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Cover Story Scienceindian Through the Ages JAIMINI SARKAR Mehrgarh pottery Story Cover Here’s a look at some of the significant contributions to science India has made through the ages. ROM astronomy to medicine and Indian science and technology dates Mehrgarh shows evidences of tools from metallurgy to mathematics, back to prehistoric human activity at with local copper ore, containers made Fancient India’s contributions to the Mehrgarh in present day Pakistan and with bitumen, domestication of plants and world of science are many. Throughout continues through the Indus valley animals and tanning. Bitumen is a mixture the ages, there came people from civilization. The Indus Valley civilization is a of organic liquids that are highly viscous, different racial, geographical and term used to refer to the cultures of the black, sticky, soluble in carbon disulfide and religious backgrounds all of whom made Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers stretching composed of highly condensed polycyclic a direct impact on the socio-economic from Neolithic Mehrgarh period down to aromatic hydrocarbons. life and indirectly on the scientific aptitude the Iron Age or Indo-Gangetic tradition. In April 2006, the journal Nature and attitude. The mature phase of this civilization was announced that the oldest evidence in the Harappan civilization (3300-1300 BC), human history for the drilling of tooth in vivo, followed by the Vedic civilization (2000- that is, in a living person, was found in 600BC). Mehrgarh around 7000 BC. It involved curing tooth-related disorders with drills Mehrgarh Culture operated by skilled bead craftsmen. These (7000-3300 BC) interesting findings provide evidence of a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry Mehrgarh is one of the most important in an early farming culture. Neolithic sites of the world and lies on the At Neolithic Mehrgarh, flint drill heads ‘kachi plain’ of today’s Balochistan located were found in stone assemblages near the Bolan pass, to the west of Indus associated with beads of bone, steatite, valley and between the present day shell, calcite, turquoise, lapis lazuli and Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. carnelian. Using models of these drill tips, methods for drilling based on the ethnographic literature were constructed This image shows a drilled molar crown from and it was found that a bow drill tipped Mehrgarh. A hole about a tenth of an inch with a flinthead required less than a minute (2.6 millimeters) wide was drilled in the center of the to produce similar holes in human enamel. crown. The hole shows smoothing, indicating it was Presumably, the know-how originally drilled well before the death of the individual. developed by skilled artisans for bead (Courtesy: Nature) production was successfully transferred to SCIENCE REPORTER, AUGUST 2011 8 Cover Story ScienceIndian Through The Ages JAIMINI SARKAR The Mehrgarh civilization drilling of teeth in a form of proto-dentistry. water and there was, in some cases, A modern reconstruction of this form of provision of a crib for sitting in toilets. Indian war rockets were dentistry has shown that the methods used ‘Western-style’ toilets were made from formidable weapons before were reliable and effective. bricks and wooden toilet seats were used such rockets were used in on top. The waste was transmitted via the Harappan Civilization extensive drainage systems in their Europe. They had bamboo (3300-1300 BC) settlements. rods, a rocket-body lashed to The size and prosperity of the Large-scale sanitary sewer systems the rod, and iron points. Indus civilization grew as a result of were in place by 2700 BC. The drains were innovations in irrigation and drainage 7-10 feet wide and 2 feet below ground oceanographers believe that Harappans systems, which eventually led to more level. The sewage was then led into must have had knowledge relating to planned settlements. This irrigation system cesspools, built at the intersection of two tides, hydrography and maritime also included artificial reservoirs at Girnar drains, which had stairs leading to them engineering in order to build such a dock dating back to 3000 BC and an early for periodic cleaning. Plumbing using equipped to berth and service ships. canal irrigation system from 2600 BC earthenware plumbing pipes with broad Using weights and measures, the onwards. flanges for easy joining with asphalt to stop inhabitants developed a system of By 2800 BC private bathrooms, leaks was in place. standardization. This technical located on the ground floor, were found The world’s first dock at Lothal in 2400 standardization enabled gauging devices in many houses of the Indus civilization. BC was built away from the main current to be effectively used in angular Pottery pipes in walls allowed drainage of to avoid silt deposition. Contemporary measurement and measurement for construction. In case of some devices, calibration was also found with multiple subdivisions. Evidence of an early furnace, animal drawn plough and ovens has been discovered from excavations at Balakot (in present day Pakistan). Furnaces might Polished Stone Axe Flint Cores have been used for the manufacture of ceramic objects. Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala ka Tila and Lahuradewa archeological sites present in Uttar Pradesh Microliths (U.P.) show implements from the period between 1800 BC-1200 BC. In the development of swords as weapons of war, those found at Mohenjo- daro have a tang and rivet to hold the handle exactly as found in Palestine, where such implements were associated with the Hyksos (1800-1500 BC). Copper harpoons found in the Indus Valley were similar to Unretouched Flint Blades those found in Europe and elsewhere in A complete set of stone tools found in a Mehrgarh grave. Such tool sets were presumably buried with their owner. Asia. 9 SCIENCE REPORTER, AUGUST 2011 Cover Story Reed Thatch A typical small house with 2 to 4 rooms at Mehrgarh would have looked like this and was Wooden Poles likely to have housed a family. successful, Sushruta mentioned that it Window should only be used when necessary. During the 5th century BC, the scholar Twigs Panini made several discoveries in the field of phonetics, phonology and morphology. Metal currency was minted in India before 5th century BC with coins being made of silver and copper, bearing animal and Mud-brick wall plant symbols on them. Post Mahajanapadas numbers as high as 1012 (1200-900 BC). (400 BC-400 AD) Swords have been recovered in Vedanga Jyotisa details several important This era was an interesting era of Indian archeological findings throughout the aspects of time and seasons, including history. Alexander invaded the Ganges-Jamuna Doab regions of India lunar months, solar months and their northwestern part of the Indian consisting of bronze but more commonly adjustment by lunar leap month of subcontinent and the first United Kingdom copper. Copper axes were also Adhimasa. Twenty-seven constellations, was established under the rule of discovered at Harappan sites (Harappa, eclipses, seven planets and 12 signs of the Chandragupta Maurya, a student of Shahi-tump and Chanhu-daro) but were zodiac were also known at that time. Chanakya. The Maurya Empire similar to those found at North Persian sites In the 8th century BC, an Indian maintained diplomatic relations with the (Hissar III, Shah Tepe, Turang Tepe) and mathematician, Baudhayana composed Greek world as Chandragupta married the Akkadian sites (Assur, Sialk B cemetery). the Sulba Sutra giving rules for the daughter of Alexander’s general, Early Iron objects found in India can construction of altars which contained Seleucus. This era thus shows prominent be dated to 1400 BC by employing the several important mathematical results. The impact of European science and culture method of carbon dating. By the early 13th famous Pythagorean theorem is believed on the Indian subcontinent. century BC, iron smelting was practiced to have been invented by Baudhayana The Arthashastra written by Chanakya on a bigger scale in India. In case of first. He solved the problem of finding a in the 4th century BC mentions the southern India especially present day circle whose area is the same as that of a construction of dams and bridges. The use Mysore, iron was employed on a large square as well gave the formula for the of suspension bridges using plaited scale as early as 11th to 12th centuries BC. square root of two. bamboo and iron chains was also seen in this period. Apart from trade and Vedic Civilization Literature of the Vedic period in India offers early records of veterinary and commerce, the book also discusses (2000-600 BC) human medicine. Leprosy is mentioned in about agriculture, working of mines and The Vedic civilization was based in the the Sushruta Samhita (6th century BC), which factories, horticulture, irrigation, waterways, northern and northwestern parts of the also mentions cataract surgery performed ships, navigation, fisheries and Indian subcontinent. Scholars place the with a special tool called the Jabamukhi slaughterhouses. Vedic period in the second and first Salaka where a curved needle was used The contacts between India and the millennia BC continuing up to the 6th to loosen the lens and push the cataract western world, which Chandragupta century BC. out of the field of vision. The eye would Maurya had established, continued during The religious texts of Vedic period later be soaked with warm butter and then the reign of his son Bindusara and provide evidence of the use of large bandaged. Though this method was grandson Ashoka. SCIENCE REPORTER, AUGUST 2011 10 Cover Story “The Great Bath” at Mohenjo-daro (above); Sewer drains at Mohenjo-daro (right); The city of Harappa had a sophisticated drainage system perhaps as early as 6,000 years before the present (extreme right) Ashoka was a great builder. His famous Institutions created specifically to many-pillared hall at Patliputra was dug care for the ill appeared in early India.
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