BEFORE THE VEDIC WORLD · ca. 2600–1500 BCE

Before Vedic India

The painted urns of Cemetery H

When the great Indus cities changed, a new way of bidding farewell to the dead appeared at Harappa: keeping their remains in painted urns.

Photograph of two large painted funerary urns from Cemetery H at Harappa, displayed in a museum case; the one on the right still has its lid. — **REAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL · Avantiputra7 · CC BY-SA 4.0**
Documentary original · Exact correspondence
A real photograph of the object or place the exhibit entry presents.
Avantiputra7 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and provenance ↗

History and context

Before the Vedic hymns, the north-west of the subcontinent had great Indus cities, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Around 1900 BCE that urban life changed: some long-distance trade networks shrank, settlements moved and each region went its own way. Harappa stayed inhabited, but its economy, its pottery and the way it buried its dead were all transformed.

In Cemetery H at Harappa, some people were cremated and their remains placed in urns painted with birds, stars and waves. It is tempting to explain these designs with the Vedic hymns, but the hymns were composed later. Before the Rigveda the region was not empty: descendants of the Harappans lived there, newcomers arrived, and other ways of remembering the dead emerged.

Evidence and interpretation

Large funerary vessels painted with birds, stars, leaves and wavy lines were found in Cemetery H at Harappa. In the cemetery’s later phases, some cremated remains were placed inside urns, a new way of treating the dead that came after the age of the great cities.

The birds, stars and waves can be seen clearly; what they meant is still unknown.

After the end of the great Indus cities, each region went its own way, newcomers arrived and burial customs changed. It was in this world that the first Vedic traditions were composed.

Decades ago, some researchers linked these urns to the arrival of the peoples of the Vedas. Today it is thought that pottery alone cannot tell us what language its maker spoke or where they came from, and that its designs cannot be read using later hymns as if they were captions.

Catalogue facts

Previous period: ca. 2600–1500 BCE
Sphere of influence: North-west of the Indian subcontinent, mainly Harappa and the Indus plain
Featured element: Painted urns from Cemetery H
Date of the element: c. 1900–1300 BCE
Location: Harappa, Punjab, Pakistan
Material or medium: Painted funerary pottery
Time frame: ca. 2600–1500 BCE
Documented fact 01: Cemetery H is a regional tradition of the Late Harappan period. It cannot be used to identify a particular people.
Documented fact 02: Harappa was still inhabited after 1900 BCE, though it changed a great deal.
Documented fact 03: Its designs cannot be explained by later Vedic hymns, as if the hymns were their captions.
Image credit: Avantiputra7 · CC BY-SA 4.0

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

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c. 1900–1300 BCE

Before Vedic India

Vedic and later Indian worlds

Current record

Ceramics39 dated objects

16 / 39In the centre: Before Vedic India

Also connected, without a comparable date (17)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A Kerma beaker deposited at AbydosAncient Egypt · Second Intermediate Period
AkrotiriGreek worlds · c. 1700–1500 BCE
An unfinished vesselBatwa / Twa histories · 1947
Dia’s strataMandé worlds · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE
Early potteryMandé worlds · before 9400 BCE (calibrated date)
Greek krater from CástuloIberians · No individual dating published on this record
Kigali vaseBatwa / Twa histories · collected in 1993 or 1995
Liédena FlaskEtruscans and Rome · 2nd century CE (101–175 according to the Navarre Museum)
LothalIndus civilisation · ca. 2400–1600 BCE
Made in GaramaGaramantes · 1st millennium BCE–1st millennium CE
Nile towards NubiaAncient Egypt · ca. 3300–2800 BCE
Objects from Jenne-jenoMandé worlds · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE
Three hundred lives in the sandYayoi Japan · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE
Travelling objectsGaramantes · Mainly Roman period
Trumpet from NumantiaIberians · No individual dating published on this record
Urns from AdichanallurVedic and later Indian worlds · Iron Age · samples dated to around 665 and 467 BCE
Vessels without a languageBantu-speaking worlds · Urewe, from about 800 BCE to 650 CE (a wide range, depending on the region)

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Vessels

Before Sumer · c. 5500–4000 BCE · Sumer
Twin vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · around 5500–5000 BCE · Prehistory
Before Egypt · ca. 4400–3800 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Before Nubia · 5th–4th millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Bevel-rim bowl · ca. 3500–3000 BCE · Sumer
Uruk Vase · ca. 3300–3000 BCE · Sumer
Before Yayoi · Middle Jōmon, c. 3000 BCE · Yayoi Japan
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Crete before the palaces · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before Ancient China · c. 2500–2000 BCE · Ancient China
Longshan · c. 2500–2000 BCE · Ancient China
Kerma vessel · c. 1802–1640 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos · 18th–16th centuries BCE · Greek worlds
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds — You are viewing
Jue · c. 16th century BCE · Ancient China
Pithos · c. 1450–1375 BCE · Greek worlds
Tutankhamun's grave goods · death around 1323 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Stag Vessel · 14th–13th centuries BCE · Hittites
Valchitran · Second half of the 14th century to the early 13th century BCE, according to the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia; other authors give wider ranges within the Late Bronze Age. · Thracians
Liding · 12th–11th centuries BCE · Ancient China
Before the Iberias · Around 1000 BCE according to its discoverer; a 2023 study of the iron places it earlier, in the Late Bronze Age. · Iberians
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · Around 1100–800 BCE, according to the Hastinapura excavations · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Before Etruscans and Rome · ca. 850–800 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The urn under the helmet · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Tomb 1 at Kuntur Wasi · c. 800 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Regolini-Galassi tomb · Around 675–650 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The great Greek krater of Vix · c. 530–500 BCE · Greek worlds
Scorțaru cauldron · 6th–5th centuries BCE · Thracians
Orpheus among the Thracians · c. 440 BCE; attributed to the Painter of London E 497. · Thracians
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
Rogozen · Mostly 5th–4th centuries BCE; the pieces were made at different times. · Thracians
Grave goods of Baza and Toya · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The silver amphora of Chertomlyk · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Kul-Oba vase · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Faces of the steppe · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
Poroina Mare Rhyton · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Thracians
Borovo · 4th century BCE; 350–300 BCE in the ISAW catalogue. · Thracians
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third of the 4th century–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Golyamata Kosmatka · Late 4th–early 3rd century BCE. According to the Iskra Museum in Kazanlak, the ritual burial took place at the beginning of the 3rd century BCE. · Thracians
Panagyurishte · Late 4th–early 3rd century BCE, around 300 BCE · Thracians
El Amarejo dove · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Mairena Hoard · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Chão de Lamas vessel · Piece: 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · hidden around 110–76 BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
The dismantled cauldron · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
Patera from Perotito · Second half of the 3rd century to early 1st century BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · Between about 500 BCE and 800 CE, depending on the region · Bantu-speaking worlds
Two rows of coffins · Mainly Middle Yayoi, 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Pottery that carried on · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
Roman glass oinochoe · Late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE · Etruscans and Rome
The Chavagnes gladiator cup · 25–75 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Ancient Egypt
Laon lamp with fish · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Etruscans and Rome
Water in a shell · 1816–1826 · San histories

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Painting

Before the San · ≈25,500–23,500 BCE · San histories
Before the name San · ≈25,500–23,500 BCE · San histories
Altamira · Overall ≈36,000–13,000 years · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Before Sumer · c. 5500–4000 BCE · Sumer
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Crete before the palaces · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds — You are viewing
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · Around 1100–800 BCE, according to the Hastinapura excavations · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Orpheus among the Thracians · c. 440 BCE; attributed to the Painter of London E 497. · Thracians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Karwa textile · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third of the 4th century–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
El Amarejo dove · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
The walls of San Bartolo · Around 100 BCE · Maya worlds
Pottery that carried on · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Funerary contexts

Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · date of the grave · Prehistory
'Jamila' necklace · ≈7250–7000 BCE · Prehistory
The Gold of Varna · c. 4600–4200 BCE · Thracians
El Miradero spatula-idols · ≈4000–3800 cal BCE · Prehistory
Guadancil idol-plaque · 3750–2500 cal BCE · Iberians
Anta 4 crozier · Late 4th–first half of the 3rd millennium BCE. · Prehistory
Abydos boats · ca. 3000 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Queen's Lyre · ca. 2600–2500 BCE · Sumer
Puabi headdress · ca. 2600–2450 BCE · Sumer
Standard of Ur · c. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Cemetery R37 · ca. 2550–2030 BCE · Indus civilisation
Kerma vessel · c. 1802–1640 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos · 18th–16th centuries BCE · Greek worlds
Burial at K IV · circa 1750–1550 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds — You are viewing
Osmankayası and Ilıca · c. 1700/1650–1200 BCE · Hittites
Tutankhamun's grave goods · death around 1323 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Fu Hao’s burial goods · ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
The voice of Ahiram · c. 11th–10th century BCE · Phoenicians
Before Etruscans and Rome · ca. 850–800 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The urn under the helmet · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Tomb 1 at Kuntur Wasi · c. 800 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Beads from Cerro de los Vientos · 8th–7th centuries BCE · Orientalising · Iberians
Ceramic stand 1010 · 8th–7th centuries BCE · Orientalising · Iberians
Regolini-Galassi tomb · Around 675–650 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Ushabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
A couple at the banquet · 530–520 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The great Greek krater of Vix · c. 530–500 BCE · Greek worlds
Steppe kurgans · 7th–3rd centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
La Venta grave goods · Around 600–400 BCE · Maya worlds
Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar · First quarter of the 5th century BCE · Phoenicians
Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The oldest knotted carpet · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The statue was the urn · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
Grave goods of Baza and Toya · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The silver amphora of Chertomlyk · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Kul-Oba vase · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Susa grave goods · c. 350 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Faces of the steppe · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
453 knucklebones from Alarcos · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · necropolis chronology · Iberians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Falcata from Almedinilla · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Golyamata Kosmatka · Late 4th–early 3rd century BCE. According to the Iskra Museum in Kazanlak, the ritual burial took place at the beginning of the 3rd century BCE. · Thracians
The blade became straight · 5th–1st centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Geometry in very fine lines · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Northern mound · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Yayoi Japan
Two rows of coffins · Mainly Middle Yayoi, 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Kabusanza, around 400 CE · around 400 CE · Batwa / Twa histories
Pakal’s grave goods · Pakal died in August 683 CE; the tomb was discovered in 1952 · Maya worlds
Ingombe Ilede · Settlement of the 14th–15th centuries; graves 3 and 8 are now dated between the mid-15th and mid-17th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A Kerma beaker deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
Cemetery · c. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Daegok-ri grave goods · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Four panoplies · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Greek krater from Cástulo · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Livestock and mounds · c. 2050–1500 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Shum Laka · Around 8,000 and 3,000 years ago · Bantu-speaking worlds
The quarry remained visible · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Three hundred lives in the sand · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE · Yayoi Japan
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples dated to around 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Vix Tomb · c. 470–460 BCE · Celtic worlds

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section Reviewed on 5 September 2026

A dish or lid with an antelope

The Harappa archaeological project has published a piece from Cemetery H that may have been a dish or the lid of an urn. It has a hole near the rim, which could have been used to hang it or fasten it to the vessel. It is painted with an antelope and with designs of circles and dots; some see these as heavenly bodies, but this is not certain. The detail is a reminder that an urn was an object with parts that had to be closed and handled, not just a painted surface. And since the same cemetery has several ways of burying the dead, a decorated lid cannot explain the whole change on its own.

Research · Harappa · Dish or lid, Cemetery H pottery

The region before this culture

ca. 2600–1500 BCE · North-west of the Indian subcontinent, mainly Harappa and the Indus plain

c. 2600–1900 BCE
Verified
The urban northwest of the Indus
Great cities with shared weights and seals, and long-distance trade, organised the region long before the Vedic period.
ca. 1900–1600 BCE
Debated
Transformation and regionalisation
Changes in the rivers, trade over shorter distances and new settlements transformed urban life, but people kept living in the region.
c. 1900–1300 BCE
Debated
Cemetery H
At Harappa, painted urns and some cremations appear: a new way of bidding farewell to the dead, which on its own does not identify a people.

What changes and what we should not assume

After the end of the great Indus cities, each region went its own way, newcomers arrived and burial customs changed. It was in this world that the first Vedic traditions were composed.

Cemetery H is not enough to identify an Aryan or Vedic people, and its designs cannot be explained by later hymns as if they were captions.

Painted urns from Cemetery H

c. 1900–1300 BCE · Harappa, Punjab, Pakistan

Large funerary vessels from Harappa are painted with birds, stars, leaves and wavy lines. In the cemetery’s later phases, some cremated remains were placed inside urns, a new way of treating the dead after the age of the great cities. The images are striking, but we do not know what they meant, which is why they teach us to tell what we can see from what we only suppose.

Large funerary vessels from Harappa are painted with birds, stars, leaves and wavy lines. In the cemetery’s later phases, some cremated remains were placed inside urns, a new way of treating the dead after the age of the great cities. Their designs invite interpretation, but we do not know which myths or gods they refer to.

The birds, stars and waves can be seen clearly; what they meant is still unknown.

Painted funerary pottery

Wikimedia Commons · Cemetery_H_Pottery.png · Avantiputra7 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Time frame: ca. 2600–1500 BCE
Documented fact 01: Cemetery H is a regional tradition of the Late Harappan period. It cannot be used to identify a particular people.
Documented fact 02: Harappa was still inhabited after 1900 BCE, though it changed a great deal.
Documented fact 03: Its designs cannot be explained by later Vedic hymns, as if the hymns were their captions.

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

Harappa · PakistanMarker of the urban site.

Sources and references

Sources consulted on 5 September 2026.

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Before Vedic India

Dolní Věstonice I

Before Sumer

Twin vessel from Cova de l’Or

Before Egypt

Before Nubia

Before Gojoseon

Bevel-rim bowl

Before Yayoi

Vasiliki

Crete before the palaces

Cemetery R37

Before Ancient China

Longshan

Kerma vessel

Burial at K IV

Before Vedic India

Osmankayası and Ilıca

Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Before Etruscans and Rome

The urn under the helmet

Ceramic stand 1010

Ishtar Gate

Glazed brick guards

Orpheus among the Thracians

The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo

Thoth in the form of a baboon

Leipzig Fish Plate

El Amarejo dove

Vas dels Guerrers

Warriors' Vase

Northern mound

Kalathos of Alcorisa

Urewe vessel

Two rows of coffins

Pottery that carried on

Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon

Laon lamp with fish

Kabusanza, around 400 CE

Ingombe Ilede

A closer look

A dish or lid with an antelope

The region before this culture

The urban northwest of the Indus

Transformation and regionalisation

Cemetery H

What changes and what we should not assume

Painted urns from Cemetery H

Location and territory

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?