Additional data on trauma at Harappa

• The sample of human remains excavated at Harappa in 1987 and 1988 is described.
• Injuries resulting from both accident and interpersonal violence were observed.
• Injuries to the cranium and torso in two females may mean that they received blows.
• Fractures to phalanges in two males may indicate that they inflicted injuries.
• Previous interpretations of interpersonal violence at Harappa are not contradicted.

I report unpublished details of trauma in adult skeletons excavated in 1987 and 1988 from Cemetery R37 at Harappa, Pakistan, the type-site of the Indus Valley Civilization. Lesions were observed in 6 of 19 complete skeletons from primary contexts, affecting a cranium, rib, radius, vertebra, scapula, and phalanges. Lesions affecting a rib, vertebra, pedal phalanx, and cranium were recorded for four additional individuals from secondary contexts. These data permit additional insight into the pattern of trauma at Harappa reported by Schug et al. (2012), in which four females, three males, and two non-adults suffered violence-related craniofacial trauma. Lesions reported here, affecting a scapula in one female, the posterior cranium and a rib in another female, and a manual and a pedal phalanx in two males, neither support nor contradict their conclusion that interpersonal violence at Harappa was directed toward females, although females did incur significant injuries. The low frequency of possible violence-related lesions in the high status Cemetery R37, however, may support the proposal that violence at Harappa was socially differentiated (Schug et al., 2012).