Indus Valley Civilization

A List of NOs

• NO monumental paintings

• NO evidence of social status reflected in architecture

• NO solid information on government• City States?• Uniform Empire?• Egalitarian Society?

• NO way to read their language

• NO firm ideas on their religion

• NO idea what happened to them

What We Have

• Archaeological study began in the 1920s

• Some Seals

• Some Sculpture

• Some Pottery

• Some People

• Cultural Legacy and Connections to Other Civilizations

• You will see what I am talking about in a few minutes

Indus Valley Civilization2500 B.C.- 1500 B.C.

• 2 Major cities

• Harappa

• Mohenjo-Daro

• Carefully planned with uniform architecture

What could this tell you about their government?

Archaeological Finds

• What does the urban pattern tell you about the civilization?

• The Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro

• Probably used for ritual bathing

• Practice maintained in the region

• Remind you of anything we have looked at before?

Venus of Willendorf

Indus Valley Civilization Seals• Glyphic art and Seals

• Compare/contrast to Mesopotamian glyphic cylinder seals

What is this guy doing?

The Bearded Man

• Compare/contrast with Sumerian

Harappa Torso• Prana (“Force of Life”)

• Sense that the image is filled with breath

• Common in later Indian art and Hindu faith

The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro• Bronze

• c. 2500 BCE

• Why is this unique for the time period?

Remember Contrapposto

• Remember Contrapposto a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot

• shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs

This is from c. 450 BCEThis is from

c. 2500 BCE

Indus Valley Civilization

• Most people were peasant farmers

• Polytheistic, with sacred animals

• May have developed some form of monotheistic belief system

Indus Valley Civilization

• Why? (Around 1500 BC)

• Volcano?

• Earthquake?

• Climate change?

• Aryan Invasion?

We really don’t know

Aryan Society

• People are divided into 3 main groups

1. Brahmins (priests)

2. Warriors (Kshatriya)

3. Merchants, hearders (Vaisya)

• Sudras – Non-Aryan, mostly peasants, artisans, and laborers

• Pariahs (outcasts, untouchables) – not considered part of the class system, considered subhuman,

Aryan Society

• Caste System – social grouping – people are born into it, cannot change

• Varna

Aryan Society

• As The Aryan culture and the Indus River valley culture mixed, a new Indian culture emerged.