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What was everyday life like in the Indus Valley?

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Learn about jobs and what it was like to grow up in the Indus Valley with this BBC Bitesize year 5/6 history guide.

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The Indus cities were neatly planned. They had straight roads which criss-crossed in a grid pattern to form city blocks.

The main streets were almost 10 metres wide - wide enough for two bullock carts or elephants to pass each other. Drains ran along the edge of the streets to carry rubbish away and wells were dug for clean water.

Some cities, like Mohenjo-Daro, had high walls. These walls had gateways so people could come and go. Some city districts inside were raised on mounds. The highest mound was known as the citadel, which might have been where the priests or rulers lived.

Most Indus buildings were made from mud bricks. Over time, people built new houses on top of old ones. So, over hundreds of years, the cities grew higher and higher. Some houses were seven metres above the old houses at the bottom!

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The Indus cities were neatly planned. They had straight roads which criss-crossed in a grid pattern to form city blocks. The main streets were almost 10 metres wide - wide enough for two bullock carts or elephants to pass each other.

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What can we learn about the writing that was left behind? Well, not very much. Indus Valley writing used at least 400 picture-signs - they were not letters like in our alphabet. But the longest bit of writing found has only 26 characters.

No one knows what language the Indus people spoke, and no one has yet been able to read their writing.

Some experts think the Indus language may have been similar to Tamil , which is spoken today by people in southern India and Sri Lanka.

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What can we learn from Indus Valley artefacts?

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What can we learn about the writing that was left behind? Well, not very much. Indus Valley writing used at least 400 picture-signs - they were not letters like in our alphabet. But the longest bit of writing found has only 26 characters.

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Mohenjo Daro - reading + video

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A well-planned street grid and an elaborate drainage system hint that the occupants of the ancient Indus civilization city of Mohenjo Daro were skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water. But just who occupied the ancient city in modern-day Pakistan during the third millennium B.C. remains a puzzle.

"It's pretty faceless," says Indus expert Gregory Possehl of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The city lacks ostentatious palaces, temples, or monuments. There's no obvious central seat of government or evidence of a king or queen. Modesty, order, and cleanliness were apparently preferred. Pottery and tools of copper and stone were standardized. Seals and weights suggest a system of tightly controlled trade.

The city's wealth and stature is evident in artifacts such as ivory, lapis, carnelian, and gold beads, as well as the baked-brick city structures themselves.

A watertight pool called the Great Bath, perched on top of a mound of dirt and held in place with walls of baked brick, is the closest structure Mohenjo Daro has to a temple. Possehl, a National Geographic grantee, says it suggests an ideology based on cleanliness.

Wells were found throughout the city, and nearly every house contained a bathing area and drainage system.

Archaeologists first visited Mohenjo Daro in 1911. Several excavations occurred in the 1920s through 1931. Small probes took place in the 1930s, and subsequent digs occurred in 1950 and 1964.

The ancient city sits on elevated ground in the modern-day Larkana district of Sindh province in Pakistan.

During its heyday from about 2500 to 1900 B.C., the city was among the most important to the Indus civilization, Possehl says. It spread out over about 250 acres (100 hectares) on a series of mounds, and the Great Bath and an associated large building occupied the tallest mound.

According to University of Wisconsin, Madison, archaeologist Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, also a National Geographic grantee, the mounds grew organically over the centuries as people kept building platforms and walls for their houses.

"You have a high promontory on which people are living," he says.

With no evidence of kings or queens, Mohenjo Daro was likely governed as a city-state, perhaps by elected officials or elites from each of the mounds.

A miniature bronze statuette of a nude female, known as the dancing girl, was celebrated by archaeologists when it was discovered in 1926, Kenoyer notes.

Of greater interest to him, though, are a few stone sculptures of seated male figures, such as the intricately carved and colored Priest King, so called even though there is no evidence he was a priest or king.

The sculptures were all found broken, Kenoyer says. "Whoever came in at the very end of the Indus period clearly didn't like the people who were representing themselves or their elders," he says.

Just what ended the Indus civilization-and Mohenjo Daro-is also a mystery.

Kenoyer suggests that the Indus River changed course, which would have hampered the local agricultural economy and the city's importance as a center of trade.

But no evidence exists that flooding destroyed the city, and the city wasn't totally abandoned, Kenoyer says. And, Possehl says, a changing river course doesn't explain the collapse of the entire Indus civilization. Throughout the valley, the culture changed, he says.

"It reaches some kind of obvious archaeological fruition about 1900 B.C.," he said. "What drives that, nobody knows."

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Lost City of Mohenjo Daro Puzzles Archaeologists

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A well-planned street grid and an elaborate drainage system hint that the occupants of the ancient Indus civilization city of Mohenjo Daro were skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water. But just who occupied the ancient city in modern-day Pakistan during the third millennium B.C.

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Only read the Mohenjo-daro & Harrapa part

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India is a country in South Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. The name 'Bharata' is used as a designation for the country in their constitution referencing the ancient mythological emperor, Bharata, whose story is told, in part, in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to the writings known as the Puranas (religious/historical texts written down in the 5th century CE), Bharata conquered the whole subcontinent of India and ruled the land in peace and harmony. The land was, therefore, known as Bharatavarsha (`the subcontinent of Bharata'). Hominid activity in the Indian subcontinent stretches back over 250,000 years, and it is, therefore, one of the oldest inhabited regions on the planet.

Archaeological excavations have discovered artifacts used by early humans, including stone tools, which suggest an extremely early date for human habitation and technology in the area. While the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt have long been recognized for their celebrated contributions to civilization, India has often been overlooked, especially in the West, though its history and culture is just as rich. The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 7000-c. 600 BCE) was among the greatest of the ancient world, covering more territory than either Egypt or Mesopotamia, and producing an equally vibrant and progressive culture.

The rich culture of India continued for thousands of years of progressive development until the invasion of the Arab Muslims in the 7th century CE. Afterwards, Western nations involved themselves in the affairs of the subcontinent which culminated in Britain establishing control in the mid-19th century CE. The British would maintain a hold on the land and its people until 1947 CE when India regained its independence.

Prehistory of India

The areas of present-day India, Pakistan, and Nepal have provided archaeologists and scholars with the richest sites of the most ancient pedigree. The species Homo heidelbergensis (a proto-human who was an ancestor of modern Homo sapiens) inhabited the subcontinent of India centuries before humans migrated into the region known as Europe. Evidence of the existence of Homo heidelbergensis was first discovered in Germany in 1907 CE and, since, further discoveries have established fairly clear migration patterns of this species out of Africa.

Recognition of the antiquity of their presence in India has been largely due to the fairly late archaeological interest in the area as, unlike work in Mesopotamia and Egypt, western excavations in India did not begin in earnest until the 1920s CE. Though the ancient city of Harappa was known to exist as early as 1829 CE, its archaeological significance was ignored and the later excavations corresponded to an interest in locating the probable sites referred to in the great Indian epics Mahabharata and (both of the 5th or 4th centuries BCE) while ignoring the possibility of a much more ancient past for the region.

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The village of Balathal (near Udaipur in Rajasthan), to cite only one example, illustrates the antiquity of India's history as it dates to 4000 BCE. Balathal was not discovered until 1962 CE and excavations were not begun there until the 1990s CE. Even older is the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh, dated at c. 7000 BCE but showing evidence of even earlier habitation, which was not discovered until 1974 CE.

Archaeological excavations in the past 50 years have dramatically changed the understanding of India's past &, by extension, world history.

Archaeological excavations in the past 50 years have dramatically changed the understanding of India's past and, by extension, world history. A 4000-year-old skeleton discovered at Balathal in 2009 CE provides the oldest evidence of leprosy in India. Prior to this find, leprosy was considered a much younger disease thought to have been carried from Africa to India at some point and then from India to Europe by the army of Alexander the Great following his death in 323 BCE.

It is now understood that significant human activity was underway in India by the Holocene Period (10,000 years ago) and that many historical assumptions, based upon earlier work in Egypt and Mesopotamia, need to be reviewed and revised. The beginnings of the Vedic tradition in India, still practiced today, can now be dated, at least in part, to the indigenous people of ancient sites such as Balathal and their interaction and blending with the culture of Aryan migrants who arrived in the region between c. 2000-c. 1500 BCE, initiating the so-called Vedic Period (c. 1500-c.500 BCE) during which the Hindu scriptures known as the Vedas were committed to written form.

Mohenjo-daro & Harappan Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization dates to c. 7000 BCE and grew steadily throughout the lower Gangetic Valley region southwards and northwards to Malwa. The cities of this period were larger than contemporary settlements in other countries, were situated according to cardinal points, and were built of mud bricks, often kiln-fired. Houses were constructed with a large courtyard opening from the front door, a kitchen/workroom for the preparation of food, and smaller bedrooms.

Family activities seem to have centered on the front of the house, particularly the courtyard and, in this, are similar to what has been inferred from sites in Rome, Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia. The buildings and homes of the Indus Valley peoples, however, were far more advanced technologically with many featuring flush toilets and "wind catchers" (possibly first developed in ancient Persia) on the rooftops which provided air conditioning. The sewer and drainage systems of the cities excavated thus far are more advanced than those of Rome at its height.

The most famous sites of this period are the great cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa both located in present-day Pakistan (Mohenjo-daro in the Sindh province and Harappa in Punjab) which was part of India until the 1947 CE partition of the country which created the separate nation. Harappa has given its name to the Harappan Civilization (another name for the Indus Valley Civilization) which is usually divided into Early, Middle, and Mature periods corresponding roughly to 5000-4000 BCE (Early), 4000-2900 BCE (Middle), and 2900-1900 BCE (Mature). Harappa dates from the Middle period (c. 3000 BCE) while Mohenjo-Daro was built in the Mature period (c. 2600 BCE).

Harappa's buildings were severely damaged and the site compromised in the 19th century CE when British workers carried away a significant amount of material for use as ballast in constructing the railroad. Prior to this time, many buildings had already been dismantled by citizens of the local village of Harappa (which gives the site its name) for use in their own projects. It is therefore now difficult to determine the historical significance of Harappa save that it is clear it was once a significant Bronze Age community with a population of as many as 30,000 people.

Mohenjo-Daro, on the other hand, is much better preserved as it lay mostly buried until 1922 CE. The name Mohenjo-Daro means `mound of the dead' in Sindhi and was applied to the site by local people who found bones of humans and animals there, as well as ancient ceramics and other artifacts, emerging from the soil periodically. The original name of the city is unknown although various possibilities have been suggested by finds in the region, among them, the Dravidian name `Kukkutarma', the city of the cock, a possible allusion to the site now known as Mohenjo-Daro as a center of ritual cock-fighting or, perhaps, as a breeding center for cocks.

Mohenjo-Daro was an elaborately constructed city with streets laid out evenly at right angles and a sophisticated drainage system. The Great Bath, a central structure at the site, was heated and seems to have been a focal point for the community. The citizens were skilled in the use of metals such as copper, bronze, lead, and tin (as evidenced by artworks such as the bronze statue of the Dancing Girl and by individual seals) and cultivated barley, wheat, peas, sesame, and cotton. Trade was an important source of commerce and it is thought that ancient Mesopotamian texts which mention Magan and Meluhha refer to India generally or, perhaps, Mohenjo-Daro specifically. Artifacts from the Indus Valley region have been found at sites in Mesopotamia though their precise point of origin in India is not always clear.

Decline of Harappan Civilization

Scholars cite climate change as one possible reason noting evidence of both drought and flood in the region. The Indus River is thought to have begun flooding the region more regularly (as evidenced by approximately 30 feet or 9 meters of silt at Mohenjo-Daro) and this destroyed crops and encouraged famine. It is also thought the path of the monsoon, relied upon for watering the crops, could have changed and people left the cities in the north for lands in the south. Another possibility is loss of trade relations with Mesopotamia and Egypt, their two most vital partners in commerce, as both of those regions were undergoing domestic conflicts at this same time.

Racialist writers and political philosophers of the early 20th century CE, following the lead of the German philologist Max Muller (l. 1823-1900 CE), claimed the Indus Valley Civilization fell to an invasion of light-skinned Aryans but this theoy has now long been discredited. Equally untenable is the theory that the people were driven south by extra-terrestrials. Among the most mysterious aspects of Mohenjo-daro is the vitrification of parts of the site as though it had been exposed to intense heat which melted the brick and stone. This same phenomenon has been observed at sites such as Traprain Law in Scotland and attributed to the results of warfare. Speculation regarding the destruction of the city by some kind of ancient atomic blast, however, (the work of aliens from other planets) is not generally regarded as credible.

The Vedic Period

Whatever the reason for the abandonment of the cities, the period that followed the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization is known as the Vedic Period, characterized by a pastoral lifestyle and adherence to the religious texts known as Society became divided into four classes (the Varnas) popularly known as `the caste system' which were comprised of the Brahmana at the top (priests and scholars), the Kshatriya next (the warriors), the Vaishya (farmers and merchants), and the Shudra (laborers). The lowest caste was the Dalits, the untouchables, who handled meat and waste, though there is some debate over whether this class existed in antiquity.

At first, it seems this caste system was merely a reflection of one's occupation but, in time, it became more rigidly interpreted to be determined by one's birth and one was not allowed to change castes nor to marry into a caste other than one's own. This understanding was a reflection of the belief in an eternal order to human life dictated by a supreme deity.

Sanatan Dharma holds there is one god, Brahma, who, cannot be fully apprehended save through the many aspects which are revealed as the different gods of the Hindu pantheon.

While the religious beliefs which characterized the Vedic Period are considered much older, it was during this time that they became systematized as the religion of Sanatan Dharma (`Eternal Order') known today as Hinduism (this name deriving from the Indus (or Sindus) River where worshippers were known to gather, hence, `Sindus', and then `Hindus'). The underlying tenet of Sanatan Dharma is that there is an order and a purpose to the universe and human life and, by accepting this order and living in accordance with it, one will experience life as it is meant to be properly lived.

While Sanatan Dharma is considered by many a polytheistic religion consisting of many gods, it is actually monotheistic in that it holds there is one god, Brahman (the Self but also the Universe and creator of the observable universe), who, because of his greatness, cannot be fully apprehended save through the many aspects which are revealed as the different gods of the Hindu pantheon.

It is Brahman who decrees the eternal order and maintains the universe through it. This belief in an order to the universe reflects the stability of the society in which it grew and flourished as, during the Vedic Period, governments became centralized and social customs integrated fully into daily life across the region. Besides The Vedas, the great religious and literary works of the Puranas, the Mahabharata, Bhagavad-Gita, and the Ramayana all come from this period.

Mahavira rejected the Vedas and placed the responsibility for salvation and enlightenment directly on the individual and the Buddha would later do the same. The philosophical school of Charvaka rejected all supernatural elements of religious belief and maintained that only the senses could be trusted to apprehend the truth and, further, that the greatest goal in life was pleasure and one's own enjoyment. Although Charvaka did not endure as a school of thought, it influenced the development of a new way of thinking which was more grounded, pragmatic, and eventually encouraged the adoption of empirical and scientific observation and method.

The Great Empires of Ancient India

Persia held dominance in northern India until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE who marched on India after Persia had fallen. Again, foreign influences were brought to bear on the region giving rise to the Greco- Buddhist culture which impacted all areas of culture in northern India from art to religion to dress. Statues and reliefs from this period depict Buddha, and other figures, as distinctly Hellenic in dress and pose (known as the Gandhara School of Art). Following Alexander's departure from India, the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BCE) rose under the reign of Chandragupta Maurya (r. c. 321-297 BCE) until, by the end of the third century BCE, it ruled over almost all of northern India.

He established many monasteries, gave lavishly to Buddhist communities, and is said to have erected 84,000 stupas across the land to honor the Buddha. In 249 BCE, on pilgrimage to sites associated with the Buddha's life, he formally established the village of Lumbini as Buddha's birthplace, erecting a pillar there, and commissioned the creation of his famous Edicts of Ashoka to encourage Buddhist thought and values. Prior to Ashoka's reign, Buddhism was a small sect struggling to gain adherents. After Ashoka sent missionaries to foreign countries carrying the Buddhist vision, the small sect began to grow into the major religion it is today.

The Mauryan Empire declined and fell after Ashoka's death and the country splintered into many small kingdoms and empires (such as the Kushan Empire) in what has come to be called the Middle Period. This era saw the increase of trade with Rome (which had begun c. 130 BCE) following Augustus Caesar's incorporation of Egypt into the newly established Roman Empire in 30 BCE. Rome now became India's primary partner in trade as the Romans also had already annexed much of Mesopotamia. This was a time of individual and cultural development in the various kingdoms which finally flourished in what is considered the Golden Age of India under the reign of the Gupta Empire (320-550 CE).

The Gupta Empire is thought to have been founded by one Sri Gupta (`Sri' means `Lord') who probably ruled between 240-280 CE. As Sri Gupta is thought to have been of the Vaishya (merchant) class, his rise to power in defiance of the caste system is unprecedented. He laid the foundation for the government which would so stabilize India that virtually every aspect of culture reached its height under the reign of the Guptas. Philosophy, literature, science, mathematics, architecture, astronomy, technology, art, engineering, religion, and astronomy, among other fields, all flourished during this period, resulting in some of the greatest of human achievements.

The Puranas of Vyasa were compiled during this period and the famous caves of Ajanta and Ellora, with their elaborate carvings and vaulted rooms, were also begun. Kalidasa the poet and playwright wrote his masterpiece Shakuntala and the Kamasutra was also written, or compiled from earlier works, by Vatsyayana. Varahamihira explored astronomy at the same time as Aryabhatta, the mathematician, made his own discoveries in the field and also recognized the importance of the concept of zero, which he is credited with inventing. As the founder of the Gupta Empire defied orthodox Hindu thought, it is not surprising that the Gupta rulers advocated and propagated Buddhism as the national belief and this is the reason for the plentitude of Buddhist works of art, as opposed to Hindu, at sites such as Ajanta and Ellora.

The Decline of Empire & the Coming of Islam

The empire declined slowly under a succession of weak rulers until it collapsed around 550 CE. The Gupta Empire was then replaced by the rule of Harshavardhan (590-647 CE) who ruled the region for 42 years. A literary man of considerable accomplishments (he authored three plays in addition to other works) Harsha was a patron of the arts and a devout Buddhist who forbade the killing of animals in his kingdom but recognized the necessity to sometimes kill humans in battle.

He was a highly skilled military tactician who was only defeated in the field once in his life. Under his reign, the north of India flourished but his kingdom collapsed following his death. The invasion of the Huns had been repeatedly repelled by the Guptas and then by Harshavardhan but, with the fall of his kingdom, India fell into chaos and fragmented into small kingdoms lacking the unity necessary to fight off invading forces.

In 712 CE the Muslim general Muhammed bin Quasim conquered northern India, establishing himself in the region of modern-day Pakistan. The Muslim invasion saw an end to the indigenous empires of India and, from then on, independent city-states or communities under the control of a city would be the standard model of government. The Islamic Sultanates rose in the region of modern-day Pakistan and spread north-west.

The disparate world views of the religions which now contested each other for acceptance in the region and the diversity of languages spoken, made the unity and cultural advances, such as were seen in the time of the Guptas, difficult to reproduce. Consequently, the region was easily conquered by the Islamic Mughal Empire. India would then remain subject to various foreign influences and powers (among them the Portuguese, the French, and the British) until finally winning its independence in 1947 CE.

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India is a country in South Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. The name 'Bharata' is used as a designation for the country in their constitution referencing the ancient mythological emperor, Bharata, whose story is told, in part, in the Indian epic Mahabharata .

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Life in Ancient Cities

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What was life like in the earliest cities created by humankind? This question has been pondered by archaeologists and historians for centuries. With modern technology, scientific explorers have been able to gain insight into the past.

Subjects

Anthropology, Archaeology, Sociology, Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations, World History

Image

Harappan Seals

Harappan steatite seals often included images of animals or other decorations and script. It is speculated the seals were used by merchants to identify packages.

Photograph by James P. Blair

What was life like in the earliest cities created by humankind? This question has been pondered by archaeologists and historians for centuries. With modern technology, scientific explorers have been able to gain insight into the past. Looking at one of these early civilizations in particular offers an illuminating view of early urban life.

The Indus Valley civilization (circa 3300-1700 B.C.E.), also known as the Harappan civilization, was one of the earliest urban civilizations, roughly contemporaneous with those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. It was located in what is now Pakistan and northwest India, on the flood plain of the Indus River.

Although the Harappans had a written language, the Indus script remains undeciphered. Most of what is known about their culture and civilization comes from the ruins of their two largest cities: Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Both cities cover somewhat less than 2.6 square kilometers (one square mile). Mohenjo-daro has been estimated to have had a population of around 40,000 or more; Harappa was likely around the same.

The Harappan cities did not have palaces or temples, and show no evidence that the society was ruled by hereditary potentates like kings and queens. They may have been governed by elected officials or other elites, such as merchants or landowners.

The cities, located about 644 kilometers (400 miles) from one another, were generally similar in layout. Each city was laid out in a grid-like pattern oriented on a north-south axis. One portion of each city consisted of a citadel mound complex (an area with public buildings raised about 12 meters, or 40 feet, above the floodplain), and a lower town that appears to have been mostly residential.

The citadel mound complex at Mohenjo-daro was oriented on a north-south axis and was about twice as long as it was broad. It appears to have been protected by a wall and fortified with towers made of baked brick. The citadel complex included a structure called the Great Bath, as well as a granary, a residential structure, and assembly buildings.

The Great Bath, which was apparently used for ritual bathing or cleansing, measured around 84 square meters (904 square feet) in area and was about 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) deep. The Great Bath was made watertight through the use of finely cut bricks, gypsum, and bitumen tar.

One of the more significant features of Harappan cities was their sophisticated water supply and waste extraction systems. In Mohenjo-daro, water was supplied from some 700 wells to both public and private facilities.

Most houses in the lower town had their own bathrooms; many had their own wells. The bathrooms were typically arranged against the house's outside wall so both the bath and the toilet could discharge into the municipal sewage network. This municipal sewage network consisted of covered sewers built under the streets with removable covers for access for cleaning. In places where the effluent had to traverse long distances, sump- or cess-pits were provided.

Harappan houses were generally made of brick and varied in size, from single rooms to larger multistory houses with a central courtyard. Some of the larger houses may also have had an open upper deck. Access to the houses was from side streets; the only openings to the main streets were for sewage discharge. Wooden frames were used for doors and windows.

In addition to residences, the lower town housed workshops for artisans, such as dyers, potters, wheelwrights, and the like. In some cases, they were integrated with the residential areas, but in others they were segregated as worker districts.

The primary building materials in Harappan cities were sun-dried and burnt bricks. A standardized brick with a ratio of 4:2:1 appears to have been common across several cities. Brick was generally laid using alternating rows of bricks laid lengthways and sideways, referred to today as an "English bond."

Staples of the Harappan diet included wheat and barley, as well as rice. The Harappans also grew and ate a variety of vegetables and fruits, including peas, dates, mustard, and sesame. Cattle, domestic fowl, and other animals, including some wild animals, provided meat. The Harappans also ate fish and shellfish, both fresh and dried.

Harappans used clay or terra-cotta pots, plates, cups, bowls, vases, and flasks for food storage and cooking. Some appear to have been handmade, but others were manufactured using a potter's wheel. In addition, the Harappans had plates made from copper and bronze. Artifacts made from gold, bronze, tin, lead, and other metals suggest that the Harappans were skilled metallurgists.

In this regard, one of the most significant finds from Mohenjo-daro is a 10-centimeter (four-inch) tall bronze sculpture of a dancing girl. The "Indus Dancing Girl" depicts a girl wearing arm jewelry, right hand on her hip, and left leg thrust forward. It is considered significant not only because it demonstrates that Harappan metal-workers were familiar with metal blending and casting techniques, but also because it shows that the culture was sufficiently advanced that dance was well-developed as art or entertainment. Other forms of entertainment were a variety of games and toys, including oxcarts with moveable parts, board games, and six-sided dice.

Among the more common artifacts from the Harappan cities were seals made from steatite, a form of talc. The seals typically had images of animals or other decorations. The seals would have been made on a clay tag or pottery and used by merchants to authenticate, or identify, a package. One famous seal depicts Pashupati, which may have been an early representation of the Hindu god Shiva. It shows Pashupati with a horned headdress and a crescent moon on his forehead; the figure is in a yoga-like position.

Some Indus Valley seals have been found in Mesopotamia, evidence that trade with remote areas was an important aspect of the Harappan economy. In addition to Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley civilization was part of a trading network that included Afghanistan, Iran, and Oman. Perhaps because of these trading networks, the Harappans were among the first to develop a system of standardized weights and measurements. The weights were in the shape of small cubes or hexahedrons. The smallest was about 0.87 grams (0.03 ounces) and the most common was about 13.7 grams (0.48 ounces). It is possible they were used in trade and for determining taxes.

Investigations into the Harappan civilization are ongoing. Since 1986 excavations in the Indus Valley under the auspices of the Harappan Archaeological Research Project have made many important discoveries. Artifacts may be found on display at the National Museum in New Delhi, India, as well as museums throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, United States.

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What was life like in the earliest cities created by humankind? This question has been pondered by archaeologists and historians for centuries. With modern technology, scientific explorers have been able to gain insight into the past. Anthropology, Archaeology, Sociology, Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations, World History Image Harappan Seals Harappan steatite seals often included images of animals or other decorations and script.