Running head: THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

The Indus Valley Civilizations

Tiffany Cortes
Salt Lake Community College
Anthropology 1030, World Prehistory
Mrs. Collins
November 27th, 2015

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The Indus Valley Civilization

When people think about early civilizations their minds usually automatically think about
the Egyptians along the Nile River or the Mesopotamians along the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers; however, there was another civilization that grew alongside the two, the Harappan
civilization along the Indus River (Winner, 2012). Similar to the Nile River, the Indus River
flooded annually with rainwater and snowmelt making the plains ideal for farmers (Winner,
2012). The Indus Valley civilization flourished in what is now known as Pakistan and Northwest
India, and the civilization was at its peak between 2500 and 2000 BCE (Violatti, 2013). The city
of Mohenjo-Daro was located on the lower Indus, while the city of Harappa was located further
upstream. There is evidence that the Indus Valley civilizations had contact with the Near East, as
there have been Indus Valley seals that have been dug up in such places as Sumer (Manas,
n.d.).
The Indus Valley civilizations showed no signs of political hierarchy and they showed no
evidence of centralized government. The Indus Valley did not house any palaces, temples,
elaborate graves, kings, or any warrior class that would signify centralized authority. Yet,
somehow defying the odds, the Indus Valley contained a sophisticated civilization without the
central power of a state; they werent ruled by coercive power. To add, there are also no signs of
massive monuments unlike other civilizations of the same time period (Early Civilization,
n.d.). Some thought that they were ruled by priests in small towns; the towns could have
communicated with each other all agreeing to be ruled separately by their local priests. With no
signs of warfare or invasions, no skeletons mutilated and very few weapons excavated, their
downfall could have been because of their impact on the environment. The overusing of their

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resources and deforestation might have forced them to move to another area where they could
use up more resources.
The city of Harappa thrived because it was strategically placed along the banks of the
Indus River. The river would flood and keep their soil fertile for their farming needs. Harappa
flourished around 2600 to 1700 BCE and was settled before what we call the ancient Indus
civilization (The Ancient, n.d.). Just like in the case of Egypt, it could have been that the
Indus River did not flood on schedule and the Harappans were forced to move for food
production. Certain elements of their culture spread throughout the continent because of the
goods that they trade; their economy was based mainly on trade. The city itself was very highly
developed, with houses that had bathrooms, and an underground drainage system. Some
suggested that their drainage systems not only pumped the waste out of their homes, but also
pumped clean water to their homes. Their houses were well planned out, made of bricks, with
well-planned landscapes. It was a very peaceful place, maybe the Harappa simply lived as a
whole as oppose to needing an individual to tell them how to live (Early Civilization, n.d.).
The people of the Indus Valley were also known to domesticate animals and harvested
crops, such as cotton, sesame, peas, and barley (Manas, n.d.). Through osteological
evidence, it does not look like the Indus Valley people had horses because horse remains in the
Indian sub-continent before 2,000 BCE were never found (Manas, n.d.). There was also no
sign of horses with the Harappan seals or terracotta figures. There were a few thousand seals
found at the Indus Valley cities showing some 400 pictographs but that number is too little for
the language to be ideographic and too many for the language to be phonetic (Manas, n.d.).
Harappa had the potential to grow and expand over the years, it became a huge urban center. The
surest reason would possible be that the people of Harappa felt safe and knew that their food

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sources were focused around the river, why would they want to move away from that? The rest
of the plains farther out from the river probably could not grow as much produce as the fertile
lands.
It has been suggested that Harappan civilization gradually decreased instead of being
wiped off the face of the planet; this could have signified that the Harappan people slowly
migrated out of the area. They had the peace that almost no other civilization had, they had what
everyone envied, so why move away? The gradual decline also meant that it was not an invasion
nor war that took them out of their land. Maybe the trade exposed people to other religions and
civilizations that they had more self interest in and maybe the people chose to move away. Then
again, they could have been completely comfortable in their own civilization and were forced to
move away by something other than war. It could have been a shortage in food; as it became
scarce people would have been forced to find other areas, while others stayed behind to try to
continue the population. Unsuccessful, this could have marked the end of the unique civilization.
The people that had to move away in search for food would have had to submit to other rulers,
other empires, other authority figures wherever they were, but they probably spread their beliefs
within the new areas. Although the Harappan civilization might have fallen, like many
civilizations, their culture and influence will go on.

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References
N.d. "Early Civilization in the Indus Valley." Ushistory.org. Retrieved from:
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/8a.asp

N.d. "Manas: History and Politics, Indus Valley." Manas: History and Politics, Indus Valley.
Retrieved from: https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Ancient/Indus2.html

N.d. "The Ancient Indus Civilization." Indus Civilization Introduction. Retrieved from:
http://www.harappa.com/har/indus-saraswati.html

Violatti. 30 Oct 2013. "Indus Valley Civilization." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved
from: http://www.ancient.eu/Indus_Valley_Civilization/

Winner. 24 Aug 2012. "Climate Change Spurred Fall of Ancient Culture." Oceanus Magazine.
Retrieved from: http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/LiviuIndia