Indus River Valley civilizations
Overview
The Indus River Valley Civilization, 3300-1300 BCE, also known as the
Harappan Civilization, extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to
Pakistan and northwest India.
Important innovations of this civilization include standardized weights and
measures, seal carving, and metallurgy with copper, bronze, lead, and tin.
Little is understood about the Indus script, and as a result, little is known
about the Indus River Valley Civilization’s institutions and systems of
governance.
The civilization likely ended due to climate change and migration.
Introduction:
Indus civilization also called Indus valley civilization or Harappan
civilization, the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. The
nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 BCE.
The civilization reached its peak around 2600 BC and it went into decline around
1900 BC.
Excavation:
The civilization was first identified in 1921 at Harappa in the Punjab region
and then in 1922 at Mohenjo-Daro , near the Indus River in the Sindh (Sind)
region by Sir John Marshall. Both sites are in present-day Pakistan,
in Punjab and Sindh provinces, respectively.
Geography:
The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished
in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE.
Phases or Chronology:
Pre-Harappan – c. 7000 - c. 5500 BCE: The Neolithic period best
exemplified by sites like Mehrgarh which shows evidence of agricultural
development, domestication of plants and animals, and production of tools
and ceramics.
Early Harappan – c. 5500-2800 BCE: Trade firmly established with Egypt,
Mesopotamia, and possibly China. Ports, docks, and warehouses built near
waterways by communities living in small villages.
Mature Harappan – c. 2800 - c. 1900 BCE: Construction of the great cities
and widespread urbanization. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are both
flourishing c. 2600 BCE.
Late Harappan – c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE: Decline of the civilization
coinciding with a wave of migration of the Aryan people from the north,
most likely the Iranian Plateau. Physical evidence suggests climate change
which caused flooding, drought, and famine. A loss of trade relations with
Egypt and Mesopotamia has also been suggested as a contributing cause.
Post Harappan – c. 1500 - c. 600 BCE: The cities are abandoned, and the
people have moved south. The civilization has already fallen by the
time Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE) invades India in 530 BCE.
Early Indus Period:
The roots of the Indus Valley civilization can be traced back to the site of
Mehrgarh in Pakistan dated to about 7000 BC. Its origins seem to lie in a
settlement named Mehrgarh in the foothills of a mountain pass in modern-
day Balochistan in western Pakistan. There is evidence of settlement in this
area as early as 7000 BCE.
Important Cities:
Mohenjo-daro is thought to have been built in the twenty-sixth century
BCE; it became not only the largest city of the Indus Valley Civilization but
one of the world’s earliest major urban centers. Located west of the Indus
River in the Larkana District, Mohenjo-daro was one of the most
sophisticated cities of the period, with advanced engineering and urban
planning.
Harappa was a fortified city in modern-day Pakistan that is believed to have
been home to as many as 23,500 residents living in sculpted houses with flat
roofs made of red sand and clay. The city spread over 150 hectares—370
acres—and had fortified administrative and religious centers of the same type
used in Mohenjo-daro.
Prominent Features Of Both Cities:
Both cities had similar organization and featured citadels, central areas in a
city that were heavily fortified—protected with defensive military structures.
Additionally, both cities were situated along the Indus River. This structure
would have allowed those at the higher levels of the buildings in either city to
look down the river and see into the distance.
Infrastructure:
The remains of the Indus Valley Civilization cities indicate remarkable
organization; there were well-ordered wastewater drainage and trash
collection systems and possibly even public baths and granaries, which are
storehouses for grain. Most city-dwellers were artisans and merchants
grouped together in distinct neighborhoods. The quality of urban planning
suggests efficient municipal governments that placed a high priority on
hygiene or religious ritual.
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 deterred military
conflicts. Unlike Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, the inhabitants of the
Indus Valley Civilization did not build large, monumental structures. There is
no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples—or even of kings, armies, or
priests—and the largest structures may be granaries. The city of Mohenjo-
daro contains the Great Bath, which may have been a large, public bathing
and social area.
Mature Indus Period:
The Mature Harappan phase was the cultural high point, a time by which
communities had grown into well-functioning, enormous urban centers. Many
more artistic artifacts—such as ceramics, sculptures, seals, and jewelry—have
been excavated from this time than from some civilizations that began centuries
after its decline.
Seals:
Harappans are known for seal carving— the cutting of patterns into the
bottom face of a seal, a small, carved object used for stamping. They used
these distinctive seals for the identification of property and to stamp clay on
trade goods. Seals—decorated with animal figures, such as elephants, tigers,
and water buffalos—have been one of the most commonly discovered
artifacts in Indus Valley cities.
Metallurgy:
The Indus River Valley Civilization is considered a Bronze Age society;
inhabitants of the ancient Indus River Valley developed new techniques
in metallurgy—the science of working with copper, bronze, lead, and tin.
Harappans also performed intricate handicraft using products made of the
semi-precious gemstone Carnelian.
Trade:
Evidence shows Harappans participated in a vast maritime—sea—trade
network extending from Central Asia to the Middle East. The civilization's
economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was
facilitated by major advances in transport technology.
Trade Channels;
The Harappan Civilization may have been the first to use wheeled transport,
in the form of oxcarts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia
today. It also appears they built boats.
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.
Religion:
The Harappan religion also remains a topic of speculation. It has been widely
suggested that the Harappans worshipped a mother goddess who symbolized
fertility. In contrast to Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, the Indus Valley Civilization
seems to have lacked any temples or palaces that would give clear evidence of religious rites or
specific deities. Some Indus Valley seals show a swastika symbol, which was included in later
Indian religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Late Harrapan Phase:
Decline
The Indus Valley Civilization declined around 1800 BCE, and scholars
debate which factors resulted in the civilization’s demise.
Aryaan Invasion:
One theory suggested that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe called the Aryans
invaded and conquered the Indus Valley Civilization, though more recent
evidence tends to contradict this claim.
Climatic Change:
Many scholars believe that the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization was
caused by climate change. Some experts believe the drying of the Saraswati
River, which began around 1900 BCE, was the main cause for climate
change, while others conclude that a great flood struck the area.
Various elements of the Indus Civilization are found in later cultures,
suggesting the civilization did not disappear suddenly due to an invasion.
Many scholars argue that changes in river patterns caused the large
civilization to break up into smaller communities called late Harappan
cultures.
