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Crash Course in World History: Indus Valley Civilization

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Crash Course in World History: Indus Valley Civilization

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Indus Valley Civilization: Crash Course World History #2

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Look at the section "Institutions and hierarchies" for information on the Indus Valley government!

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The Indus River Valley Civilization, 3300-1300 BCE, also known as the Harappan Civilization, extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India.

Important innovations of this civilization include standardized weights and measures, seal carving, and metallurgy with copper, bronze, lead, and tin.

Little is understood about the Indus script, and as a result, little is known about the Indus River Valley Civilization's institutions and systems of governance.

The civilization likely ended due to climate change and migration.

Geography and time-frame

In 1856, British colonial officials in India were busy monitoring the construction of a railway connecting the cities of Lahore and Karachi in modern-day Pakistan along the Indus River valley.

As they continued to work, some of the laborers discovered many fire-baked bricks lodged in the dry terrain. There were hundreds of thousands of fairly uniform bricks, which seemed to be quite old. Nonetheless, the workers used some of them to construct the road bed, unaware that they were using ancient artifacts. They soon found among the bricks stone artifacts made of soapstone, featuring intricate artistic markings.

Though they did not know it then, and though the first major excavations did not take place until the 1920s, these railway workers had happened upon the remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated, in what was then the Punjab province of British India and is now in Pakistan. Initially, many archaeologists thought they had found ruins of the ancient Maurya Empire, a large empire which dominated ancient India between c. 322 and 185 BCE.

Before the excavation of these Harappan cities, scholars thought that Indian civilization had begun in the Ganges valley as Aryan immigrants from Persia and central Asia populated the region around 1250 BCE. The discovery of ancient Harappan cities unsettled that conception and moved the timeline back another 1500 years,situating the Indus Valley Civilization in an entirely different environmental context.

Scholars are still piecing together information about this mysterious civilization, but they have learned a great deal about it since its rediscovery. Its origins seem to lie in a settlement named Mehrgarh in the foothills of a mountain pass in modern-day Balochistan in western Pakistan. There is evidence of settlement in this area as early as 7000 BCE.

The Indus Valley Civilization is often separated into three phases: the Early Harappan Phase from 3300 to 2600 BCE, the Mature Harappan Phase from 2600 to 1900 BCE, and the Late Harappan Phase from 1900 to 1300 BCE.

At its peak, the Indus Valley Civilization may have had a population of over five million people. The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, a technical and political process concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment. They are also noted for their baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large, nonresidential buildings.

The Indus Valley Civilization began to decline around 1800 BCE. Archaeological evidence indicates that trade with Mesopotamia, located largely in modern Iraq, seemed to have ended. The advanced drainage systems and baths of the great cities were built over or blocked. Writing began to disappear, and the standardized weights and measures used for trade and taxation fell out of use.

Urban infrastructure and architecture

By 2600 BCE, small Early Harappan communities had developed into large urban centers. These cities include Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and Lothal in modern-day India. In total, more than 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Indus River and its tributaries.

Mohenjo-daro is thought to have been built in the twenty-sixth century BCE; it became not only the largest city of the Indus Valley Civilization but one of the world's earliest major urban centers. Located west of the Indus River in the Larkana District, Mohenjo-daro was one of the most sophisticated cities of the period, with advanced engineering and urban planning.

Harappa was a fortified city in modern-day Pakistan that is believed to have been home to as many as 23,500 residents living in sculpted houses with flat roofs made of red sand and clay. The city spread over 150 hectares-370 acres-and had fortified administrative and religious centers of the same type used in Mohenjo-daro.

Both cities had similar organization and featured citadels, central areas in a city that were heavily fortified-protected with defensive military structures. Additionally, both cities were situated along the Indus River. This structure would have allowed those at the higher levels of the buildings in either city to look down the river and see into the distance.

The remains of the Indus Valley Civilization cities indicate remarkable organization; there were well-ordered wastewater drainage and trash collection systems and possibly even public baths and granaries, which are storehouses for grain. Most city-dwellers were artisans and merchants grouped together in distinct neighborhoods. The quality of urban planning suggests efficient municipal governments that placed a high priority on hygiene or religious ritual.

Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. These massive walls likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have deterred military conflicts. Unlike Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization did not build large, monumental structures. There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples-or even of kings, armies, or priests-and the largest structures may be granaries. The city of Mohenjo-daro contains the Great Bath, which may have been a large, public bathing and social area.

Innovation and exchange

The people of the Indus River Valley Civilization achieved many notable advances in technology, including great accuracy in their systems and tools for measuring length and mass. Fire-baked bricks-which were uniform in size and moisture-resistant-were important in building baths and sewage structures and are evidence that Harappans were among the first to develop a system of standardized weights and measures. The consistency of brick size across cities also suggests unity across the various urban areas, which is evidence of a broader civilization.

Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and the recently partially-excavated Rakhigarhi demonstrate the world's first known urban sanitation systems. The ancient Indus systems of sewage and drainage developed and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East and even more efficient than those in many areas of Pakistan and India today. Individual homes drew water from wells, while wastewater was directed to covered drains on the main streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes, and even the smallest homes on the city outskirts were believed to have been connected to the system, further supporting the conclusion that cleanliness was a matter of great importance.

Harappans are known for seal carving- the cutting of patterns into the bottom face of a seal, a small, carved object used for stamping. They used these distinctive seals for the identification of property and to stamp clay on trade goods. Seals-decorated with animal figures, such as elephants, tigers, and water buffalos-have been one of the most commonly discovered artifacts in Indus Valley cities.

The Indus River Valley Civilization is considered a Bronze Age society; inhabitants of the ancient Indus River Valley developed new techniques in metallurgy -the science of working with copper, bronze, lead, and tin. Harappans also performed intricate handicraft using products made of the semi-precious gemstone Carnelian.

Evidence shows Harappans participated in a vast maritime-sea-trade network extending from Central Asia to the Middle East. The civilization's economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. The Harappan Civilization may have been the first to use wheeled transport, in the form of oxcarts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today. It also appears they built boats and watercraft-a claim supported by archaeological discoveries of a massive, dredged canal, and what is regarded as a docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal. Harappans also engaged in shellworking, and shells used in their crafts have origins from as far away as the coast of modern-day Oman.

Trade focused on importing raw materials to be used in Harappan city workshops, including minerals from Iran and Afghanistan, lead and copper from other parts of India, jade from China, and cedar wood floated down rivers from the Himalayas and Kashmir. Other trade goods included terracotta pots, gold, silver, metals, beads, flints for making tools, seashells, pearls, and colored gemstones, such as lapis lazuli and turquoise.

One of the ways historians know about the maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations is the discovery of Harappan seals and jewelry at archaeological sites in regions of Mesopotamia, which includes most of modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, and parts of Syria. Long-distance sea trade over bodies of water-such as the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Persian Gulf-may have become feasible with the development of plank watercraft that were each equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth.

Historians have also made inferences about networks of exchange based on similarities between artifacts across civilizations. Between 4300 and 3200 BCE-part of the Chalcolithic period, also known as the Copper Age-ceramics from the Indus Valley Civilization area show similarities with southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran. During the Early Harappan period-about 3200 to 2600 BCE-there are cultural similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, and ornaments that document caravan trade with Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.

Religion, language, and culture

Little is known about Harappan religion and language. A collection of written texts on clay and stone tablets unearthed at Harappa-which have been carbon dated 3300-3200 BCE-contain trident-shaped, plant-like markings that appear to be written from right to left. There is considerable debate about whether it was an encoded language at all and whether it is related to Indo-European and South Indian language families. The Indus script remains indecipherable without any comparable symbols, and is thought to have evolved independently of the writing in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Researchers are using technological advances in computer science in order to attempt to decipher it.

The Harappan religion also remains a topic of speculation. It has been widely suggested that the Harappans worshipped a mother goddess who symbolized fertility. In contrast to Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, the Indus Valley Civilization seems to have lacked any temples or palaces that would give clear evidence of religious rites or specific deities.

Many Indus Valley seals include the forms of animals; some depict the animals being carried in processions, while others show mythological creations like unicorns, leading scholars to speculate about the role of animals in Indus Valley religions. Interpretations of these animal motifs include signification of membership in a clan, elite class, or kin structure. One seal from Mohenjo-daro shows a half-human, half-buffalo monster attacking a tiger. This may be a reference to the Sumerian myth of a monster created by Aruru-the Sumerian earth and fertility goddess-to fight Gilgamesh, the hero of an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem. This is a further suggestion of international trade in Harappan culture.

Indus Valley excavation sites have revealed a number of distinct examples of the culture's art, including sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite.

Among the various gold, terracotta, and stone figurines found was a figure of a priest-king displaying a beard and patterned robe. Another figurine in bronze, known as the Dancing Girl, is only 11 centimeters high and shows a female figure in a pose that suggests the presence of some choreographed dance form enjoyed by members of the civilization. Terracotta works also included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs. In addition to figurines, the Indus River Valley people are believed to have created necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments.

Institutions and hierarchies

How was Harappan society organized, and what institutions functioned as centers of authority? Archaeological records provide no immediate answers regarding a center of authority or depictions of people in power in Harappan society, and there are few written records to consult. However, Harrapan artifacts display an extraordinary uniformity. Pottery, seals, weights, and bricks with standardized sizes and weights, suggest some form of authority and governance, though it is not clear what that form was exactly.

Over time, various theories have developed concerning Harappan systems of rule. One theory is that there was a single state encompassing all the communities of the civilization; this theory is supported by the similarity in artifacts, the evidence of planned settlements, the standardized ratio of brick size, and the apparent establishment of settlements near sources of raw material. Another theory posits that there was no single ruler, but rather a number of leaders representing each of the urban centers, including Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and other communities. It seems likely that there was not one centralized and all-powerful state but that various classes and centers of power were integrated into a decentralized structure.

Written records gave historians a great deal of insight into the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, but very few written materials have been discovered in the Indus valley. Though seal inscriptions do seem to have written information, scholars have not been able to decipher the Indus script. As a result, they have had considerable difficulty understanding the nature of the state and religious institutions of the Indus Valley Civilization. We know relatively little about their legal codes, procedures, and systems of governance.

Historians have made educated guesses about the nature of Harappan civilization from the available artifacts and physical structures. Some experts have theorized that the Indus Valley Civilization had no rulers as we understand them, that everyone enjoyed equal status. Some evidence in support of this conclusion is that most Harappan residents seem to have enjoyed relatively equal health and that there were not many elite burials, which archaeologists have discerned through mortuary analysis -the study of graves and deposits containing human remains.

However, this does not conclusively prove that Harappan society lacked any social hierarchy, and it could possibly be the result of other factors, like different beliefs about the afterlife. Some scholars point to varying house sizes and varied heights of structures to suggest that different social classes occupied different levels in the cities. Others identify items such as painted pottery, bangles, beaded ornaments, and even location within cities as indicators of wealth. A considerable degree of craft specialization also suggests some degree of socio-economic stratification.

It is widely believed that the Harappan civilization was a peaceful one that did not engage in any warfare, but there is not conclusive evidence to support this belief, and some archaeologists consider it a pervasive myth. Some scholars argue that Harappans were peaceful primarily because there were no natural enemies due to the geographic location of the major cities. Weapons have been found at sites, but there is debate as to whether they were used in conflict with other groups or as defense against wild animals.

The Indus Valley Civilization declined around 1800 BCE, and scholars debate which factors resulted in the civilization's demise. One theory suggested that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe called the Aryans invaded and conquered the Indus Valley Civilization, though more recent evidence tends to contradict this claim. Many scholars believe that the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization was caused by climate change. Some experts believe the drying of the Saraswati River, which began around 1900 BCE, was the main cause for climate change, while others conclude that a great flood struck the area.

Various elements of the Indus Civilization are found in later cultures, suggesting the civilization did not disappear suddenly due to an invasion. Many scholars argue that changes in river patterns caused the large civilization to break up into smaller communities called late Harappan cultures.

Another disastrous change in the Harappan climate might have been eastward-moving monsoons, or winds that bring heavy rains. Monsoons can be both helpful and detrimental to a climate, depending on whether they support or destroy vegetation and agriculture.

By 1800 BCE, the Indus Valley climate grew cooler and drier, and a tectonic event may have diverted or disrupted river systems, which were the lifelines of the Indus Valley Civilization. The Harappans may have migrated toward the Ganges basin in the east, where they could have established villages and isolated farms. These small communities would not have been able to produce the same agricultural surpluses to support large cities. With the reduced production of goods, there would have been a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. By around 1700 BCE, most of the Indus Valley Civilization cities had been abandoned.

What do you think?

Why was it important that the Harappans developed standardized weights and measures?

Do you think there is enough evidence to support the idea that Harappans were peaceful and enjoyed social equality?

How did the Indus Valley Civilization interact with the river networks in the region? Were there any detrimental effects of the location in such a dense river network?

What do you think is the most plausible explanation for the decline of this civilization?

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Indus River Valley civilizations (article) | Khan Academy

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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What They Ate in the Indus Valley - Open The Magazine

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A FEW YEARS AGO, Steven Alec Weber and Arunima Kashyap, two US-based archaeologists who have dedicated their careers studying the Indus Valley Civilisation, found themselves turning to what might appear an unusual method of inquiry. In the stark and clinical environs of their laboratories in Portland, they began cooking the most colourful of vegetables.

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Indus civilization - Craft, technology, and artifacts

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Excavations of Indus cities have produced much evidence of artistic activity. Such finds are important because they provide insights into the minds, lives, and religious beliefs of their creators. Stone sculpture is extremely rare, and much of it is quite crude. The total repertoire cannot compare t…

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Trade Networks of the Indus Civilization

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Trade Networks of the Indus Civilization

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The Indus Civilization is a culture wrapped in a shroud of mystery. In many ways, the largest urban culture of its time is still poorly understood by modern-day historians. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the Indus script remains un-deciphered and the second is that relatively few archaeological digs have been conducted at the sites that have been discovered - not to mention the countless more that remain lost under both the deserts and fertile fields of the Indian Subcontinent.

Nevertheless, one aspect of the Indus people that has been studied somewhat extensively is the trade relations they had with the surrounding civilizations. Thanks to archaeologists an extensive ancient trade network based on modern-day Pakistan and stretching to Central Asia, the Persian Gulf, South India and possibly even further afield has been uncovered.

The Indus or Harappan Civilization was the first urbanized culture in South Asia. We do not know what language they spoke or even what they looked like but genetic evidence has been able to reconstruct their ethno-racial origins. The earliest people in the Indus region were South Asian Hunter Gatherers, similar to the Adivasis of India or the Andaman Islanders in the Bay of Bengal. These people mixed with Neolithic migrants from the Middle East, who may have introduced agriculture, although recent ancient DNA studies revealed that at least some of them may have reached South Asia up to 18,000 years ago. Thus agriculture may have been discovered independently in the Indus Valley. These two groups merged to form the Harappan people who subsequently built mighty cities such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro in what is known as the Mature Harappan Period from 2200-1900 BCE. This is the same time period as the great civilizations in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The Indus Civilization was spread over a far larger geographical area than either Egypt or Mesopotamia - encompassing all of what is now Pakistan as well Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and all the way to western Uttar Pradesh in India. This made it the most widespread culture of its time and the massive population it sustained produced many goods which were in high demand across the ancient world. They also required many raw materials both to produce luxury items and for the consumption of the population. We have modern archaeology to thank for all that we know about the Indus Civilization as the Harappans were completely forgotten by history once the civilization collapsed. A few hints remained though in the written works of the Mesopotamians, pointing to an exotic land to the East from where luxuries unheard of in the Middle East were obtained.

Many Indus artifacts including jewelry, fabrics and the famous Indus Seals have been discovered in the ancient cities of Iraq. Leonard Woolley, the archaeologist who discovered the ruins of Ur, was fascinated by the intricate jewelry and head dresses which he discovered. These seemed to completely distinct from anything else found in Mesopotamia. Later scholars have argued that these designs were copied from the Indus people. This is based on similar designs found in Harappan art. The ancient Mesopotamian texts speak of a land to the East called Meluhha. It is from there that they obtained luxuriant fabrics, ivory, spices, jewels and even animals. The water buffalo was introduced to Iraq from the Indus Valley during this period. Peacocks were also in high demand. Large seagoing vessels would depart from both the Indus port cities of Dholavira and Lothal, in present day Gujarat as well as from smaller settlements on the Makran Coast. There is evidence that the Indus people settled in Oman and even produced Indus artworks there to transport onwards to the great trading hub of Dilmun, present day Bahrain.

The exact extent of Harappan seafaring is unknown. Agriculture, though, provides us with a few hints. Millet is now a staple crop in much of South Asia and it was introduced during the era of the Indus Civilization. It is native to Africa and was first cultivated in East Africa. Millet arrived in South Asia during the days of the Harappans, who consumed it as one of their primary food grains. The Ancient Indus people thus may have reached East Africa or perhaps received it from intermediaries in Yemen. Spices such as pepper and cinnamon, native to South India and Sri Lanka, were also used in both Indus and Mesopotamian cooking, meaning that the Indus people sailed down to these regions as well. This proves that the Indian Ocean Trade, based on the monsoon winds, is at least four thousand years old and the Harappans were its pioneers.

The Gulf and Mesopotamian trade is the best known aspect of Ancient Indus international commerce but although plenty of Indus products have been found in those regions almost nothing from the Middle East has been discovered from Indus sites. Again the lack of excavation of Mature Harappan sites can be blamed. But surely given the extent of this trade, something should have showed up in Mohenjodaro or Dholavira by now?

One theory is that the Harappans exchanged their goods for gold and silver. Another product which the Mesopotamians produced was woolen cloth, which was not in production in South Asia at that time. Perhaps woolens for use in the chilled months of December and January were imported from Iraq? No woolens fabric has been recovered from Indus excavations, probably because wool does not last very long in a climate which experiences extreme heat coupled with humidity for several months of the year.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Indus trade was the importation of Lapis Lazuli from what is now Northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Indus people used Lapis in their jewelry and also exported it to Mesopotamia. As Lapis was used most extensively by the Ancient Egyptians perhaps they too obtained it from the Harappans? At the time there was a large semi-urban civilization in Central Asia stretching from what is now Turkmenistan to Tajikistan. This culture is known to archaeologists as the Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) or the Oxus Civilization. Indus artifacts have been found at BMAC sites, indicating that they did interact. Furthermore ancient DNA analysis has shown people with distinct South Asian heritage among the Oxus People. It is probable that these were the people who supplied Lapis to the Harappans, but the most interesting part of the story is that the Harappans, a people from the hot subtropical Valley of the Indus actually built a colony along the banks of the Oxus in Bactria, a land frozen for much of the year!

Shortugai was excavated in 1976 and lies on the Oxus River not far from the Afghan city of Balkh and across the river from Tajikistan. Archaeologists confirm that the very layout of the ruins is in classic Harappan style and that it was a trade colony established by the Indus People. It is the northernmost Indus Civilization site discovered so far and it shows the zeal that the Indus People had for trade. Many artifacts have been uncovered from Shortugai but perhaps the most striking is an Indus Seal bearing the Indus script with a picture of a rhinoceros, reminding us of the far-off "exotic" homeland of those settlers in the cold heart of Asia!

One thing we can learn from our Harappan ancestors is that commerce and a love of art are far more worthy activities than warfare. Despite the Indus people having colonies from Oman to Afghanistan and inhabiting most of Northern South Asia, they were a peaceful people. Unlike any other contemporary civilization virtually no weapons have been uncovered from Harappan sites.

This is perhaps their most striking legacy: that a race of seafarers and overland traders went about relatively unarmed created the largest and one of the most advanced cultures of their time.
The author is the writer of 'Asiatic Angling Adventures', a travelogue on fishing and adventure travel across Asia, available at Saeed Book Bank, Islamabad and at Amazon.co.uk. Find the author on Twitter: @FatehMulk

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Trade Networks of the Indus Civilization - The Friday Times - Naya Daur

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The Indus Civilization is a culture wrapped in a shroud of mystery. In many ways, the largest urban culture of its time is still poorly understood by modern-day historians. There are two reasons for this.

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Regarding this, Dr. Jennifer Bates notes, "We found evidence for an entirely separate domestication process in ancient South Asia, likely based around the wild species Oryza nivara. This led to the local development of a mix of 'wetland' and 'dryland' agriculture of local Oryza sativa indica rice agriculture before the truly 'wetland' Chinese rice, Oryza sativa japonica, arrived around 2000 BC." (1)

It is believed that the Harappans ate a variety of local fruits, including dates, jujube, grapes, figs, and possibly mango. Cultivated vegetables include a variety of brassica and brown mustard greens, and possibly okra and capers. A variety of herbs, spices, and seasonings were also available and likely cultivated, though evidence is lacking. Notably these include coriander, sugarcane, garlic, turmeric, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon. (2) Ginger, garlic, and turmeric are considered to be key ingredients in cooking. (3)

The Harappans raised cattle for meat, but they also raised chickens, buffaloes, sheep, and goats. They also hunted game, namely a variety of wildfowl, deer, antelope, and wild boar. Their diet also included fish and shellfish from local rivers and lakes and the sea. Fish were eaten fresh, or sometimes dried or salted, as evidenced from the discovery of marine fish remains far inland. (2)

For oil, sesame was used, and possibly flaxseed oil as well. (2) Excavation of Indus sites has resulted in the discovery of tandoori-style ovens used for cooking.(3) This is an extraordinary discovery showing the roots of modern-day Indian cuisine in the Bronze Age. Tandoori ovens are used in many popular dishes such as tikka masala and for the traditional preparation of naan. They have spread across the world with the Indian diaspora, and thus can be found even in small towns in the UK and United States.

Agricultural Practices

In 2016, a public release from the University of Cambridge confirmed new archaeological findings about the Indus Civilization. The research reveals ways in which Indus populations utilized complex strategies for multi-cropping based on season, which also involves a critical awareness of varying watering regimes. Before other other civilizations were varying their crops seasonally, the Indus people were favoring rice, millet and beans in the summer; and wheat, barley and pulses in the winter. Radiocarbon dating even shows evidence of horsegram crops as far back as 2580 BC, and rice as far back as 2430-2140 BC. Not only were these agricultural practices increasing dietary variety, but also providing the opportunity for organization of labor and provisioning throughout the year. Beyond the benefits to an individual community, this variety of crops may have been responsible for the establishment of ancient urban cities, as produce from regional growers was transported to markets for trade. (1)

Pre-Vedic India offers glimpses into the subtle wisdom of Ayurveda in its clever affinity for seasonal eating, as well as the use of a variety of grains and pulses, such as urad dhal. The notion of seasonal eating, also called ritucharya, is emphasized in the ancients texts of ayurveda (Charak Samhita, 200 BCE).

Whether perusing the classical texts of Ayurveda, opening a modern Ayurvedic cookbook or sitting down to a curry or tandoori dish in Denver or Darwin Australia, Mumbai or Birmingham UK, we are still experiencing the ingredients and cooking methods of ancient Harappa.

SOURCES

1. Rice farming in India much older than thought, used as 'summer crop' by Indus civilization. EurekAlert! The Global Source for Science News. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/uoc-rfi111816.php. Published November 20, 2016. Accessed February 2, 2018.

2. What kinds of things did the Indus people eat?. Harappa.com. https://www.harappa.com/answers/what-kinds-things-did-indus-people-eat. Accessed February 2, 2018.

3. The Origins of Curry in the Indus Civilization. Harappa.com. https://www.harappa.com/blog/origins-curry-indus-civilization. Published May 30, 2016. Accessed February 2, 2018.

4. Petrie C, Bates J, Higham T, Singh R. Feeding ancient cities in South Asia: dating the adoption of rice, millet and tropical pulses in the Indus civilisation. Antiquity. 2016;90(354):1489-1504. doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.210.

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Ancient Leftovers: The diet and agricultural practices of the Indus Civilization - History of Ayurveda

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Regarding this, Dr. Jennifer Bates notes, "We found evidence for an entirely separate domestication process in ancient South Asia, likely based around the wild species Oryza nivara. This led to the local development of a mix of 'wetland' and 'dryland' agriculture of local Oryza sativa indica rice agriculture before the truly 'wetland' Chinese rice, Oryza sativa japonica, arrived around 2000 BC."

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Learning Objective

Explain the significance of the urban centers in the IVC

Key Points

The Indus Valley Civilization contained more than 1,000 cities and settlements.

These cities contained well-organized wastewater drainage systems, trash collection systems, and possibly even public granaries and baths.

Although there were large walls and citadels, there is no evidence of monuments, palaces, or temples.

The uniformity of Harappan artifacts suggests some form of authority and governance to regulate seals, weights, and bricks.

Terms

urban planning

A technical and political process concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment that guides and ensures the orderly development of settlements and communities.

granaries

A storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed.

citadels

A central area in a city that is heavily fortified.

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

Two of the major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization during the Bronze Age.

By 2600 BCE, the small Early Harappan communities had become large urban centers. These cities include Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and Lothal in modern-day India. In total, more than 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Indus River and its tributaries. The population of the Indus Valley Civilization may have once been as large as five million.

The remains of the Indus Valley Civilization cities indicate remarkable organization; there were well-ordered wastewater drainage and trash collection systems, and possibly even public granaries and baths. Most city-dwellers were artisans and merchants grouped together in distinct neighborhoods. The quality of urban planning suggests efficient municipal governments that placed a high priority on hygiene or religious ritual.

Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and the recently, partially-excavated Rakhigarhi demonstrate the world's first known urban sanitation systems. The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage developed and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East, and even more efficient than those in many areas of Pakistan and India today. Individual homes drew water from wells, while waste water was directed to covered drains on the main streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes, and even the smallest homes on the city outskirts were believed to have been connected to the system, further supporting the conclusion that cleanliness was a matter of great importance.

Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. These massive walls likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have dissuaded military conflicts. Unlike Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization did not build large, monumental structures. There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples (or even of kings, armies, or priests), and the largest structures may be granaries. The city of Mohenjo-daro contains the "Great Bath," which may have been a large, public bathing and social area.

Archaeological records provide no immediate answers regarding a center of authority, or depictions of people in power in Harappan society. The extraordinary uniformity of Harappan artifacts is evident in pottery, seals, weights, and bricks with standardized sizes and weights, suggesting some form of authority and governance.

Over time, three major theories have developed concerning Harappan governance or system of rule. The first is that there was a single state encompassing all the communities of the civilization, given the similarity in artifacts, the evidence of planned settlements, the standardized ratio of brick size, and the apparent establishment of settlements near sources of raw material. The second theory posits that there was no single ruler, but a number of them representing each of the urban centers, including Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and other communities. Finally, experts have theorized that the Indus Valley Civilization had no rulers as we understand them, with everyone enjoying equal status.

Sources

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Explain the significance of the urban centers in the IVC The Indus Valley Civilization contained more than 1,000 cities and settlements. These cities contained well-organized wastewater drainage systems, trash collection systems, and possibly even public granaries and baths. Although there were large walls and citadels, there is no evidence of monuments, palaces, or temples.

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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. 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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Life in Ancient Cities | National Geographic Society

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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. Looking at one of these early civilizations in particular offers an illuminating view of early urban life.

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Indus Valley Civilization was one of those early urban civilizations that were originated in 2300 BC which was developed in the river basins of Sutlej, Ravi, and Indus. When the archaeologists started exploring this place, many proofs regarding the Harappan culture and Indus Valley trade were found. Historians claim that this was the land of early development where trade and agricultural economy came into existence.

Agricultural Trade

With the rivers surrounding their area, the land was fertile and they used to cultivate many crops such as Barley, Wheat, Melon seeds and oil crops like Sesame, Mustard, and Dates. These were traded by farmers with the other people. Cotton was also cultivated and was traded to make cloth out of it, which was also marketed.

Article Trade

The people of Indus valley civilization knew how to make things from mud and clay. The city workers used to make Pots, Plates, and glasses out of mud and clay to sell them. The traders would bring the materials that workers need and collect the finished goods for trade.

Unearthed ornaments and the accessories made out of Seashells, Pearls, and beads were also traded. The Harappan people even made Terracotta Pots and painted them to trade. Coloured gemstones such as turquoise, lapis and lazuli were also sold by them. Metals and tools made up of flint stones were the main articles traded.

Foreign Trade

The Harappan people used to trade with foreign lands traveling through seas. The seaports found in Harappan civilization state that they were not bound to their own territories. They had traded with Iran and Afghanistan for Minerals, while Lead and Copper were exported from India. It was found that they also imported Jade from China and Cedarwood which were all traded through the rivers such as Sutlej, Ravi, and Indus.

The hand-made balance for weighing things was also developed at that time and used equal size and weighed stones for measurements. These balances were used to trade the things.

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What did the Indus Valley people trade - Indus Valley Civilization was one of those early urban civilizations that were originated in 2300 BC which was developed in the river basins of Sutlej, Ravi, and Indus. When the archaeologists started exploring this place, many proofs regarding the Harappan culture and Indus Valley trade were found.

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Climate Change and the Indus Valley Civilization

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Climate Change and the Indus Valley Civilization

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Indus River Valley Civilization in 5 Minutes or Less

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Indus River Valley Civilization in 5 Minutes or Less

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Indus River Valley Civilizations...in five minutes or less