RAS question
At Kalibangan, the lower town had houses made primarily of:
Correct answer: (D) Mud-brick (both sun-dried and baked).
At Kalibangan, the lower town's houses were primarily made of mud brick, with both sun-dried and baked bricks used at the site.
Explanation
Kalibangan follows the Harappan pattern of a citadel and a larger lower city, but its building material profile is important. Kalibangan used both sun-dried and baked mud bricks: the pre-Harappan phase used mud bricks, while the mature Harappan phase used both types. Encyclopaedia Britannica's account supports the material distinction: brick was the common Harappan building material, but at Kalibangan burned brick was mainly reserved for bathrooms, wells and drains, while most domestic architecture was in mud brick. That is why the lower-town houses are best described as mud-brick houses, not wooden, stone, or exclusively kiln-fired brick structures.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Wood is wrong because the evidence points to brick as the common building material at Harappan sites and to mud brick for most domestic architecture at Kalibangan.
- (B) Kiln-fired brick only is wrong because Kalibangan did not use only burned brick; both sun-dried and baked mud bricks were used, and Encyclopaedia Britannica says burned brick was reserved for selected facilities.
- (C) Stone is wrong because Encyclopaedia Britannica says stone was rarely, if ever, used structurally, while Kalibangan's domestic architecture was mainly mud brick.
Concept
This tests Harappan urban architecture through a Rajasthan site-specific detail. RAS often returns to Kalibangan because small material and layout facts separate Rajasthan-linked archaeology from generic Indus Valley recall.