Ancient Indus Sites

8/8/2019 Ancient Indus Sites

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Ancient Indus Sites

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Harappa

H arappa was an Indus civilization urban center. It lies in Punjab Province, Pakistan, on anold bed of the River Ravi.

The latest research has revealed at least five mounds at Harappa that 3-D renditions of Harappa show to have been surrounded by extensive walls. Two mounds have large wallsaround them, perhaps as much for trade regulation as defense.

A structure once considered a granary is now thought to have beena large building with ventilated air ducts. A set of working

platforms to the south of this structure are also of great interest toarchaeologists.
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An abundance of terracotta figurines at Harappa provided the firstclues in the 19th century to the ancient Indus - often abbreviated asHarappan - civilization.

Mohenjo daro

M ohenjodaro is probably the best known Indus site. Mohenjo Daro is in Sindh,Pakistan, next to the Indus River, not far from the very early human flint miningquarries at Rohri. The Indus may once haveflowed to the west of Mohenjo Daro, but it isnow located to the east.

Here the Great Bath , uniform buildings andweights, hidden drains and other hallmarksof the civilization were discovered in the 1920's. This is where the most unicorn seals have

been found. Due to a rising water table, most of the site remains unexcavated, and itsearliest levels have not been reached.

Dholavira

Dholavira is located on Khadir Beyt, an island in theGreat Rann of Kutch in Gujarat State, India. It has only

been excavated since 1990. As large as Harappa andMohenjo Daro, it has some of the best preserved stonearchitecture.

A tantalizing signboard with Indus script has also beendiscovered.

Dholavira appears to have had several large reservoirs,and an elaborate system of drains to collect water fromthe city walls and house tops to fill these water tanks.
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Lothal

L othal is on the top of the Gulf of Khambat in Gujarat, India, near theSabarmati River and the Arabian Sea. It isthe most extensively researched Harappancoastal site.

A bead factory and Persian Gulf seal have been found here suggesting that like manysites on the Gulf of Khambat, it wasdeeply into trading.

Rakhigarhi

R akhigarhi is a recently discovered city in Haryana, India. Partial excavations haverevealed that it is as large as Harappa, Mohenjo Daro and Ganweriwala.

Ganweriwala

Ganeriwala is in Punjab, Pakistan near the Indian border. It was first discovered by Sir Aurel Stein and surveyed by Dr. M. R. Mughal in the 1970s. It spreads over 80 hectares andis almost as large as Mohenjo Daro. It is near a dry bed of the former Ghaggar or SarasvatiRiver, and has not been excavated, yet. Equidistant between Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, Ganweriwala may have been a fifth major urban center.

Smaller Settlements

G ola Dhoro (also known as Bagasara) is a site in Gujarat, India, excavated from 1996 to 2004. A distinctive ancient Indus seal was found there, as well as extensive evidence for thesudden evacuation of this tiny town with well stocked manufacturing facilities.

Daimabad is in Maharashtra near Bombay. Discovered in 1958, it is a controversial site.Some suggest that the pottery and single shard with ancient Indus signs on it is definitive of Harappan settlement; others say the evidence is not sufficient. A unique hoard of exquisite

bronze chariots and animals that may or may not be of Indus Civilization style was alsofound here.

Chanhudaro is 80 miles south of Mohenjo Daro in Sindh. It was a manufacturing center.Various tool, shell, bone and seal-making facilities which involved writing were found.Beads were made using efficiently layered floors. Chanhudaro seems also to have beenhastily abandoned.

Sutkagen Dor in Baluchistan is the westernmost known Harappan site located on thePakistani border with Iran. It is thought to have once been on a navigable inlet of the
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Arabian Sea. The usual citadel and town are present, as well as defensive walls 30 feetwide. Sutkagen Dor would have been on the trade route from Lothal in Gujarat toMesopotamia and was probably heavily involved in the fishing trade similar to that whichexists today in the coast along Baluchistan.

A ll these sites flourished for various periods between 3500 and 1700 BCE. There are probably many more important Indus sites. Some must have been lost or destroyed byshifting river paths. Others are probably buried under modern towns.

What does seem clear is that the important sites were ancient commercial centers. They areon rivers or near the coast. Various specialized manufacturing facilities suggest that theywere heavily involved in trade with each other and far outside the region.

I. Ancient Indus CivilizationII. Indus Civilization Geography

IV. Hariyupia and the Aryan Invasion Hypothesis

INDUS | HOME Harappa 1996-2008

Mohenjo-daro

Mohenjo-daro is a remarkable construction, considering its antiquity. It has a planned layout based on a

grid of streets, which were laid out in perfect patterns. At its height the city probably had around 35,000

residents. The buildings of the city were particularly advanced, with structures constructed of same-sized

sun dried bricks of baked mud and burned wood.

The public buildings of these cities also suggest a high degree of social organization. The so-called

"Great Granary" at Mohenjo-daro was interpreted by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1950 as designed with bays

to receive carts delivering crops from the countryside, and there are ducts for air to circulate beneath the

stored grain to dry it. However, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer has noted that no record of grain exists at the

"granary." He suggests that a more appropriate title would be "Great Hall." [9]

Close to the granary, there is a building similarly civic in nature - a great public bath (sometimes called

the Great Bath ), with steps down to a brick-lined pool in a colonnaded courtyard. The elaborate bath area

was very well built, with a layer of natural tar to keep it from leaking, and in the center was the pool.

Measuring 12m x 7m, with a depth of 2.4m, it may have been used for religious or spiritual ceremonies.
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Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. Some of the houses

included rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and waste water was directed to covered

drains lining the major streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. A variety of

buildings were up to two stories high.

Being an agricultural city, it also featured a large well, and central marketplace. It also had a building with

an underground furnace ( hypocaust ), possibly for heated bathing.

Mohenjo-daro was a well fortified city. Lacking actual city walls, it did have towers to the west of the main

settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south. Considering these fortifications and the structure of

other major Indus valley cities like Harappa , lead to the question of whether Mohenjo-daro was an

administrative centre. Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same architectural layout, and

were generally not heavily fortified like other Indus Valley sites. It is obvious from the identical city layouts

of all Indus sites, that there was some kind of political or administrative centrality, however the extent and

functioning of an administrative centre remains unclear.

Mohenjo-daro was successively destroyed and rebuilt at least seven times. Each time, the new cities

were built directly on top of the old ones. Flooding by the Indus is thought to have been the cause of

destruction.

The city was divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City. Most of the Lower City is yet

to be uncovered, but the Citadel is known to have the public bath, a large residential structure designed to

house 5,000 citizens and two large assembly halls.

Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and their civilization, vanished without trace from history until discovered in the1920s. It was extensively excavated in the 1920s, but no in-depth excavations have been carried out

since the 1960s.
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"The Dancing girl" artifact found in Mohenjo-daro

The "Priest-king" statue

[edit ]Artifacts

The "Dancing girl" found in Mohenjo-daro is an artifact that is some 4500 years old. The 10.8 cm long

bronze statue of the dancing girl was found in 1926 from a house in Mohenjo-daro. She was British

archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler 's favorite statuette, as he said in this quote from a 1973 television

program:

"There is her little Baluchi -style face with pouting lips and insolent look in the eyes. She's about

fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her

arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the

world. There's nothing like her, I think, in the world."

John Marshall, one of the excavators at Mohenjo-daro, described her as a vivid impression of the

young ... girl, her hand on her hip in a half-impudent posture, and legs slightly forward as she beats

time to the music with her legs and feet. [10]

The artistry of this statuette is recognizable today and tells of a strange, but at least fleetingly

recognizable past. As the archaeologist Gregory Possehl says, "We may not be certain that she was

a dancer, but she was good at what she did and she knew it". The statue could well be of some

queen or other important woman of the Indus Valley Civilization judging from the authority the figure

commands.
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A seated male sculpture is the so-called "Priest King" (even though there is no evidence that

either priests or kings ruled the city). This 17.5 cm tall statue is another artifact which has become a

symbol for the Indus valley civilization . Archaeologists discovered the sculpture in Lower town at

Mohenjo-daro in 1927. It was found in an unusual house with ornamental brickwork and a wall niche

and was lying between brick foundation walls which once held up a floor.

This bearded sculpture wears a fillet around the head, an armband, and a cloak decorated with

trefoil patterns that were originally filled with red pigment.

The two ends of the fillet fall along the back and though the hair is carefully combed towards the

back of the head, no bun is present. The flat back of the head may have held a separately carved

bun as is traditional on the other seated figures, or it could have held a more elaborate horn and

plumed headdress.

Two holes beneath the highly stylized ears suggest that a necklace or other head ornament wasattached to the sculpture. The left shoulder is covered with a cloak decorated with trefoil, double

circle and single circle designs that were originally filled with red pigment. Drill holes in the center of

each circle indicate they were made with a specialized drill and then touched up with a chisel . Eyes

are deeply incised and may have held inlay. The upper lip is shaved and a short combed beard

frames the face. The large crack in the face is the result of weathering or it may be due to original

firing of this object.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohenjo-daro

Mohenjo-daroMohenjo-daro and Harappa were the largest cities of the Indus Valley Civilization among all (over 100) towns andvillages which have been discovered so far. It remains unknown whether Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were two largecities of a single empire or capitals of two states, while some scholars suggest that Harappa succeeded Mohenjo-daro which has been devastated by floods several times. The plans of both cities reveal highly advanced ancientcivilization, while the sewerage and drainage systems throughout the Indus Valley Civilization were the mostadvanced sanitation systems in the world at that time.

Harappa
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The city of Mohenjo-daro was divided into two parts - the Citadel and the Lower City. Fortified citadel located on anartificial hill on the western flank encompasses large residential structure, massive granary and two large assemblyhalls which implies on existence of central government or administration. A lot of attention attracted the elaboratepool measuring 12 meters x 7 meters ( 39 feet x 23 feet) with a depth of 2,5 meters (8 feet) which probably served asa public bath or some sort of tank but it might have been used for religious and spiritual ceremonies and rituals. Theresidential buildings in the Lower City build from sun dried or baked mud bricks were open only to the inner

courtyards, while the stone stairs imply that many houses were at least two stories high. Many houses had smallbathrooms and were well-provided with drains which lined the major streets. The ruins of Harappa reveal similar planto Mohenjo-daro - a fortified citadel on a hill on the western flank and living quarters on the eastern flank of the city.

Children's toy, Mohenjo-daroThe remains of sun dried or baked mud bricks imply on a monotonous architectural style. Buildings perhaps includedelaborated wood carvings or decoration with other materials but there is any preserved evidence. Insight into IndusValley Civilization arts and culture provide only various sculptures, pottery, jewelry, and terra-cotta, gold and stonefigurines. Especially important are numerous small seals predominantly made of steatite which depict variety of animals such as oxen, crocodiles, elephants, tigers, rhinoceros, etc, while depictions of humans are very rare. Everyseal usually included inscriptions in the Indus Valley Civilization script which has not been fully deciphered yetalthough the language of Indus Valley Civilization has been identified as Dravidian.Sourcee: http://www.anciv.info/indus-valley-civilization-and-vedic-period/art-and-architecture-of-indus-valley-civilization.html

Mohenjo DaroMohenjo-daro was a city of the Indus Valley Civilization, 20 km from Larkana and some 80 km southwest of modernSukkur, Sindh, Pakistan. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and better preserved than Harappa. However, due torain the upper part of tomb is now destroyed despite steps to further save this world historical place.

Ancient city on the bank of the Indus River, in present-day southern Pakistan

The site of Mohenjo-Daro (also Moenjo-daro, latitude 27 degrees, 25 minutes north, longitude 67 degrees 35 minuteseast), in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan, is the largest and most extensively excavated Indus city in Pakistan.
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This city would have dominated the major trade routes and agricultural potential of the southern Indus plain, fromaround 2600-1900 BCE.Mohenjo-Daro is located in District Larkana at a distance of about 28 km from Larakana and 107 km from sukkur.Mohenjo-Daro was a city located in the south of Modern Pakistan in the Sind Province, on the right bank of the IndusRiver. It was built between four and five thousand years ago, and lasted until 3,700 BP. It was part of the Harrapan

Civilization, and the city had at least 35,000 residents. Mohenjo-Daro means mound of the dead.The city was approximately one square mile in size. In 1922-1927 large scale excavations at Mohenjo-daro werecarried out by R. D. Banarjee and continued by M. S. Vats and K. N. Dikshit under the direction of Sir John Marshall.E. J. H. MacKay carried out further excavations from 1927 to1931. Sir Mortimer Wheeler made small excavationsin1950.As a result of this extensive work almost one-third of the area of the old city was exposed, revealing for the first timethe remains of one of the most ancient civilizations in the Indus Valley. Typical of most large and planned cities,Mohenjo-daro had planned city streets and buildings. The settlement was thought to house roughly 5,000 people,and had houses, a granary, baths, assembly halls and towers.Mohenjo-Daro largest city of the Indus CivilizationThe site of Mohenjo-Daro (also Moenjo-daro, latitude 27 degrees, 25 minutes north, longitude 67 degrees 35 minuteseast), in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan, is the largest and most extensively excavated Indus city in Pakistan.Mohenjo-Daro It was built around 2600 BC, and was abandoned around 1700 BC, probably due to a change of course of the river which supported the civilization.Mohenjo-Daro The high western mound is generally referred to as the citadel mound, but it is subdivided intoseveral sectors.The city was divided into two parts, the Citadel included an elaborate tank or bath created with fine quality brickworkand drains; this was surrounded by a verandah. Also located here was a giant granary, a large residential structure,and at least two aisled assembly halls. To the east of the citadel was the lower city, laid out in a grid pattern. Thestreets were straight, and were drained to keep the area sanitary. The people of the city used very little stone in their construction. They used two types of bricks- mud bricks, and wood bricks, which were created by burning wood.They used timber to create the flat roofs of their buildings; there are brick stairways leading to the roofs of manyhouses. Some houses were small, and others were larger with interior courtyards. Most had small bathrooms.

Potters kilns, dyers vats, as well as metalworking, bead making, and shell-working shops have all been discovered.The people were good at irrigation and flood control. However, when the Indus River changed its course around 3700years ago, the civilization died.All Indus valley sites including Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, were built according to a grid pattern plan. Each city hadbroad parallel streets which crossed each other to divide the city into compact rectangular blocks, and had anadvanced and extensive drainage system. In addition to its numerous other achievements Mohenjo-daro and other Indus sites made extensive use of baked brick (unlike the sun-dried brick typical of Mesopotamian civilization), whichgave greater durability to all of its buildings.Mohenjo-Daro Mohenjo-daro is about 400 miles away from HarappaThe site of Mohenjo-Daro (also Moenjo-daro, latitude 27 degrees, 25 minutes north, longitude 67 degrees 35 minuteseast), in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan, is the largest and most extensively excavated Indus city in Pakistan.

It was rediscovered in the 1920s by Sir John Marshalls archaeologists. The language of the Indus Civilization has yet to be deciphered.

Defensively Mohenjo-daro was a well-fortified city. Though it did not have city walls it did have towers to the west of the main settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south. These fortifications taken into consideration, as well asa comparison to the Harappa ruins to the northeast, lead to the question of whether Mohenjo-daro was anadministrative center. Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same architectural layout (Harappa is lesswell preserved due to early site defilement), and were generally not heavily fortified like other Indus Valley sites. It isobvious from the identical city layouts of all Indus sites, that there was some kind of political or administrative


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centrality, however the extent and functioning (and even the placement and type) of an administrative center remainsrelativelyThe site covers an area of over 250 hectares, representing various phases of urban growth and reorganization. TheIndus river is currently situated to the east of the site, but in antiquity it may have been on the west and one channelof the river cuts through the site dividing the so-called citadel mound from the lower town.Source: http://www.heritage.com.pk/travel-guide/sindh/mohenjo-daro/

Dholavira

Excavations

The ancient site at Dholavira, is flanked by two storm water channels; the Mansar in the north, and the Manhar in the

south. Excavation was initiated in 1989 by the Archaeological Survey of India under the direction of R. S. Bisht. The

excavation brought to light the sophisticated urban planning and architecture, and unearthed large numbers of

antiquities such as seals, beads, animal bones, gold, silver, terracotta ornaments and vessels linked to Mesopotamia .

Archaeologists believe that Dholavira was an important centre of trade between settlements in

south Gujarat , Sindh and Punjab and Western Asia. [4]

[edit ]Architecture and material culture

Estimated to be older than the port-city of Lothal , the city of Dholavira has a rectangular shape and organization, and

is spread over 100 hectares. The area measures 771.10 metres in length, and 616.85 metres in width.

Like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro , the city is composed to a pre-existing geometrical plan, of three divisions -

the citadel , the middle town and the lower town. The acropolis and the middle town had been further furnished with

their own defence-work, gateways, built-up areas, street system, wells and large open spaces. The acropolis is the

most carefully guarded as well as impressive and imposing complex in the city of which it appropriates the major

portion of the southwestern zone. The towering "castle" stands majestically in fair insulation and defended by double

ramparts. Next to this stands a place called 'bailey' where important officials lived. The city within the general

fortification accounts for 48 hectares. There are extensive structure-bearing areas though outside yet intimately

integral to the fortified settlement. Beyond the walls, yet another settlement has been found. The most striking feature

of the city is that all of its buildings, at least in their present state of preservation, are built out of stone, whereas most

other Harappan sites, including Harappa itself and Mohenjo-daro, are almost exclusively built out of brick. [5]

[edit ]Reservoirs
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Dholavira Sophisticated Water Reservoir

One of the unique features of Dholavira is the sophisticated water conservation system of channels and reservoirs,

the earliest found anywhere in the world and completely built out of stone, of which three are exposed. They were

used for storing the fresh water brought by rains or to store the water diverted from a nearby rivulet. This probably

came in wake of the desert climate and conditions of Kutch, where several years may pass without rainfall.

The inhabitants of Dholavira created sixteen or more reservoirs of varying size during Stage III. Some of these took

advantage of the slope of the ground within the large settlement, a drop of 13 m from northeast to northwest. Other

reservoirs were excavated, some into living rock. Recent work has revealed two large reservoirs, one to the east of

the castle and one to its south, near the Annexe .[6]

Reservoirs are cut through stones vertically. They are about 7 meter deep and 79 meter long. Reservoirs skirted the

city while citadel and bath are centrally located on raised ground .[7] A large well with a stone-cut trough to connect the

drain meant for conducting water to a storage tank also found .[7] Bathing tank had steps descending inwards.

[edit ]Other structures and objects

A huge circular structure, believed to be grave or memorial is found. However no skeleton or human remains found

under structure. The circular structure is built with ten radial walls of mud bricks in a shape of spoked wheel. [7] A soft

sandstone sculpture of a male with phallus erectus but head and feet below ankle truncated was found in the

passage way of the eastern gate. [7] Also many funerary structures are found, however except one they were devoid of

skeletons. Also many pottery pieces, terracotta seals, bangles, rings, beads and intaglio engraving found.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dholavira

Lothal

History

Before the arrival of Harappan people (c. 2400 BCE), Lothal was a small village next to the river providing access to

the mainland from the Gulf of Khambhat . The indigenous peoples maintained a prosperous economy, attested by the

discovery of copper objects, beads and semi-precious stones. Ceramic wares were of fine clay and

smooth, micaceous red surface. A new technique of firing pottery under partly-oxidizing and reducing conditions was

improved by themdesignated black-and-red ware, to the micaceous Red Ware. Harappans were attracted to Lothal

for its sheltered harbor, rich cotton and rice-growing environment and bead-making industry. The beads and gems of

Lothal were in great demand in the west. The settlers lived peacefully with the Red Ware people, who adopted their

lifestyleevidenced from the flourishing trade and changing working techniquesHarappans began producing the

indigenous ceramic goods, adopting the manner from the natives .[6]
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[edit ]Town planning

A flood destroyed village foundations and settlements (c. 2350 BCE). Harappans based around Lothal and from

Sindh took this opportunity to expand their settlement and create a planned township on the lines of greater cities in

the Indus valley. [7] Lothal planners engaged themselves to protect the area from consistent floods. The town was

divided into blocks of 12-meter-high (36 ft) platforms of sun-dried bricks, each serving 2030 houses of thick mud

and brick walls. The city was divided into a citadel , or acropolis and a lower town. The rulers of the town lived in the

acropolis, which featured paved baths , underground and surface drains (built of kiln-fired bricks) and a potable water

well. The lower town was subdivided into two sectors the north-south arterial street was the main commercial area

flanked by shops of rich and ordinary merchants and craftsmen. The residential area was located to either side of

the marketplace. The lower town was also periodically enlarged during Lothal's years of prosperity.

Lothal engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard and a warehouse to serve the purposes of naval

trade. While the consensus view amongst archaeologists identifies this structure as a "dockyard," it has also been

suggested that owing to small dimensions, this basin may have been an irrigation tank and canal. [3] The dock was

built on the eastern flank of the town, and is regarded by archaeologists as an engineering feat of the highest order. It

was located away from the main current of the river to avoid silting , but provided access to ships in high tide as well.

The warehouse was built close to the acropolis on a 3.5-meter-high (10.5 ft) podium of mud bricks. The rulers could

thus supervise the activity on the dock and warehouse simultaneously. Facilitating the movement of cargo was a

mud-brick wharf , 220 metres (720 ft) long, built on the western arm of the dock, with a ramp leading to the

warehouse .[8] There was an important public building opposite to the warehouse whose superstructure has completely

disappeared. Throughout their time, the city had to brace itself through multiple floods and storms. Dock and city

peripheral walls were maintained efficiently. The town's zealous rebuilding ensured the growth and prosperity of the

trade. However, with rising prosperity, Lothal's people failed to upkeep their walls and dock facilities, possibly as a

result of over-confidence in their systems. A flood of moderate intensity in 2050 BCE exposed some serious

weaknesses in the structure, but the problems were not addressed properly. [9]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothal

Rakhigarhi

Located near Jind and Narnaul in Haryanas Hissar district, Rakhigarhi is a site where excavation is stillin progress, showing promise of adding a new dimension to Harappan civilization. Its significance liesin its sheer size and strategic location on the banks of the now dry river Drishdwati, a tributary of thelegendary Saraswati, believed to be as large as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa. Civilizations in Rakhigarhiare understood to have flourished right through the early, mature and late stages of the Harappanculture. The discovery of Hakra Ware artifacts belonging to the pre-Indus Valley period has raisedquestions on the period of the civilization, pushing it back to perhaps 3500 BC. The layout of the urbansettlements, the drainage system and the artifacts that have so far been discovered are similar to thediscoveries at other Indus Valley sites. Copper fishing hooks and fishing nets at the site indicate a riverin the vicinity, and are leading historians to believe that the Indus Valley Civilization was closely linked
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to the Vedic civilization. The Rakhigarhi site showcases a well planned settlement with wide roads,large sacrificial pits, brick lined drains, terracotta figurines, combs, needles and bronze vessels. Aburial site is another interesting find, with 11 skeletons facing north. The female skeletons are distinctby their shell bangles, with a gold armlet and semi precious stones lying near the head.

Source: http://www.studentexcursion.org/indus-valley-civilization.html

Architecture and Town Planning

If by 'urban' we mean the tendency to form society, founding citieswith all their attendant rules, then the Harappan people succeededadmirably. Excavations show a degree of urban planning which theRomans achieved only later, after a gap of 2500 years.

The twin cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa formed the hub of the

civilization. They are representative in the sense that planningprinciples employed here are followed practically without change atall other sites. Both cities were a mile square, with defensive outerwalls. An orthogonal street layout was oriented toward the cardinaldirections. The street layout shows an understanding of the basic principles of traffic, with roundedcorners to allow the turning of carts easily. These streets divided the city into 12 blocks. Except for thewest-central blocks, the basic unit of city planning was the individual house.

The Harappan house is an amazing example of a native people, without the benefit of technology,adapting to local conditions and intuitively producing an architecture eminently suited to the climate.

The house was planned as a series of rooms opening on to a central courtyard. This courtyard servedthe multiple functions of lighting the rooms, acting as a heat absorber in summer and radiator inwinter, as well as providing an open space inside for community activities. There were no openingstoward the main street, thus ensuring privacy for the residents. In fact, the only openings in thehouses are rather small - this prevented the hot summer sun heating the insides of the houses.

An advanced drainage system is also in evidence. Drains started from the bathrooms of the housesand joined the main sewer in the street, which was covered by brick slabs or corbelled brick arches,depending on its width.

In most of the sites, the central-western blocks were reserved for publicarchitecture. Perhaps the most famous examples are the Great Bath and Granary at Mohenjo-daro. TheGreat Bath has been the subject of much debate over its exact function. The prevalent view seems tobe that it was used for ritualistic bathing - much as continues in the Hindu tradition even today.
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It is unfortunate that none of the structures of the Indus Valley civilizationsurvive intact today. Unlike Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Harappan people left nothing monumental,like the pyramids or ziggurats, for posterity to marvel at. This may be the reason that among themajority of books on architecture, the Harappan Culture hardly merits a note. However, the planningprinciples and response of the architecture to climate are a lesson to us all.

Duration: 3300 BC to 1700 BC

Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization that thrived in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys, now inPakistan, along with the northwestern parts of India, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The civilization, which is alsoknown as Harappan Civilization, lasted from 3300 BC to 1700 BC. The discovery of the Ancient Indus River ValleyCivilization was made, when the Harappan city, the first city of Indus Valley, was excavated.

DiscoveryThe first description of the ruins of Harappa is found in the Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistanand Punjab of Charles Masson. It dates back to the period of 1826 to 1838. In 1857, the British engineersaccidentally used bricks from the Harappa ruins for building the East Indian Railway line between Karachi andLahore. In the year 1912, J. Fleet discovered Harappan seals. This incident led to an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921-1922. The result of the excavation was discovery of Harappa by Sir John Marshall, RaiBahadur Daya Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats and Mohenjodaro by Rakhal Das Banerjee, E. J. H. MacKay, andSir John Marshall.

Further ExcavationsEven though most of the Mohenjodaro city had been unearthed by 1931, the excavation campaigns continued to beundertaken. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the then director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), led one suchcampaign in 1944. After the partition of India in 1947, the area of the Indus Valley Civilization was divided betweenIndia and Pakistan. In 1949, Sir Mortimer Wheeler conducted excavations as the Archaeological Adviser to theGovernment of Pakistan. The nextthree decades were full of discoveries of the remnants of civilization.

GeographyThe Ancient Indus River Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat and from the east of the river Jhelum to Rupar. Some time back, a number of sites were also discovered in Pakistan's NW Frontier Province.Harappan Civilization covered most of Pakistan, along with the western states of India. Even though most of the siteshave been found on the river embankments, some have been excavated from the ancient seacoast and islands aswell. As per some archaeologists, the number of Harappan sites, unearthed along the dried up river beds of the

Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries, is around 500. Apart from that, those along the Indus and its tributaries areapproximately 100 in number.

PhasesThe three main phases of the Indus Valley Civilization are:

Early Harappan (Integration Era)

Mature Harappan (Localization Era)


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Late Harappan (Regionalization Era)

Early Harappan PhaseThe Early Harappan Phase lasted from 3300 BC to 2800 BC. It is related to the Hakra Phase, identified in theGhaggar-Hakra River Valley. The earliest examples of the Indus script date back to 3000 BC. This phase standscharacterized by centralized authority and an increasingly urban quality of life. Trade networks had been establishedand there was also domestication of crops. Peas, sesame seeds, dates, cotton, etc, were grown during that time. KotDiji represents the phase leading up to Mature Harappan Phase.

Mature Harappan PhaseBy 2600 BC, Indus Valley Civilization had entered into a mature stage. The early Harappan communities were turninginto large urban centers, like Harappa and Mohenjodaro in Pakistan and Lothal in India. The concept of irrigation hadalso been introduced. The following features of the Mature Phase were more prominent:

CitiesApproximately 1052 cities and settlements belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization have been excavated till date,mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar and Indus Rivers and their tributaries. The artifacts discovered in thesecities suggest a sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture. The concept of urban planning is alsowidely evident. There is also the existence of the first urban sanitation systems in the world. the sewerage and

drainage system found in the each and every city of Indus Valley comes across as even more efficient than those insome areas of Pakistan and India today.

Dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective walls have been found in almost all the cities of theIndus Valley Civilization. The evidence suggests that most city dwellers were traders or artisans, who lived withothers belonging to the same occupation in well-defined neighborhoods. Social equality seems to be widely prevalentin the cities of Indus Valley, though there are some houses that are bigger than the others.

ScienceThe people of Indus Valley are believed to be amongst the first to develop a system of uniform weights andmeasures. Their smallest division was approximately 1.704 mm. Decimal division of measurement was used for allpractical purposes. The brick weights were in a perfect ratio of 4:2:1. The numerous inventions of the Indus River Valley Civilization include an instrument used for measuring whole sections of the horizon and the tidal dock. The

people of Harappa evolved new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tin. They also hadthe knowledge of proto-dentistry and the touchstone technique of gold testing.

Arts and CultureVarious sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry and figurines in terracotta, bronze and steatite, etc, have beenexcavated from the sites of the Ancient Indus Valley Civilization. Other crafts that have been unearthed include shellworks, ceramics, agate, glazed steatite bead making, special kind of combs, etc. There is also evidence of seals,toys, games and stringed musical instruments in the Indus Valley.

Trade and TransportationTrade seems to the major occupation of the people of the Harappan Civilization. The main forms of transport includebullock carts and boats. Archaeologists have also discovered an enormous, dredged canal and docking facility at thecoastal city of Lothal. The pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc, of the civilization show great s imilarities with thoseof Central Asia and the Iranian plateau, indicating trade with them. Then, there are signs of maritime trade networkbetween the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations also.

AgricultureThe major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from two-row barley. However, not muchinformation is available on the farmers and their agricultural methods.

Symbol SystemAs many as 400 distinct Indus symbols have been found on seals, ceramic pots and other materials excavated from


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the Indus Valley. Typical Indus inscriptions are, at the most, four or five characters in length and quite small. Thelongest inscription on any object is 26 symbols long. Indus symbols have been found on ritual objects also, many of which were mass-produced.

ReligionThe large number of figurines found in the Indus Valley Civilization suggests that the Harappan people worshipped a

Mother Goddess, who symbolized fertility. Some of the seals of that time also have the swastikas engraved on them.Then, there are some others in which a figure is seated in a yoga-like posture and is surrounded by animals. Thefigure is quite similar to that of Lord Pashupati, the Lord of Creatures.

Late Harappan PhaseThe signs of a gradual decline of the Indus River Valley Civilization are believed to have started around 1800 BC. By1700 BC, most of the cities were abandoned. However, one can see the various element of the Ancient Indus ValleyCivilization in later cultures. Archaeological data indicates the persistence of the Late Harappan culture till 1000-900BC. The major reasons of the decline of the civilization are believed to be connected with climate change. Not onlydid the climate become much cooler and drier than before, but substantial portions of the Ghaggar Hakra river systemalso disappeared.

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Ancient Indus Sites