Like religion, divergent traits are present in burial practices as well. From the discovery of a cemetery containing at least 67 graves at Harappa by Mortimer Wheeler, it appears that burial was the usual rite. But the burial practices differed from site to site.
Three forms of burials have been found at Mohenjodaro, viz., complete burials, fractional burials, and post-cremation burials. Complete burial means the burial of the whole body, ceremonially performed in various forms, along with the grave furniture, offerings, etc.
About 30 skeletons, evidencing complete burials, have been found in different groups. Some of these appear to have been victims of accidental death. All these burials appear, on stratigraphical evidence, to relate to the declining years of Mohenjodaro.
Fractional burial represents a collection of some bones after the exposure of the body to wild beasts and birds. Five such burials have been found, the best specimen being an urn containing a skull and some fragmentary bones, along with a number of earthenware vessels and a variety of small objects including balls, beads, shell spoon, bits of ivory, and miniature vessels. Human bones are not found in all specimens, probably because after exposure bones were ground to dust before internment.
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Post-cremation burials have been inferred from large wide-mouthed urns containing a number of smaller vessels, bones of animals like lambs, goats, etc. and of birds or fish, and a variety of small objects, such as beads, bangles, figurines, etc. sometimes mixed with charcoal ashes. These are generally found underneath a floor or a street. Human bones are seldom found as bones are hardly necessary for post-cremation burials.
The cemeteries at various Harappan settlements were also not located at identical places, with varying burial practices. At Kalibangan three types of burial practices are noticed: (i) extended inhumation in rectangular or oval graves, containing pottery and other grave goods; (ii) pot-burial in a circular pit, containing, besides the central urn, other pots and grave goods like beads, etc.; and (iii) pottery deposit in rectangular or oval graves. At Lothal, two types of burial practices were followed. While one type contained, besides the grave goods, a single skeleton, the other contained two skeletons buried together.