Siswal is a village in Hisar district,

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

, India. It located 28 km from Hisar city. It is a site of

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

age. It is a typesite for ''Siswal culture'', dating from around 3800 BC, also known as Sothi–Siswal culture.

Location

The related site of Sothi is located in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, about 70 km to the west of Siswal. The large archaeological site of Rakhigarhi is about 70 km to the east. All three ancient settlements are situated in the plain of the ancient Chautang river, that was flowing east to west in this area. Chautang, in its turn, was a tributary of the ancient Ghaggar river, that was also flowing east to west, and parallel to Ghaggar just to the north. Kalibangan is situated close to the confluence of these two rivers.Map of the area, in:

Sothi–Siswal culture

Period and pottery

Sothi–Siswal culture: Based on the

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

found here, it is classified as a separate archaeological culture / subculture.The Harappan Civilisation: Its Sub-cultures
Daily Pioneer, 10 May 2018. This culture is a pre-Harappan culture which was contemporaneous with the Early-Harappan culture, with which it had trade and/or social links and overlap of cultural traits. This site has pottery which exhibits Six fabrics of Kalibanagan. Its

type site In archaeology, a type site (American English) or type-site (British English) is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and H ...

s are Siswal and Sothi. Siswal is a site of early Harappan culture, otherwise known as "Pre-Harappan" civilization. The Pre-Harappans were known to live in mud houses with thatched roofs. The culture focused mainly on agriculture as an occupation, domesticating animals such as cows, bulls, pigs and goats. They used wheel made red pottery which was often painted on. There are broad similarities between Sothi–Siswal and Kot Diji ceramics. Kot Diji culture area is located just to the northwest of the Sothi–Siswal area.

Dating

According to Tejas Garge, Sothi culture precedes Siswal culture considerably. Sothi culture may be as early as 4600 BCE, while the earliest Siswal A layer is dated 3800-3200 BCE, and is equivalent to the Middle and Upper layers of Sothi.

Pottery with 'Six fabrics of Kalibanagan'

The Indus Valley Civilization ceramic period of Sothi–Siswal culture was relevant within the civilization. Sites around Siswal were excavated by archaeologist Suraj Bhan in different phases revealing an remarkable cultural sequence. Sothi, also in Haryana, has similar cultural remains. During a three year period from 1967, Bhan was able to excavate ninety seven sites in the area in order to reach conclusions on the Harappan culture. Upon conducting the small scale excavations, Suraj Bhan was able date a time period ranging from Kalibangan to Late Harappan culture within the region. From here, he brought light to ceramic industry associated with the region known as Siswal, given the same name of the area that these ceramics are found in. Early Indus Valley Civilization ceramic now as of recent have been classified in order to make a datum line for ceramic studies in this area. Known as the 'six fabrics of Kalibanagan', this term is now known by most scholars who are working within this area of archaeological research.

Excavation of mound

Artifacts found

The mound located within the village of Siswal is 300m to the north of the village on the left bank of the Chautang Canal as reported by Bhan. The maximum habitation deposit found here was 1.25 m above the natural soil. The cultural deposit is divided into Siswal A and Siswal B in which A was characterized by the presence of classical Kalibangan I – A to E fabrics. Bhan has also noted a clear trend of evolution in typology from the lowest to the upper levels. A few examples of the sherds found at the site are described in the words of Bhan himself below: *Miniature pot of red ware with short out-curved rim and thick horizontal black band on neck and lower part of body portion, *Upper portion of the red ware jar with simple out-turned rim and black slip on the rim and neck portion, *Fragment of a red ware sherd with horizontal black band on the rim portions and incisions in form of horizontal and criss-cross lines, *Fragment of central portion of a red ware dish with incisions in form of concentric circle, *knob (?), shaped like mushroom, 9 cm in height solid, on top portion a circular concentric circle incised with fish motif within. Upon the excavations at Siswal, Suraj Bhan put forward an idea of the existence of a parallel culture to the Harappans within the region.

Ceramic industry at Siswal

The ceramic industry of Siswal is divisible into three groups, Siswal A yielded the Kalibangan I Ware, with all the typical fabrics (A to F). Fabric A is painted with white pigment in addition to the black. In Siswal B, the late Siswal phase, both the Late Siswal and the Harappan Wares are found. This second phase is characterized by the austerity in shape and design, along with a disappearance of painted white pigment. Better potting technique can also be seen within this second group. It is marked by evolved Kalibangan I shapes bearing only black paintings. Although all the six fabrics survive in the ware, it lacks in variety in shapes and designs and is generally sturdier and better plotted than the Kalibangan I ware of the earlier phase. In accordance to this, Bhan separated non-Harappan sites on presence of a worn out medium thick red ware treated with red slip and painted with black bands, though he admits similar typology and firing with these and Siswal wear. Lastly the third and final group is characterized by the appearance of medium fabric made through a fast wheel and treated with a red slip in the case of vessels. Along with these artifacts found at the Siswal site, others found include terracota bangles with black paint strokes, terracota beads, terracota sling-balls, and terracota triangular cakes. Due to the abundance of Harrapan archaeological history within the Siswal area, the site continues to be a hot spot within the country of India for tourism as well as archaeological inquiry. Similar pottery is also found at Lohari Ragho, hence treated as a site belonging to Sothi–Siswal culture.

, an IVC town and fort with several phases starting from Early harappan phase *** Rakhigarhi, one of the largest IVC city with 4 phases of IVC with earliest dated to 8th-7th millennium BCE *** Kunal, cultural ancestor of Rehman Dheri ** List of inventions and discoveries of the Indus Valley Civilization *** Hydraulic engineering of the Indus Valley Civilization *** Sanitation of the Indus Valley Civilization ** Periodisation of the Indus Valley Civilization ** Pottery in the Indian subcontinent *** Bara culture, subtype of Late-Harappan Phase *** Cemetery H culture (2000-1400 BC), early Indo-Aryan pottery at IVC sites later evolved into

Painted Grey Ware culture The Painted Grey Ware culture (PGW) is an Iron Age in India, Iron Age Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan Archaeological culture, culture of the western Gangetic plain and the Ghaggar-Hakra River, Ghaggar-Hakra valley in the Indian subcontinent, conve ...

of Vedic period *** Black and red ware, belonging to

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and early Harappan phases ** Rakhigarhi Indus Valley Civilization museum * History of Haryana ** List of Monuments of National Importance in Haryana ** List of State Protected Monuments in Haryana ** Kotla Nihang Khan

References

* Gupta, Jugal Kishore. ''History of Sirsa Town''. New Delhi: Atlantic & Distributors, 1991. N. pag. Print. {{Haryana Archaeological cultures in India Archaeological sites in Hisar district Villages in Hisar district Hisar (city) Pre-Indus Valley civilisation sites Tourist attractions in Haryana