DOCUMENTED OUTFIT · CLOSED CONTEXT OR CONTROLLED COMPARISON

Cemetery R-37

R-37: the cemetery that does not need a crown

The graves of R-37 contained pottery, bangles and beads; some also included mirrors.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Contextual image of The bodies complicate the urban map for the Cemetery R-37 group — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction; not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Controlled excavations document primary and secondary burials and allow preservation of individual associations.

Representative objects: pottery, shell bangles, beads, amulets and, in some burials, mirrors and personal care objects.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: Controlled excavations document primary and secondary burials and allow preservation of individual associations. Required caution: Relative sobriety does not prove an egalitarian society. The Indus script is undeciphered: we cannot assign names, sentences or gods to these people.

Catalogue facts

Date: ca. 2550–2030 BCE
Location: Harappa · Punjab, Pakistan
Complex: Pottery, shell bangles, beads, amulets and, in some burials, mirrors and personal care objects
Level: Trousseau or funerary context with visible caution

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.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

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ca. 2550–2030 BCE

Cemetery R-37

Indus civilisation

Interval of the cemetery and its funerary group.

Current record

Funerary contexts54 dated objects

11 / 54In the centre: Cemetery R-37

Also connected, without a comparable date (10)

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

A Kerma vessel deposited at AbydosAncient Egypt · Second Intermediate Period
A vase travels; the rite changesIberians · No individual dating published on this record
CemeteryIndus civilisation · ca. 2600–1900 BCE
Daegok-ri grave goodsGojoseon and early Korea · from c. 5th century BCE
Four panopliesIberians · No individual dating published on this record
Livestock and moundsNubia, Kerma and Kush · c. 2050–1500 BCE
Shum LakaBantu-speaking worlds · c. 8,000 and 3,000 years before present
The quarry remained visibleGojoseon and early Korea · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE
Three hundred lives in the sandYayoi Japan · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE
Urns from AdichanallurVedic and later Indian worlds · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE

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

Ceramics

Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Before Sumer · mid-6th–5th millennium BCE · Sumer
Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · VI–V millennia BCE · Prehistory
Before Egypt · ca. 4400–3800 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Before Nubia · V–IV millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Bevel-rimmed bowl · ca. 3500–3000 BCE · Sumer
Before Yayoi · Middle Jōmon, ca. 3000 BCE · Yayoi Japan
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before the Greeks · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Cemetery R-37 · ca. 2550–2030 BCE · Indus civilisation — You are viewing
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
Burial at K IV · circa 1750–1550 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Osmankayası and Ilıca · ca. 1700/1650–1200 BCE · Hittites
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura · 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
Ceramic stand 1010 · 8th–7th centuries BCE · orientalizing · Iberians
Ishtar Gate · 7th–6th centuries BCE · work of Nebuchadnezzar II · Sumer
Glazed brick guards · 522–486 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Thoth in the form of a baboon · 664–30 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
Northern mound · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Yayoi Japan
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · regional range c. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Two rows of coffins · Mainly Middle Yayoi, 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
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
Kabusanza, ca. 400 · ca. 400 CE · Batwa / Twa histories
Missing grave goods · 13th–15th centuries according to the heritage overview · Bantu-speaking worlds

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

A Kerma vessel deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Akrotiri · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
Dia’s strata · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE · Mande Worlds
Early pottery · before ca. 9400 cal BCE · Mande Worlds
Jenne-jeno contexts · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE · Mande Worlds
Liédena Flask · Roman period · individual chronology not published in the entry · Etruscans and Rome
Lothal · ca. 2400–1600 BCE · Indus civilisation
Made in Garama · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE · Garamantes
Nile towards Nubia · ca. 3300–2800 BCE · Ancient Egypt
The unfinished gesture · 1947 · Batwa / Twa histories
Three hundred lives in the sand · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE · Yayoi Japan
Travelling objects · Mainly Roman period · Garamantes
Trumpet from Numantia · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Vessels without a language · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds

Jewellery and adornment

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

Dressing to be seen · 6th–1st centuries BCE · Iberians

Human remains and bioarchaeology

Cemetery R-37 · ca. 2550–2030 BCE · Indus civilisation — You are viewing
Osmankayası and Ilıca · ca. 1700/1650–1200 BCE · Hittites
Kabusanza, ca. 400 · ca. 400 CE · Batwa / Twa histories

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

Cemetery · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Shum Laka · c. 8,000 and 3,000 years before present · Bantu-speaking worlds
Three hundred lives in the sand · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE · Yayoi Japan

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

The coffin does not by itself determine wealth

The 1988 report compares a man in an undecorated coffin with nine vessels to other coffin burials containing more pottery and complex ornaments. A woman wore two shell bangles and five carnelian beads beside the pelvis. The presence of the container does not establish an automatic social scale. Funerary analysis brings together several variables: object position, quantities, materials and tomb construction. That comparison preserves differences between individuals without imposing a royalty category.

Research · Harappa · Kenoyer, Excavation at Harappa 1988Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

Harappa · PakistanMarker of the urban site.

Sources and references

Consult the institutional funeral context

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Cemetery R-37

Brno II Articulated Figure

'Jamila's' necklace

The Gold of Varna

El Miradero spatula-idols

Guadancil idol-plaque

Staff of Anta 4

Abydos Boats

Queen's Lyre

Puabi headdress

Standard of Ur

Cemetery R-37

Kerma vessel

Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos

Burial at K IV

Before Vedic India

Osmankayası and Ilıca

Tutankhamun's grave goods

Fu Hao’s burial goods

The voice of Ahiram

Before Etruscans and Rome

The urn under the helmet

Tomb 1 at Kuntur Wasi

Beads from Cerro de los Vientos

Ceramic stand 1010

Regolini-Galassi tomb

Shabti of Psamtek

Two voices in an urn

The great Greek krater of Vix

Steppe kurgans

Vix Tomb

La Venta grave goods

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar

Banquet under leopards

Twenty-six voiceless signs

The oldest knotted carpet

The statue was the urn

Grave goods of Baza and Toya

The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo

The silver amphora of Chertomlyk

The Kul-Oba vase

Susa grave goods

Faces of the Steppe

Lady of Ibiza

453 astragali from Alarcos

Lady of Ibiza

Falcata from Almedinilla

Golyamata Kosmatka

The blade became straight

Geometry in very fine lines

Northern mound

Two rows of coffins

Kabusanza, ca. 400

Pakal’s grave goods

Missing grave goods

A closer look

The coffin does not by itself determine wealth

Location and territory

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?