir John Marshall
- C.Daya Ram Sahni
- D.Mortimer Wheeler
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He dug at Harappa on the bank of the Ravi in 1921, and the finds from that season identified a wholly unknown urban culture, which was named after the site.
Read the full explanation →Evidence of a ploughed field, the earliest in the subcontinent, was found at which Harappan site?
- A.Dholavira
- B.Kalibangan
- C.Rakhigarhi
- D.Alamgirpur
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Kalibangan stands on the dry bed of the Ghaggar in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. A field there, belonging to the pre-Harappan level, carries two sets of furrows crossing each other at right angles, showing that two crops were grown in the same plot at the same time.
Read the full explanation →Bricks used in Harappan houses were made in which fixed ratio of length, breadth and thickness?
- A.1:2:4
- B.2:2:1
- C.4:2:1
- D.3:2:1
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A Harappan burnt brick was four units long, two units broad and one unit thick, and the same proportion turns up at sites hundreds of kilometres apart.
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