The Indus Valley or the Harappan Civilization was one of the oldest and largest of the world’s early urban civilizations, with roots in north-western South Asia from around the fifth millennium BC, and reaching an urban state by the mid-third millennium BC. Archaeological research over the last century has resulted in excavation of numerous settlements identified as cities, towns and villages linked to this civilization (Fig. 1). While there is no evidence of a centralized hierarchical bureaucratic administrative system during the urban period (Green, 2021), a multi-tiered hierarchy of settlement sizes that were engaged in different economic, socio-political, and possibly ritualistic activities is quite evident (Kenoyer, 2000; Mughal, 1990). These different activities produced different kinds of waste across settlements. Based on varied economic conditions and socio-political as well as religious ideologies within these settlements, it is also very likely that waste was identified, managed and removed differently. Despite extensive research, only a few studies have examined how residents from these diverse settlements identified and interacted with wastes produced through continuous occupation and activities within and outside these settlements (Jansen, 1985, 1989, 1993; Kenoyer, 1991; Kharakwal et al., 2012; Shinde et al., 2008; Wright & Garrett, 2017). Organized waste management is paramount for town planning, requiring both labor and resource mobilization, especially for densely populated cities and towns. During the Mature Harappan or Urban Period, significant investments were made in waste management at least for cities and towns; however, our understanding of waste management in smaller rural settlements is lacking. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate waste management, especially when deliberating on disparities in resource availability and utilization by various sizes and types of settlements. Unfortunity, such discussion has largely been neglected for the inherently complex Indus/Harappan Civilization, without a visible centralized ruling system (Green, 2021; Kenoyer, 2000; Possehl, 1998; Wright, 2010).
As stated above, our current understanding of waste management during the Indus Era is primarily restricted to larger Indus centres. By far the most detailed work is Jansen’s (1989) discussion of the complex sub-surface, brick-built sanitation and sewage system at Mohenjo-daro, including the use by some households of terracotta pipe drains and closed sewage catchment vessels to collect and transport waste. Similar complex drainage systems can also be observed at other urban centres such as Harappa, Dholavira, Rakhigarhi, Lothal, Kalibangan, etc., where soak pits, which were assumed to have been periodically cleaned by scooping off settled deposits, were also common (Bisht, 2015; Kenoyer, 1991; Lal et al., 2015; Nath, n.d.; Rao, 1979). Wright and Garrett (2018) also argue that some garbage was likely removed from the streets and waste storage pits by wooden carts, the streets were likely swept regularly, water jars regularly filled, and drains and pits scooped out to remove any solid matter.
In contrast, there is a limited understanding as to how various groups residing in other types of Indus settlements, such as small towns and rural settlements, defined waste based on their material and symbolic qualities, distinguished between domestic and industrial wastes, allocated resources for their collection and disposal, and defined space within or outside the settlement as locations where diverse categories of waste were discarded. Kharakwal et al., (2012) and Shinde et al., (2008) have briefly discussed how some of the solid domestic wastes were discarded in their respective excavation reports on Kanmer (a Harappan town) and Farmana (a Harappan village), but this is not common. Our understanding of waste management is even more limited for debris from agro-pastoral economic activities at rural settlements. Scholars have briefly discussed that much of the agricultural waste brought into settlements likely ended up in hearths or served as animal fodder; additionally, some of the animal wastes were recycled as fuel(Chase, Ajithprasad, et al., 2014; Chase et al., 2018, 2020; Lancelotti, 2018; Lancelotti et al., 2017; Reddy, 1994) Biowastes, especially dung, were likely also used as fertilizers for the fields, although no direct evidence exists to support the use of bio-fertilizers by the people of the Indus Era.
Rural settlements may have had fewer resources to develop and maintain the sophisticated waste disposal practiced at large centers. At the same time, they would also have had less need to have sophisticated systems than in the crowded cities and towns. As noted above at the small village site of Farmana in the Ghaggar-Hakra region, garbage pits were identified in which broken pottery along with broken seals and possibly organic refuse were dumped. Solid domestic and occupational waste, such as ash, broken pottery, bones, and craft refuse were additionally found dumped on lanes (Shinde et al., 2008). This sort of dumping was also seen at sites with more formal waste disposal; e.g., at the urban site of Harappa, streets were used as dumping areas for nearby houses during some time periods, while abandoned buildings were also filled with waste prior to the construction of a later phase (Kenoyer, 1991). Similar waste disposal was also observed at the urban site of Rakhigarhi (K.S.C. personal observation). Despite the variety of research conducted, a comprehensive study on what constitutes waste, and how and where it was disposed of, reutilized, and recycled across different types of settlements occupying different regions within the Indus Era remains elusive.
Researchers have long emphasized the existence of regional variation during the Indus period and questioned an overemphasis on Indus homogeneity (Marta, 2013; Miller, 2013; Petrie et al., 2017; Petrie & Lynam, 2020; Possehl, 1998, 2004; Shinde et al., 2008), but primarily with a focus on the larger urban centers. Rural settlements provide additional insights on diversity. While these regional small settlements were economically, technologically and likely also ideologically connected to their nearby urban centres, they were also heavily influenced by the regional geography, climate and contemporary regional Chalcolithic cultures (Chase, 2014; Chase, Meiggs, et al., 2014; Gadekar & Ajithprasad, 2015; Kharakwal et al., 2012; Kuldeep K. Bhan & P. Ajithprasad, n.d.; Lindstrom, 2013; Sonawane et al., 2003). These additional aspects likely impacted their interpretation of waste and cultural definition of potential areas for waste disposal. This paper is focused on detailed identification of waste materials and their disposal patterns at Kotada Bhadli in Gujarat. It is thus not intended to fully cover the diverse rural landscapes of the Indus Civilization and pan-Indus rural waste management, as differences likely existed in the ways waste and space were perceived and constructed by the communities living in various regions.