In Indus urban sites, monumental buildings (with famous exceptions such as the ‘Great Bath’ at Mohenjo-Daro or the ‘Granary’ at Harappa) are often difficult to distinguish from surrounding constructions, and their functions remain quite uncertain. Ninety years ago archaeologists failed to appreciate the complex interlocking among ancient floors and trampling surfaces, wall foundations and earthen fillings created by continuous rebuilding. However, when we reconsider architecture in light of new excavations in Pakistan and India, the hypothesis that large palace-like complexes actually existed at Mohenjo-Daro gains substantial support. A large architectural complex in the HR area had been previously identified by Sir John Marshall as a palace, and now we can recognize the remains of its monumental entrances with massive ring-stone columns. Another building to the rear, cursorily described in John Marshall's report, might be identified as a ‘Little Bath’, a tank surrounded by four fired brick pillars, with a well, a large drain, and a porch surrounded by carefully planned rooms. It seems to replicate on a smaller scale the prestigious model of the ‘Great Bath’ of the Citadel. Tanks and monumental entrances with columns might represent the elites' concern with ritual purity and their control of the access to restricted compounds. The architectural evidence ultimately supports the view that the early cities of the Indus Civilization were headed by heterarchic elites settled in individual, citadel-like walled enclosures and competing for political supremacy.
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