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• Harappan Society Definition
• Cracking The Culture Harappan Society Answers
• The Harappan Civilization
• What Did The Harappans Do
• Compare Aryan And Harappan Cultures

Harappan Civilisation

This civilization encompassed almost the whole modern-day Pakistan and western India. It is the earliest known urban civilization of Indian subcontinent. Newbluefx titler pro crack. The Indus Valley Civilization is also the largest of the four other ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, and China. Compare Aryan And Harappan Cultures. The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the 1920s, in what was then the Punjab province of British India, and now is Pakistan. Harappa was, in fact, such a rich discovery that the Indus Valley Civilization is also called the Harappan civilization.

2 days ago New research shows how shifting monsoon patterns led to the demise of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The reason for the collapse of the Harappan civilisation has been a mystery. During the era of.

This article deals with ‘Harappan Civilisation’ . This is part of our series on ‘Ancient History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you canclick here.

Introduction

• Indus Valley Civilisation represents the first phase of urbanisation in India contemporaneous with the civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt
• This civilisation did not appear all of a sudden. It developed gradually on the foundations provided by Neolithic villages in the area. For example, Neolithic villages in this region go back to about 7000 BCE at the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh.
• It is known by various names like
  1. Indus Valley Civilization : It was mainly spread in valley of Indus and it’s tributaries.
  2. Harappan Civilization : As Harappa was the first site of this civilisation to be discovered.

Area of spread

• Civilization was spread over nearly 1.5 million sq. km area.
• Its core area was in the regions of Pakistan, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• It is spread between
  1. Sutkagen-dor (on Pakistan-Iran border) in the west
  2. Manda (Jammu and Kashmir) in the north
  3. Alamgirpur (Uttar Pradesh, India) in the east
  4. Daimabad (Maharashtra, India) in the south

The Harappan Civilization was one of the oldest civilization in the Indian sub-continent known for its modern structures. It was a Bronze Age Civilization in the northwestern region of South Asia. It is called Harappan because the remnants of the civilization was discovered first at the modern site of Harappa located in the province of Punjab. The Harappan Civilization or the Indus Valley Civilization was the most fascinating and first urban civilization in the world that flourished in the vast plains created by the River Indus and its.

Phases of Harappan Civilisation

Harappancivilisation is dated between c. 2600 and 1900 BC. There were earlier and latercultures, often called Early Harappan and Late Harappan. The Harappancivilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish itfrom these cultures.

Note : The urbanphase was prevalent in the mature Harappan period and began to declineafterwards.

Town Planning

1 . Planned Towns

• Harappan Cities were well planned .
• There was Grid Pattern of streets cutting each other at right angles . The streets were wide enough for too and fro movement of traffic.
• City was divided into two distinct parts i.e.
  • Citadel : Small , higher & fortified (walled) which housed importantbuildings like Granaries, Great Bath etc.
  • Lower Town : Bigger , lower and separately walled housing common public .
• Since the city was walled, it meant that once the wall was built, it couldn’t be expanded. It corroborates the fact that city was first planned and then built according to the plan.

2 . Fortified Towns

• Harappan cities were fortified .
• These fortifications could have served following purposes :-
  • Protection from attacks .
  • Exclude outsiders .
  • Helps to control activities inside the fortification.
  • If traders bring goods from places faraway they can demand share for allowing access to potential buyers inside

3 . Impressive drainage system

• It was the most complete ancient drainage system seen in any ancient civilization. Perhaps no other Bronze civilization paid such emphasis on health and cleanliness as Harappans.
• Every house was connected to street drains.
• Main channels were made of bricks set in mortar and covered with loose bricks that could be removed for cleaning. House drains first emptied into a sump or cesspit into which solid matter settled while waste water flowed out into the street drains.
• Drainage systems were not unique to the larger cities, but were found in smaller settlements as well.

4 . Extensive use of standardised baked bricks

• Size of bricks was uniform (ratio = 4:2:1).
• Standardised size of bricks indicate that brick making was organised on large scale.
• Various brick laying techniques were used including ENGLISH BOND STYLE (for maximum strength).
• Note : In contemporary Egyptian Culture, dried bricks were used . Although, baked bricks were used in Mesopotamia but they were used much widely in Harappan culture.

5 . Houses

• People lived in houses of different sizes showing that stratification was present in the society.
• Staircases were present in some houses which might have led to roof .
• Although most of houses were single storied . But two and three storied houses were also present.
• Floors were made of high packed earth.
• Small houses attached to large ones might have been quarters of service groups .
• Toilets & Bathrooms : Houses had separate bathing & toilet areas . Floor of these was made of tightly fitted bricks .
• Houses were without much decoration showing utilitarian outlook of Harappan people .

Crafts and Techniques

• Harappans mass – produced standardised items.
• Some were quintessentially Indus, i.e. they are neither found prior to the advent of civilization nor after its collapse. Eg : Indus seals .

1 . Harappan Pottery

• Harappan Pottery reflects efficient mass production .
• Features of typical Harappan Pottery were
  • Harappan pottery was well baked .
  • Harappan Pottery was made with potter’s wheel.
  • Pottery has bright red slip decorated with black designs .
  • Shapes – There was great variety of shapes like pots, large Jars (to store grains or water), flattish dishes (used as plates), perforated jars (use not clear) etc.
  • Decorative designs on pottery include – fish scales, pipal leaves , horned deity , intersecting circles, zig-zag lines etc.

2 . Copper Objects

• Harappan civilisation was a ‘Bronze Age civilisation’ and Harappans knew how to make copper and bronze tools. They did not have the knowledge of iron.
• Harappans used pure copper as well as copper alloyed with Arsenic , Tin or Nickel .
• Artefacts include vessels , spears, knives, short swords, mirrors , rings & bangles etc.
• With time %age of bronze increases.

Side Topic : Dancing Girl

• Most of metal objects found are Utilitarian .
• Most important Non-Utilitarian Copper Object excavated from Harappan Civilization is Dancing Girl found at Mohenjodaro .
• It was made using LOST WAX TECHNIQUE .
• Features of Dancing Girl
  • She is standing in Tribhanga posture .
  • She is naked .
  • She is wearing a necklace, 24-25 bangles in left arm & just 4 on right arm .
• John Marshall called it DANCING GIRL (thought her to be equivalent of Nautch Girl dancing on music) . Although name struck , but she might not have been dancing at all .

3 . Seals

• Use of seals was to facilitate long distance communication. They might have been used
  • For stamping on bag’s rope knot .
  • Insignia / images on seal conveyed the identity of sender.
• Seals were square or rectangular .
• Average size of square seal was 2.54 cm .
• Material used – Steatite
• Carvings are in intaglio ie sunken engravings with impression appearing in relief
• Motifs on seals include elephant, tiger, humped bull, rhinoceros , one horned unicorn etc.
• Most seals have short inscription. The longest inscription has about twenty six signs.

4 . Beads and Bangle making

• This craft was known in earlier cultures too but Harappans used new materials and better techniques

Beads

• Material used included Steatite, Carnelian , Lapis Lazuli ,etc.
• Harappan long barrel cylinder carnelian beads were so beautiful that they are found in royal burials of Mesopotamia.
• Main centres of Bead making were Chanhudaro & Lothal . Bead making tradition in Gujarat today give us clue on how Harappan craftsmen might have made beads

Bangles

• Bangles were often made from conch shell .
• Nageshwar (near Jamnagar) and Balakot , situated near the coast, were exclusively devoted to Bangle making from shell .
• Dancing girl found at Mohenjo-Daro is shown wearing bangles in large numbers .

Water Management System

Harappan sewage & drainage was far more advancedthan any other found in contemporaryurban sites in the Middle East.

Sewage System

• Every house was connected to street drains.
• Main channels was made of bricks set in mortar and was covered with loose bricks that could be removed for cleaning.
• House drains emptied into cesspit where solid matter settled and waste water flowed into street drains

Water Management in various cities

Agriculture

• Harappans were producing enough food to sustain urban population which was engaged in activities other than agriculture. Their subsistence base was wide and diverse as it was situated on alluvial plains , mountains , plateaus & sea coasts .

• Today the rainfall in Sindh is about 15 cm, but in the fourth century BCE , one of the historians of Alexander informs us, that Sindh was a fertile part of India. In earlier times, the Indus region had more natural vegetation which contributed to rainfall. Along with that , annual inundation of Indus made the region very fertile. Just as the Nile created Egypt and ​supported its people, so too the Indus created Sindh and fed its people

• Crops : Harappans cultivated diverse crops such as
  • Wheat
  • Barley
  • Lentil
  • Chickpea
  • Sesame
  • various millets
  • Note : although rice husk has been found at sites like Rangpur but it wasn’t the main crop of Harappan civilisation.

• Cotton : Cotton was cultivated in Harappan civilisation . Following evidences prove this fact
  • Figurines wearing clothes (eg : Priest King, Mother Goddess).
  • Mesopotamian texts state that cotton was important import from Meluha .

• Ploughing : Harappans used ploughs. They ploughed the land and then sowed the seeds increasing the agricultural output. Ploughed fields have been found at Kalibangan. Terracotta models of the plough have been found at at Banawali (Haryana).

• Irrigation : Most Harappan sites are located in semi-arid lands, where irrigation was probably required for agriculture. Harappans built embankments and dams for irrigation. For example :-
  • Irrigation canals have been found at Shortughai .
  • Water drawn from wells was also used for irrigation.
  • Water reservoirs found in Dholavira (Gujarat).

Animal Domestication

• Animals were domesticated by the Harappans for meat, milk and draught purposes.
• They domesticated sheep, goat, buffalo , fowl etc.
• They also ate fish . In states like Gujarat, Molluscs were widely consumed. Marine catfish bones have been found at Harappa showing coastal community traded in dried fish .
• Evidence from seals show region also housed humped bulls, rhinoceros, ibexes , boar, deer and gharial .
• Issue of Horse is controversial
  • Horse remains have been reported from Harappa , Lothal, Surkotda & Kalibangan . But analysis of bones is questioned by other scholars .
  • In any case, the Harappan culture was not horse-centered. Representation of horse has not been found on seals or pottery .
  • For UPSC exam, we can say that horse was not known to them.

Trade and Exchange

• Harappans did not use metal money, and in all probability carried exchanges through a barter system.
• Two types of trade was going on

External Trade

• Evidences showing External Trade are as follows
  1. Harappan seals and materials found in the Sumerian and Mesopotamian sites as well as in Oman, Bahrain and Iran.
  2. Mesopotamian inscriptions mention the trade between Mesopotamia and Harappans. The mention of “Meluha” in the Mesopotamian inscriptions refers to the Indus region.
• Important exports were
  • Carnelian beads – found even in Mesopotamian Royal Graves
  • Textile – Mesopotamian Records of King Sargon mention this
  • Ivory & Ivory objects
  • Lapis Lazuli,Gold, Silver , copper, tortoiseshell , chicken like bird
• Import imports were
  • Fish, grain , wool, woollen garments & silver from Mesopotamia

Internal Trade

• Harappans also interacted with various regions of India and acquired raw materials and processed them.
• These regions were as follows

Weights and Measures

• Harappans had developed proper weights and measures. Since they were involved in commercial transactions, they needed standard measures.
• Cubical weights made of chert, chalcedony, black stone etc. have been found at excavated sites.
• Weights exhibit a binary system. The ratio of weight is doubled as 1:2:4:8:16:32.
• They also used a measuring scale in which one inch was around 1.75 cm. Sticks inscribed with measure marks have been found, and one of these is made of bronze.

Faiths and Belief System

Harappan people had wide faiths and belief systems.

1 . Nature worship

• Harappan seals, sealings, amulets & copper tablets depict number of trees , plants & animals . Some might have cultic significance as well and these include
  • Pipal (Ficus Religosa)
  • Bull which is symbol of male virility . Seal from Chanhu-daro depict a bull bison with erect penis, fecundating a supine human figure.
  • One horned animal probably Unicorn.
  • Composite animals like Tiger-Human. Conception of composite gods like Narsimha can be traced back to this .

2 . Mother Goddess

• Worship of female goddesses is historically associated with fertility .
• Mother Goddess is slim female with fan shaped headdress & wearing short skirt . She is heavily ornamented with necklaces and earrings.

3 . Proto Shiva

• Harappans also worshipped male god represented on seal discovered at Mohenjodaro known as Pashupati Seal. The god is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros, and below his throne there is a buffalo, and at his feet two deer.
• Note : It resembles with Shiva who is Mahayogi (the great yogi) & Pashupati( lord of animals)

4 . Priest King

• Found at Mohenjo Daro known as Priest king.
• He was called Priest King because archaeologists were familiar with Mesopotamian history and its “priest-kings” .

5 . Fire Alters

• Citadel at Kalibangan consists of fire alters where offerings were made into fire.
• Fire Alters have also been reported at Banawali, Lothal, Amri & Rakhigarhi .
• Fire ritual was central to Vedic religion . These evidences indicate that Aryans might have adopted this from Harappans when they came & settled down in these areas .

6 . The Great Bath

• The Great Bath found at Mohenjodaro might have religious significance as well.
• The Great Bath was a large rectangular tank with two staircases on the north and south leading into the tank. There were rooms on three sides, in one of which was a large well. Water from the tank flowed into Great Bath . Across a lane to the north lay a smaller building with eight bathrooms. The uniqueness of the structure and fact that it was found on citadel led scholars to suggest that it was meant for some kind of a special ritual bath.

Burial Systems

• Harappans buried the dead.
• The Harappan burials have grave goods in the form of pottery, ornaments, jewellery, copper mirrors and beads. This suggest their belief in an afterlife.
• Compared with other civilisations, it can be said that on the whole, it appears that the Harappans did not believe in burying precious things with the dead.
• Note : Although Harappans buried their dead but Harappan civilisation hasn’t yielded a monument for the dead which could equal Pyramids of Egypt or Royal Cemetery of Ur .

Nature of Writing

• The biggest mystery about the Harappans is which language(s) they spoke.
• Harappan script consists of 400-450 basic signs.
• Harappan script was pictographic in nature (i.e. picture used to represent a word).
• It was written from right to left corroborated by the fact that some seals show a wider spacing on the right and cramping on the left.
• Although larger inscriptions were rare. In large inscriptions , they followed Boustrophedon Style (i.e. first line in right to left , then next line in left to right)

• Nature of Language
  • Some scholars argue that Harappan script and language belonged toDravidian family . Father Heras was strong advocate of this view . He argued that Brahui , language still spoken in this region , belongs to Dravidian family .
  • Others historians believe that it belonged to Indo-Aryan languages .
  • Yet others believe that it belonged to the Sumerian language.

• Harappan script has not been deciphered yet . Mortimer Wheeler writes the conditions requisite for the interpretation of the script are (1) bilingual inscriptions with known language and (2) long inscription with significant recurrent features . Both these conditions aren’t present in Harappan inscriptions.

Nature of Polity

State waspresent in Harappan Civilisation . Following things prove the existence ofstate

1. Uniform culture over such a large area wasn’t possible without central authority.
2. Granaries at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa where surplus was collected and stored , most probably by the rulers.
3. Control of labour as indicated by elaborate drainage system, citadels and public buildings which were made by mobilising labour on large scale.
4. Standardisation , site specialisation and establishment of trading outpost at Shortughai .
5. Common system of writing across wide area .
6. FORTIFICATIONS especially imposing ones like Dholavira, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
7. We have no clear idea of an organized force or standing army, but a heap of sling stones and the depiction of a soldier on a potsherd at Surkotda may suggest a standing army.
8. Harappan civilisation lasted for 700 years & artefacts continued unaltered which suggests strong political stability .

Side Topic : A Priest King

• In ancient Mesopotamian & Egyptian civilisations, rulers were portrayed extensively in stone reliefs & sculptures to proclaim their power . But Harappan case is strikingly different because here no such things have been found .
• Taking view from Egypt & Meso Civilisation , stone bust of Male found at Mohenjodaro is given label of Priest King . However whether he represent priest or king or both is far from certain.

Contemporary Cultures of the Harappan Civilisation

• While the Indus Civilisation was flourishing in the north-western part of India, several cultures were developing in different parts of India..

Kashmir

• Kashmir was under Neolithic culture during this phase. Sites like Burzahom belong to this phase.

Deccan and Western India

• Chalcolithic cultures were prevalent in Deccan and western India.
• Chalcolithic culture in the form of Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture was prevalent in Rajasthan. Harappans imported copper from here (Khetri copper mines).

South India

• Kerala and Sri Lanka were still under hunting and gathering phase.
• Northern part of South India, i.e. the Karnataka and Andhra region, had Neolithic cultures, engaged in pastoralism and plough agriculture.
• Harappans used to send expeditions to South India to import gold especially from region surrounding Kolar gold fields.

Morphology of Harappan Cities

1 . Mohenjo Daro

2. Harappa

3. Kalibangan

4. Lothal

5. Dholavira

6. Chanhudaro

7. Rakhigarhi

8. Banawali

9. Ropar

10 . Rangpur

11. Surkotda

12. Suktagendor

13. Shortughai

Decline of Harappan Civilization

It was a gradual decline

• Roughly around 1900 BCE, there is a visible change in the material record.
  • Population seems to have either perished or moved away . Number of settlements in Core Harappan areas decreased but number of settlements in the outlying areas of Gujarat, East Punjab, Haryana and upper Doab increased (explained by the emigration of people from the core regions of Harappan Civilisation to outlying areas) .
  • In few Harappan sites that continued to be occupied after 1900 BCE, Material culture underwent a change – a far smaller, and that too more locally exploited raw materials was utilized . There was disappearance of weights, seals, special beads, writing, long-distance trade, and craft specialisation .

Overall, artefacts and settlements indicate a rural way of life in whatare called “Late Harappan”

• Mesopotamian literature stops referring to Meluha by the end of 1900 BCE .

Many theories are given for decline of Harappan Civilisation by various scholars

Reason 1 : Aryan Invasion

• Theory was given by Ramaprasad Chanda in 1926 but elaborated by Mortimer Wheeler .
• References to various kinds of forts of Dasas & Dasyus, attacks on fortified cities & epithet Puramdara(fort destroyer) given to Indra reflect invasion of Aryans on Harappan cities .
• Rig Veda mentions a place called Hariyupiya located on the bank of Ravi where Aryans fought a battle . Name of the place sounds very similar to that of Harappa. Based on this, Wheeler concluded that it was the Aryan invaders who destroyed the city.

Harappan Society Definition

Arguments againstthis theory

• Historians like George Dale & BB Lal argue that Rig Veda is a religious text of uncertain date & taking it as evidence on face value is not correct .
• Harappans & Aryans are unlikely to have met each other. Harappan Civilisation declined around 1900 BCE whereas Aryans arrived in India around 1500 BCE.
• No evidences of military assault have been found . Earlier Deadman Lane Theory of John Marshall has been discarded . Deadman lane is a street in Mohenjodaro where dead-bodies of 17 people were excavated. But later it was found that they didn’t belong to same period. No bodies of warriors clad in armour and surrounded by the weapons of war have been found. The citadel, the only fortified part of the city, yielded no evidence of a final defence.

Reason 2 : Fall in Mesopotamian Trade

• There was sudden end of long distance land and sea trade with Mesopotamia. Trade in luxurious items like lapis lazuli, beads etc. passed through Elam (located on eastern border of Mesopotamia) . In 2000 BC, Elam emerged as powerful state impacting Harappan exports to Mesopotamia and Mesopotamian Imports including tin to Harappa. Decline of trade led to decline of Harappan Civilisation as well.

Reason 3 : Raike’s Hypothesis – Floods

• RL Raikes was famous hydrologist .
• He believes that the Harappan civilization declined because of catastrophic flooding. But such flooding which could drown buildings 30 feet was not result of normal flooding . Geomorphologically , the Indus area is a disturbed seismic zone. Earthquakes might have raised the level of the flood plains of the lower Indus river along an axis roughly at right angles . This led to the ponding of the waters of the river Indus.

Reason 4 : Shifting away of Indus

• Indus was unstable river system which altered its course many times .
• River Indus shifted about 30 miles away from Mohenjodaro. People deserted the area because they were starved of water.
• But this cannot explain the decline of the Harappan civilization in totality. At best, it can explains the desertion of Mohenjodaro.

Reason 5 : Drying up of Ghaggar

• Ghaggar-Hakra area represented one of the core regions of Harappan civilization. Ghaggar was a mighty stream . Rivers Sutlej and Yamuna used to be the tributaries of this river. Because of some tectonic disturbances, the Sutlej stream was captured by the Indus river and the Yamuna shifted east to join the Ganges. This kind of change in the river regime, which left the Ghaggar waterless, would have catastrophic implication for the towns located in this area.

Reason 6 : Increased Aridity

• This theory was given by DP Aggarwal & Sood .
• Basing their conclusions on the studies conducted in the U.S.A., Australia and Rajasthan , they have shown that there was an increase in the arid conditions by the middle of the second millennium B.C. In semi-arid regions like those of the Harappa, even a minor reduction in moisture and water availability could spell disaster. It would affect agricultural production which in turn would put the city economies under stress.

Reason 7 : Ecological Imbalance

• “Harappans were over-exploiting their environment through over-cultivation, over-grazing, and excessive cutting of trees for fuel and farming. This would have resulted in decreasing soil fertility, floods, and increasing soil salinity.”
• Deforestation was carried out on large scale for fuel to make bricks. Deforestation also reduced the rainfall in the area.
• To sustain the city population, agriculture was to be done on large scale decreasing the soil fertility . Exhaustion of the soil may have diminished cereal production and starved the urban people.
• Gradual movement away to other areas was already happening so as to reduce the pressure on the limited land. Harappan communities moved towards Gujarat and eastern areas, away from the Indus.

Localisation Phase

• Debate on Terminology : Late Harappan vs Post Harappan
  • Those historians who are in favour of decline of Harappan Civilisation prefer to call it Post Harappan Civilisation .
  • Whereas those who argue for Transformation of Harappan Civilisation call it Late Harappan. Later Harappan terminology is preferred by most historians now a days.

• Scholars working on the Indus civilization no longer look for the causes of its decline because of the fact that the scholars who studied the Harappan civilization right upto the 1960s believed that the collapse of the civilization was sudden. It was towards the end of the 1960s that scholars like Malik and Possehl focused their attention on various aspects of continuity of Harappan tradition

• Archaeologically speaking some changes are observable-
  • Some of the settlements were abandoned .
  • Tradition of uniform writing, seals, weights and pottery was lost.
  • Objects showing intensive interaction among the far flung settlements were lost.

In other words the activitiesassociated with city-centred economies were given up.

• But there was continuity as well.

• Three prominent cultures which came after Mature Harappan Phase declined & Localisation Phase started were
  1. Cemetery H
  2. Jhukar/Late Kulli
  3. Rangpur

1 . Cemetery H

• Cemetery H is a site in Harappa . Here, large Urn Burials dateable to Post Urban Culture were found.
• Dated from 1900-1300 BCE.
• Cemetery H Culture had Black on Red pottery with similar shapes of pottery as that of Mature Harappan Culture , although motifs on pottery differed .

2. Late Kulli / Jhukar

• Found in Southern Sindh, Chanhu–Daro , Jhukar etc .
• Some of typical Harappan elements like Stamp Seals continued but it was made of Terracotta or Faience .
• They were still staying in brick houses but they gave up the planned lay out.

3. Rangpur

• Found in Gujarat . Main sites were Rangpur & Lothal & Prabhas Patan (Somnath) .
• There were fewer number of sites and settlements were smaller.
• They were using ‘Lustrous Redware‘ characterised by bright & burnished slipped surface.

This marks the end of our article on ‘Harappan Civilisation’ .

The Indus River Valley Civilization

The Indus River Valley Civilization, located in modern Pakistan, was one of the world’s three earliest widespread societies.

Learning Objectives

Identify the importance of the discovery of the Indus River Valley Civilization

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• The Indus Valley Civilization (also known as the Harappan Civilization) was a Bronze Age society extending from modern northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India.
• The civilization developed in three phases: Early Harappan Phase (3300 BCE-2600 BCE), Mature Harappan Phase (2600 BCE-1900 BCE), and Late Harappan Phase (1900 BCE-1300 BCE).
• Inhabitants of the ancient Indus River valley developed new techniques in handicraft, including Carnelian products and seal carving, and metallurgy with copper, bronze, lead, and tin.
• Sir John Hubert Marshall led an excavation campaign in 1921-1922, during which he discovered the ruins of the city of Harappa. By 1931, the Mohenjo-daro site had been mostly excavated by Marshall and Sir Mortimer Wheeler. By 1999, over 1,056 cities and settlements of the Indus Civilization were located.

Key Terms

• seal: An emblem used as a means of authentication. Seal can refer to an impression in paper, wax, clay, or other medium. It can also refer to the device used.
• metallurgy: The scientific and mechanical technique of working with bronze. copper, and tin.

The Indus Valley Civilization existed through its early years of 3300-1300 BCE, and its mature period of 2600-1900 BCE. The area of this civilization extended along the Indus River from what today is northeast Afghanistan, into Pakistan and northwest India. The Indus Civilization was the most widespread of the three early civilizations of the ancient world, along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were thought to be the two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, emerging around 2600 BCE along the Indus River Valley in the Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. Their discovery and excavation in the 19th and 20th centuries provided important archaeological data about ancient cultures.

Map of the Indus Valley Civilization: The major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the three “Ancient East” societies that are considered to be the cradles of civilization of the old world of man, and are among the most widespread; the other two “Ancient East” societies are Mesopotamia and Pharonic Egypt. The lifespan of the Indus Valley Civilization is often separated into three phases: Early Harappan Phase (3300-2600 BCE), Mature Harappan Phase (2600-1900 BCE) and Late Harappan Phase (1900-1300 BCE).

At its peak, the Indus Valley Civilization may had a population of over five million people. It is considered a Bronze Age society, and inhabitants of the ancient Indus River Valley developed new techniques in metallurgy—the science of working with copper, bronze, lead, and tin. They also performed intricate handicraft, especially using products made of the semi-precious gemstone Carnelian, as well as seal carving— the cutting
of patterns into the bottom face of a seal used for stamping. The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large, non-residential buildings.

The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the 1920s, in what was then the Punjab province of British India and is now in Pakistan. The discoveries of Harappa, and the site of its fellow Indus city Mohenjo-daro, were the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Raj, the common name for British imperial rule over the Indian subcontinent from 1858 through 1947.

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

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. The modern village of Harappa, used as a railway station during the Raj, is six kilometers (3.7 miles) from the ancient city site, which suffered heavy damage during the British period of rule.

Mohenjo-daro is thought to have been built in the 26th century BCE and 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 sophisticated engineering and urban planning. Cock-fighting was thought to have religious and ritual significance, with domesticated chickens bred for religion rather than food (although the city may have been a point of origin for the worldwide domestication of chickens). Mohenjo-daro was abandoned around 1900 BCE when the Indus Civilization went into sudden decline.

The ruins of Harappa were first described in 1842 by Charles Masson in his book, Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, the Panjab, & Kalât. In 1856, British engineers John and William Brunton were laying the East Indian Railway Company line connecting the cities of Karachi and Lahore, when their crew discovered hard, well-burnt bricks in the area and used them for ballast for the railroad track, unwittingly dismantling the ruins of the ancient city of Brahminabad.

Excavations

In 1912, John Faithfull Fleet, an English civil servant working with the Indian Civil Services, discovered several Harappan seals. This prompted an excavation campaign from 1921-1922 by Sir John Hubert Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, which resulted in the discovery of Harappa. By 1931, much of
Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, while the next director of the Archaeological Survey of India, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, led additional excavations.

Excavated Ruins of Mohenjo-daro: The Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, a city in the Indus River Valley Civilization.

The Partition of India, in 1947, divided the country to create the new nation of Pakistan. The bulk of the archaeological finds that followed were inherited by Pakistan. By 1999, over 1,056 cities and settlements had been found, of which 96 have been excavated.

Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus River Valley Civilization (IVC) contained urban centers with well-conceived and organized infrastructure, architecture, and systems of governance.

Learning Objectives

Explain the significance of the urban centers in the IVC

Key Takeaways

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.

Key Terms

• 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.
• 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.

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.

Indus Valley Civilization Sites: This map shows a cluster of Indus Valley Civilization cities and excavation sites along the course of the Indus River in Pakistan.

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.

Infrastructure

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.

Architecture

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.

Sokhta Koh: Sokhta Koh, a Harappan coastal settlement near Pasni, Pakistan, is depicted in a computer reconstruction. Sokhta Koh means “burnt hill,” and corresponds to the browned-out earth due to extensive firing of pottery in open pit ovens.

Authority and Governance

Cracking The Culture Harappan Society Answers

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.

Harappan Culture

The Indus River Valley Civilization, also known as Harappan, included its own advanced technology, economy, and culture.

Learning Objectives

Identify how artifacts and ruins provided insight into the IRV’s technology, economy, and culture

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• The Indus River Valley Civilization, also known as Harappan civilization, developed the first accurate system of standardized weights and measures, some as accurate as to 1.6 mm.
• Harappans created sculpture, seals, pottery, and jewelry from materials, such as terracotta, metal, and stone.
• Evidence shows Harappans participated in a vast maritime trade network extending from Central Asia to modern-day Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and Syria.
• The Indus Script remains indecipherable without any comparable symbols, and is thought to have evolved independently of the writing in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.

Key Terms

• steatite: Also known as Soapstone, steatite is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is very soft and has been a medium for carving for thousands of years.
• Indus Script: Symbols produced by the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
• chalcolithic period: A period also
  known as the Copper Age, which lasted from 4300-3200 BCE.

The Indus Valley Civilization is the earliest known culture of the Indian subcontinent of the kind now called “urban” (or centered on large municipalities), and the largest of the four ancient civilizations, which also included Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. The society of the Indus River Valley has been dated from the Bronze Age, the time period from approximately 3300-1300 BCE. It was located in modern-day India and Pakistan, and covered an area as large as Western Europe.

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were the two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, emerging around 2600 BCE along the Indus River Valley in the Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. Their discovery and excavation in the 19th and 20th centuries provided important archaeological data regarding the civilization’s technology, art, trade, transportation, writing, and religion.

Technology

The people of the Indus Valley, also known as Harappan (Harappa was the first city in the region found by archaeologists), achieved many notable advances in technology, including great accuracy in their systems and tools for measuring length and mass.

Harappans were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures that conformed to a successive scale. The smallest division, approximately 1.6 mm, was marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal, a prominent Indus Valley city in the modern Indian state of Gujarat. It stands as the smallest division ever recorded on a Bronze Age scale. Another indication of an advanced measurement system is the fact that the bricks used to build Indus cities were uniform in size.

Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage developed and used in cities throughout the 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.

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

Harappans also developed new techniques in metallurgy—the science of working with copper, bronze, lead, and tin—and performed intricate handicraft using products made of the semi-precious gemstone, Carnelian.

Art

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—more commonly known as Soapstone.

Among the various gold, terracotta, and stone figurines found, a figure of a “Priest-King” displayed a beard and patterned robe. Another figurine in bronze, known as the “Dancing Girl,” is only 11 cm. 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.

Miniature Votive Images or Toy Models from Harappa, c. 2500 BCE: The Indus River Valley Civilization created figurines from terracotta, as well as bronze and steatite. It is still unknown whether these figurines have religious significance.

Trade and Transportation

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 bullock carts 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.

The docks and canal in the ancient city of Lothal, located in modern India: Archaeological evidence suggests that the Indus River Valley Civilization constructed boats and may have participated in an extensive maritime trade network.

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 gem stones, such as lapis lazuli and turquoise.

There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations. Harappan seals and jewelry have been found 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 was equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth.

During 4300-3200 BCE of the Chalcolithic period, also known as the Copper Age, the Indus Valley Civilization area shows ceramic similarities with
southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran. During the Early Harappan period (about 3200-2600 BCE), cultural similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, and ornaments document caravan trade with Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.

Writing

Harappans are believed to have used Indus Script, a language consisting of symbols. 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. This Indus Script suggests that writing developed independently in the Indus River Valley Civilization from the script employed in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.

Indus Script: These ten Indus Script symbols were found on a “sign board” in the ancient city of Dholavira.

As many as 600 distinct Indus symbols have been found on seals, small tablets, ceramic pots, and more than a dozen other materials. Typical Indus inscriptions are no more than four or five characters in length, most of which are very small. The longest on a single surface, which is less than 1 inch (or 2.54 cm.) square, is 17 signs long. The characters are largely pictorial, but include many abstract signs that do not appear to have changed over time.

The inscriptions are thought to have been primarily written from right to left, but it is unclear whether this script constitutes a complete language. Without a “Rosetta Stone” to use as a comparison with other writing systems, the symbols have remained indecipherable to linguists and archaeologists.

A Rosetta Stone for the Indus script, lecture by Rajesh Rao: Rajesh Rao is fascinated by “the mother of all crossword puzzles,” how to decipher the 4,000-year-old Indus script. At TED 2011, he explained how he was enlisting modern computational techniques to read the Indus language. View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-rosetta-stone-for-the-indus-script-rajesh-rao

Religion

The Harappan religion 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. Some Indus Valley seals show a swastika symbol, which was included in later Indian religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Many Indus Valley seals also include the forms of animals, with some depicting them being carried in processions, while others showing chimeric creations, leading scholars to speculate about the role of animals in Indus Valley religions. 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.

The “Shiva Pashupati” seal: This seal was excavated in Mohenjo-daro and depicts a seated and possibly ithyphallic figure, surrounded by animals.

Disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization declined around 1800 BCE due to climate
change and migration.

Learning Objectives

The Harappan Civilization

Discuss the causes for the disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• One theory suggested that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe, called the Aryans, invaded and conquered the Indus Valley Civilization.
• Many scholars now believe the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization was caused by climate change.
• The eastward shift of monsoons may have reduced the water supply, forcing the Harappans of the Indus River Valley to migrate and establish smaller villages and isolated farms.
• These small communities could not produce the agricultural surpluses needed to support cities, which where then abandoned.

Key Terms

• Indo-Aryan Migration theory: A theory suggesting the Harappan culture of the Indus River Valley was assimilated during a migration of the Aryan people into northwest India.
• monsoon: Seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation; usually winds that bring heavy rain once a year.
• Aryans: A nomadic, Indo-European tribe called the Aryans suddenly overwhelmed and conquered the Indus Valley Civilization.

The great Indus Valley Civilization, located in modern-day India and Pakistan, began to decline around 1800 BCE. The civilization eventually disappeared along with its two great cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Harappa lends its name to the Indus Valley people because it was the civilization’s first city to be discovered by modern archaeologists.

Archaeological evidence indicates that trade with Mesopotamia, located largely in modern Iraq, seemed to have ended. The advanced drainage system 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.

Scholars have put forth differing theories to explain the disappearance of the Harappans, including an Aryan Invasion and climate change marked by overwhelming monsoons.

The Aryan Invasion Theory (c. 1800-1500 BC)

The Indus Valley Civilization may have met its demise due to invasion. According to one theory by British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, a nomadic, Indo-European tribe, called the Aryans, suddenly overwhelmed and conquered the Indus River Valley.

Wheeler, who was Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1944 to 1948, posited that many unburied corpses found in the top levels of the Mohenjo-daro archaeological site were victims of war. The theory suggested that by using horses and more advanced weapons against the peaceful Harappan people, the Aryans may have easily defeated them.

Yet shortly after Wheeler proposed his theory, other scholars dismissed it by explaining that the skeletons were not victims of invasion massacres, but rather the remains of hasty burials. Wheeler himself eventually admitted that the theory could not be proven and the skeletons indicated only a final phase of human occupation, with the decay of the city structures likely a result of it becoming uninhabited.

Later opponents of the invasion theory went so far as to state that adherents to the idea put forth in the 1940s were subtly justifying the British government’s policy of intrusion into, and subsequent colonial rule over, India.

Various elements of the Indus Civilization are found in later cultures, suggesting the civilization did not disappear suddenly due to an invasion. Many scholars came to believe in an Indo-Aryan Migration theory stating that the Harappan culture was assimilated during a migration of the Aryan people into northwest India.

Aryans in India: An early 20th-century depiction of Aryan people settling in agricultural villages in India.

The Climate
Change Theory (c. 1800-1500 BC)

Other scholarship suggests the collapse of Harappan society resulted from 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.

What Did The Harappans Do

Any major environmental change, such as deforestation, flooding or droughts due to a river changing course, could have had disastrous effects on Harappan society, such as crop failures, starvation, and disease. Skeletal evidence suggests many people died from malaria, which is most often spread by mosquitoes. This also would have caused a breakdown in the economy and civic order within the urban areas.

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. The monsoons that came to the Indus River Valley aided the growth of agricultural surpluses, which supported the development of cities, such as Harappa. The population came to rely on seasonal monsoons rather than irrigation, and as the monsoons shifted eastward, the water supply would have dried up.

Compare Aryan And Harappan Cultures

Ruins of the city of Lothal: Archaeological evidence shows that the site, which had been a major city before the downfall of the Indus Valley Civilization, continued to be inhabited by a much smaller population after the collapse. The few people who remained in Lothal did not repair the city, but lived in poorly-built houses and reed huts instead.

By 1800 BCE, the Indus Valley climate grew cooler and drier, and a tectonic event may have diverted the Ghaggar Hakra river system toward the Ganges Plain. The Harappans may have migrated toward the Ganges basin in the east, where they established villages and isolated farms.

These small communities could not produce the same agricultural surpluses to support large cities. With the reduced production of goods, there was a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. By around 1700 BCE, most of the Indus Valley Civilization cities had been abandoned.