Indus valley civilization

Harappa
Mohenjo-Daro
Indus Valley
 The Harappan culture existed along the
Indus River in what is present day
Pakistan.
 It was named after the city of Harappa.
Harappa and the city of Mohenjo-Daro
were important centers of the Indus valley
civilization.
 This Indus Valley “civilization” flourished
around 4000-1000 B.C.
Old World Civilizations
Comparative Timeline
INDIA
Chronology
Ancient Indus Chronology

Period Phase Yrs. (B.C.E.)

5 Late Harappan (Cemetery H) ?1700-1300

4 Harappan/Late Harappan Transitional 1900-?1700

3C Harappan Phase c. 2200-1900

3B Harappan Phase c. 2450-2200

3A Harappan Phase c.2600-2450

2 Early Harappan/Kot Diji Phase c. 2800-2600

1A/B Early Harappan/Ravi Phase c. 3300-2800

Earliest Phase-Ravi (3300-2800 B.C.)
Early Harappan-Ravi Phase
3300-2800 BC
 This distinctive, regional culture which emerged
is called Early or Pre-Harappan.
 Trade networks linked this culture with related
regional cultures and distant sources of raw
materials, including lapis lazuli and other
materials for bead-making.
 Domesticated crops included peas, sesame seeds,
dates and cotton.
 Domestic animals also used, such as the water
buffalo.
 Mud brick for building.
Indus valley - Integration Era
Indus valley -Integration Era
2600-1900 BC
 By 2500 BC, communities had been turned into
urban centers (integration).
 Six such urban centers have been discovered,
including: Harappa, Mohenjo Daro and Dicki in
Pakistan, along with Gonorreala, Dokalingam and
Mangalore in India.
 In total, over 1052 cities and settlements have
been found, mainly in the general region of the
Ghaggar-Florence River and its tributaries.
 Irrigation used to increase crop production and
mud brick structures.
Late Harappan - Cemetery H
(1700-1300 BC)
Late Harappan-Cemetery H
1700-1300 BC
 Cremation of human remains. The bones were
stored in painted pottery burial urns. This is
completely different to the Indus civilization
where bodies were buried in wooden coffins.
 Reddish pottery, painted in black with antelopes,
peacocks etc., sun or star motifs, with different
surface treatments to the earlier period.
 Expansion of settlements into the east.
 Rice became a main crop.
 Apparent breakdown of the widespread trade of
the Indus civilization, with materials such as
marine shells no longer used.
 Continued use of mud brick for building.
Natural Resources
 The Indus Valley contained numerous
natural resources that were an important
part of Harappan civilization.
 Resources included:
 Fresh water and timber.
 Materials such as gold, silver, semi-precious
stones.
 Marine resources.
 Himalayan Mountains
 Nanga Parbat and
numerous other
mountains of the
Himalaya,
Karakorum and
Hindu Kush provide a
continuous source of
water for the Indus
and its tributaries.
 These mountain
ranges also provided
important timber,
animal products, and
minerals, gold,
silver, tin and
semiprecious stones
that were traded
throughout the Indus
Valley.
Valleys
 Cedar in Chitral valley
is still used to make
houses and coffins,
following a tradition
that dates back to the
first Indus cities.
 Beyond the
mountains in the
background is the
region of
Badakhshan,
Afghanistan, a
source of the deep
blue lapis lazuli.
 This was mined
during the Indus
period and traded
throughout the Indus
Valley and to far off
Mesopotamia and
Egypt.
Coast
 The coast of Sindh
and Makran have
bays and ancient
Harappan sites
have been located
along the coast to
the border of
modern Iran.
 These coastal
settlements were
involved in fishing
and trading, using
the monsoon winds
to travel back and
forth to Oman and
the Persian Gulf
region.
 Major Cities
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
Major Cities: Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa
 The cities are well known for their
impressive, organized and regular layout.
 They have well laid our plumbing and
drainage system, including indoor toilets.
 Over one thousand other towns and
villages also existed in this region.
 one situated in the north
 one situated in the south
Cities
The similarities in plan and construction between
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa indicate that they
were part of a unified government with extreme
organization.
 Both cities were constructed of the same type and shape
of bricks.
 The two cities may have existed simultaneously and
their sizes suggest that they served as capitals of their
provinces.
 In contrast to other civilizations, burials found from
these cities are not elaborate; they are more simplistic
and contain few material goods.
 Remains of palaces or temples in the cities have not
been found.
 No hard evidence exists indicating military activity,
though the cities did contain fortifications and artifacts
such as copper and bronze knives, spears, and
arrowheads were recovered.
Harappan society and its neighbors,
2000 B.C.

HARAPPA
Foundations of Harappan Society
 The Indus River
 Silt-enriched water from mountain ranges
 Major society built by Dravidian peoples,
3000-2500 BCE
 Cultivation of cotton before 5000 BCE, early
cultivation of poultry
 Decline after 1900 BCE
 Major cities: Harrapa (Punjab region and
Mohenjo-Daro (mouth of Indus River)
 70 smaller sites excavated (total 1,500)
Harappa
 The high mound at Harappa (Mound AB) is surrounded by a massive
mud brick city wall with large square ramparts.
 One of these eroding ramparts is visible through the underbrush that
now covers the site. The flags mark the tomb of a Muslim saint.
Harappa Site
Granary
 The "granary" of Harappa is found on Mound F.
 It is a brick structure that was built on a massive brick foundation over 45 meters
north-south and 45 meters east-west.
 Two rows of six rooms that appear to be foundations are arranged along a central
passageway that is about 7 meters wide and partly paved with baked bricks.
 Each room measures 15.2 by 6.1 meters and has three sleeper walls with air space
between them.
Well
 A large public well and public bathing platforms were found
in the southern part of Mound AB at Harappa.
 These public bathing areas may also have been used for
washing clothes as is common in many traditional cities in
Pakistan and India today.
Harappa: Mound E and ET
 Inside the city is an area that has been identified as a crafts
quarter.
 Large quantities of manufacturing debris have been found
in this area indicating the presence of workshops for
making stone beads, shell ornaments, glazed faience
ornaments, stone tools and possibly even gold working.
Mound E Gateway Artists Conception
by Chris Sloan
Harappan Culture
 Indus valley
 not desert
 well-watered and heavily forested
 500 miles along the river valley
 10-20 times larger than Mesopotamia or Egypt
Harappan culture sites
Hydraulic Culture
 like Egypt and Mesopotamia
 agriculture and flood-control
 significant industry and trade
 cities very common

Lack of Sources
 literate culture
 we cannot read the writing
 writing on bricks and seals
 did not use paper or clay tablets
Language
 The Indus (or Harappan) people used a pictographic script.
 Some 3500 specimens of this script survive in stamp seals
carved in stone, in molded terracotta and faience amulets,
in fragments of pottery, and in a few other categories of
inscribed objects.
 In addition to the pictographic signs, the seals and amulets
often contain iconographic motifs, mostly realistic pictures
of animals apparently worshipped as sacred, and a few
cultic scenes, including anthropomorphic deities and
worshippers.
 This material is important to the investigation of the
Harappan language and religion, which continue to be
major issues.
The origins of Indus writing
 The origins of Indus writing can now be traced to the Ravi
Phase (c. 3300-2800 BC) at Harappa.
 Some inscriptions were made on the bottom of the pottery
before firing.
 This inscription (c. 3300 BC) appears to be three plant
symbols.
Ancient Indus
Seals

Silver Seal Clay Seals

molded terra-cotta tablet

Economy-Trade
 The Harappan civilization was mainly
urban and mercantile.
 Inhabitants of the Indus valley traded with
Mesopotamia, southern India,
Afghanistan, and Persia for gold, silver,
copper, and turquoise.

CUBICAL WEIGHTS
Economy-Agriculture
 The Mesopotamian model of irrigated
agriculture was used to take advantage of
the fertile grounds along the Indus River.
 Earthen walls were built to control the
river's annual flooding. Crops grown
included wheat, barley, peas, melons, and
sesame.
 This civilization was the first to cultivate
cotton for the production of cloth. Several
animals were domesticated including the
elephant which was used for its ivory.
Terraced Fields
Harappan Astronomy
 Although the translation of the Harappan script is
still not complete, there are numerous indications
that Harappans were well versed in astronomy.
 The straight streets of the Indus cities are oriented
towards the cardinal directions.
 Astronomical evidence dates the compilation of the
Vedic calendar at around the 23rd century B.C.,
when the Indus civilization flourished.
 Like other urban civilizations, it undoubtedly
needed a calendar that adjusted to the lunar and
solar transitions.
 The Pleiades hold a prominent place as the mothers or wet
nurses of the newborn infant in one of the most ancient and
central Hindu myths, that of the birth of the war-god
Rudra/Skanda.
 The Pleiades are said to have been the wives of the seven
sages, who are identified with the seven stars of the Great
Bear.
 The Great Bear's name ('seven-star‘) corresponds to the
combination of the pictograms '7' + 'fish', which alone
constitutes the entire text of one finely carved Indus seal.
 Another myth states that the six Pleiades were separated from
their husbands on account of their infidelity; other texts specify
that only one of the seven wives, Arundhati, remained faithful
and was allowed to stay with her husband:
 she is the small star Alcor in the Great Bear and pointed to as a
symbol of marital virtue of the bride in Vedic marriage ceremonies.
“Unicorn”
 This unicorn seal was also
discovered during the late
1927-31 excavations at
Mohenjo-Daro.
 One theory holds that the
bull actually has two horns,
but that these have been
stylized to one because of
the complexity of depicting
three dimensions.
 However the manufacturing
and design process behind
seals was so sophisticated
that the depiction of three
dimensions might not
necessarily have been a
problem.
Artifacts
 These egg shaped whistles may have been used for music,
a tradition that is still present in rural areas of Pakistan and
India.
Clay Sculpture
Figurines
Ceramics
Copper
 Copper plate with vertical sides.
Ornaments
 This collection of gold and agate ornaments (see
next slide) includes objects found at both
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
 At the top are fillets of hammered gold that
would have been worn around the forehead.
 The other ornaments include bangles, chokers,
long pendant necklaces, rings, earrings, conical
hair ornaments, and broaches.
 These ornaments were never buried with the
dead, but were passed on from one generation to
the next.
 These ornaments were hidden under the floors in
the homes of wealthy merchants or goldsmiths.
Ornaments
 Necklace from
Mohenjo-Daro made
from gold, agate,
jasper, steatite and
green stone.
 The gold beads are
hollow and the
pendant agate and
jasper beads are
attached with thick
gold wire.
 Steatite beads with
gold caps serve to
separate each of the
pendant beads.
Burial
 The body was placed inside a wooden coffin (which later decayed)
and entombed in a rectangular pit surrounded with burial offerings
in pottery vessels.
 The man was buried wearing a necklace of 340 graduated steatite
beads and three separate pendant beads made of natural stone and
three gold beads. A single copper bead was found at his waist.
Burial
 Burial of woman and infant, Harappa.
 This burial was disturbed in antiquity, possibly by ancient
Harappan grave robbers.
 Besides the fact that the body is flipped and the pottery disturbed,
the left arm of the woman is broken and shell bangles that would
normally be found on the left arm are missing.
 The infant was buried in a small pit beneath the legs of the
mother.
Collapse of Harappan Civilization
 The de-urbanization period of the
Harappan Civilization saw the collapse and
disappearance of the urban phenomena in
the South Asia.
 The theme for this period is localization.
 Architectural and ceramic forms changed
along with the loss of writing, planned
settlements, public sanitation,
monumental architecture, seaborne and
exotic trade, seals, and weights.
Four Theories of Collapse
 Archaeologists have offered four explanations for
the collapse of the Harappan “Civilization”.
 Three are based on ecological factors: intense
flooding, decrease in precipitation, and the
dessication of the Sarasvati River.
 The fourth hypothesis is that of the Aryan
Invasion, proposed by Sir R. E. Mortimer Wheeler
and Stuart Piggott.
 Image in text of “massacre” thought to support this
hypothesis. Later interpreted as “peaceful” mass burial.
 Fourth largely abandoned in the 1940s in favor of
a combination of factors from ecological
disasters.
Civilization?
 Criticism of calling it a civilization because
even though the culture is fairly
homogenous, there is a lack of elite (such
as high status burials).
 Thus, some researchers argue that it was
actually more of a chiefdom, rather than a
state-level society.
Reasonable generalizations
 rapid development: early 2,000s B.C.
 roughly contemporary with Egypt and
Mesopotamia
 early village culture
 changing rapidly to urban civilization
 cities dominated both economic and
political activity
 origins of the people are unclear
 similar to the Mediterranean type
 “Unicorn” seal + writing

More seals….
Seated “yogi” : early Shiva?
Mohenjo-Daro Ruins
 Population c. 40,000
 Regional center
 Layout, architecture suggests public purpose
 Broad streets, citadel, pool, sewage
 Standardized weights evident throughout region
 Specialized labor
 Trade
Architecture, con’t
 planned economy
 large grain storage facilities near temples
 a theocracy ??
 Covered drains & sewers
 Wide streets
 wells
Monumental architecture
 very-large scale building
 walled cites, with fortified citadels
 always on the same scale
 palaces, temples
Cities
 very densely populated
 houses: two to three stories
 every house is laid out the same
 Grid map of
Mohenjo-Daro

 uniform culture
over a wide
area
 cities built on a
common plan
 a grid: always
NS and EW
axes
 with twelve
smaller grids
 kiln-dried brick
PLAN OF HOUSES
ROAD LAYOUT
Mohenjo-Daro : aerial view
View from Stupa towards Great Bath, Mohenjo-Daro
Mohenjo-Daro view
of the “Citadel”
Mohenjo-Daro - Buddhist period stupa
 This shows the high western mound made up of a massive
mud brick platform and brick houses of the Harappan
period ( 2600 to 1900 B. C.).
 On top of the Harappan structures is a Buddhist period
stupa made of mud brick that dates to the first century
A.D.
Mohenjo-Daro, Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan
Buddhist Stupa View, Mohenjo-Daro
Ancient Indus Street, Mohenjo-Daro
Streets
 At Mohenjo-Daro
narrow streets and
alleyways are off of
the major streets,
leading into more
private
neighborhoods.
 Many of the brick
houses were two
stories high, with
thick walls and high
ceilings to keep the
rooms cool in the
hot summer
months.
Guess it ?
looks like a small tower, but
actually it is a neighborhood well
Wells
 Private wells were
rebuilt over many
generations for
large households
and neighborhoods.
 This well in DK G
area at Mohenjo-
daro stands like a
chimney because all
of the surrounding
earth has been
removed by
excavation.
A public well in Harappa, or perhaps an
ancient laundromat...
The Great Bath, Mohenjo-Daro
The Great Bath
 The "great bath" is the earliest public water tank.
 The tank measures approximately 12 meters north-south and
7 meters wide, with a maximum depth of 2.4 meters.
 Two staircases lead down into the tank from the north and
south and small sockets at the edges of the stairs are thought
to have held wooden planks or treads.
 At the foot of the stairs is a small ledge with a brick
edging that extends the entire width of the pool.
A bathroom on a private residence
Mohenjo-Daro with Covered Drain
A large drain or sewer
Harappan granary
Culture and Society
 advanced agriculture
 surplus production
 textiles: wool and cotton
 domesticated animals and fish
Bronze Age technology
 no swords
 spears and bows
 stone arrow heads
Society
 dominated by priests ?
 from the fortified palaces and temples ?
 power base: fertility ?
 deities: male and female, both nude
 bull worship and phallic symbols

A priest? A bull
Trade
 lower with Mesopotamia
 but gradually declined
Ornaments

The central ornament worn on

the forehead of the famous
Gold Disc "priest-king" sculpture from
Mohenjo-daro appears to
represent an eye bead, possibly
made of gold with steatite inlay
in the center.
Ornaments
Decline
 domination of an indigenous people ?
 who rebelled ?
 foreign invasion?
 gradual decline ?
Combination of Changes
 climate shift: the monsoon patterns
 flooding
 destruction of the forests
 migrations of new peoples: the Aryans
The Aryan “Invasion”
 Aryans, lighter-skinned invaders from the north
 Dravidians, darker-skinned sedentary inhabitants
of Harappa
 Color Bias
 Socio-Economic Implications
 Difficulty of theory: no evidence of large-scale
military conquest
Possible route of the Aryan invasions
The Aryans
 not to be confused with Hitler’s “Aryans”
 these Aryans speak an Indo-European
dialect
 related to other languages like Greek and
Latin
 they called themselves “Aryans”
 their land: “Aryavarta”
 land of the Aryans
The Early Aryans
 Pastoral economy: sheep, goats,
horses, cattle
 Vegetarianism not widespread until many centuries
later
 Religious and Literary works: The Vedas
 Sanskrit: sacred tongue
 Prakrit: everyday language, evolved into Hindi, Urdu,
Bengali
 Four Vedas, most important Rig Veda
 1,028 hymms to gods
Gradual settlement
 over a long period of time
 gradual infiltration
 more primitive than the earlier culture
 new society by 1,200 B.C. or so
 little evidence
 not literate
 no record system
Oral Tradition
 passed down from priests and singers
 written down in the 500’s
 The Vedas
 “Veda” means “knowledge”
The Vedas
 our primary source
 early Aryan tradition
 later Hindu religion
 four “Vedas”
 the Rig Veda is the oldest
 Sam Veda
 Yathur Veda
 Kama Veda
The Vedas
 oral poetry
 come to have a sacred character
 provide some historical information
The Aryans
 restless, warlike people
 tall, blue-eyed, fair-skinned
 describe the indigenous population as
 short, “black”, noseless, and slaves
The Aryans, con’t
 villages and kingdoms constantly fighting
 warchiefs and kings
 aristocrats and freemen
The Aryans, con’t
 fond of fighting, drinking, chariot racing,
gambling chasing women and bragging
about their spears
 any modern comparisons ???
 fond of taking soma
 a psychedelic drug
 probably psychotropic mushrooms
Aryans and Hindus
 Aryans give rise to Hindu society
 but different characteristics
 cows: they ate them
 classes, but no castes
 priests subordinate to the nobility
 the Mahabharata
The Iron Age: new sources
 the Vedas: passed on orally
 the Brahmans: interpretations on the
Vedas
 the Upanishads: interpretations and
symbolic studies
 forerunners of later dissenting literature
Strain of change
 Iron Age change causes strain on the class
system
 blurring of lines between Aryans and Daas
 answered with the caste system
Caste System, 1000 BC
 skin color
 ritual purity
 “Us--Them” feelings
 divine order of four castes
Caste System (“Varnas”)
 Brahmins: the priests
 Kshatriyas: the warriors
 Vaisyas: merchants and peasants
 Sudras: non-Aryans
Caste system, con’t
 produced by Brahmins
 literature emphasized the divine order
 hierarchical relationship
 inheritance and marriage
Caste system in practice
 warrior class did not always accept it
 nor the other classes
 the process of evolution is still going on
 the most powerful organizer of Indian
society
 thousand of castes today
Castes
 define a person’s social universe
 define a person’s standard of conduct
 define a person’s expectations
 define a person’s future
 define how a person deals with others
other animal motifs appearing on seals found primarily at the
largest cities include dangerous wild animals like the rhinoceros,
the water buffalo, the gharial (crocodile) and the tiger. All of these
animals would have been familiar to people living at the edge of
the thick jungles
and swampy
grasslands of the
Indus plain and
they were revered
as totemic animals,
closely associated
with important
myths and legends.
Harappa Archaeological Research Project.

This collection of gold and agate ornaments includes

objects found at both Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. At
the top are fillets of hammered gold that would have
been worn around the forehead.

The other ornaments include bangles, chokers, long

pendant necklaces, rings, earrings, conical hair
ornaments, and broaches. Such ornaments were never
buried with the dead, but were passed on from one
generation to the next. These ornaments were hidden
under the floors in the homes of wealthy merchants or
goldsmiths.
Three sided molded tablet. One side shows a flat bottomed boat with a
central hut that has leafy fronds at the top of two poles.

The Indus cities were connected with rural agricultural communities

and distant resource and mining areas through strong trade systems.
They used pack animals river boats and bullock carts for transport.
There was also external trade with Central Asia, the Arabian Gulf
region and the distant Mesopotamian cities, such as Susa and Ur. `
Although earlier scholars thought that the Indus civilization
disappeared around 1700 B.C., recent excavations in Pakistan and
western India indicate that the civilization gradually became
fragmented into smaller regional cultures referred to as Late or post-
Harappan cultures. The ruling classes and merchants of the major
urban centers were no longer able to control the trade networks that
served to integrate such a vast geographical area.
The use of standardized weights, writing and seals became
unnecessary as their social and political control and gradually
disappeared. The decline of the major urban centers and the
fragmentation of the Indus culture can be attributed in part to
changing river systems that disrupted the agricultural and economic
system.
Around 1700 B.C. the tributaries of the Hakra-Nara River became
diverted to the Indus system in the west and the Jamuna River to the
east. As the river dried up people migrated to the central Indus valley,
the Ganga-Yamuna Valley or the fertile plains of Gujarat in western
India. The Indus river itself began to change its course, resulting in
destructive floods. Certain distinguishing hallmarks of the Indus
civilization disappeared. Others, such as writing and weights, or
aspects of Indus craft technology, art, agriculture and possibly social
organization, continued among the Late and post-Harappan cultures.
These cultural traditions eventually became incorporated in the new
urban civilization that arose during the Early Historical period, around
600 B.C.
Books you can read, if you read
 Bridget and Raymond All chin.
The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan.
 A.L. Basham.
The Wonder That Was India.
 Walter A. Fairservis.
The Roots of Indian Tradition
 Jonathana Mark Kenoyer.
Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization
 Juan Mascaro, trans.
The Upanishads
 Stuart Piggott.
Prehistoric India
 Romila Thapar.
A History of India
 Romila Thapar.
Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History
References Cited
 http://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html
 http://www.harappa.com/har/indus-
saraswati-geography.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley
_Civilization
 http://www.geocities.com/look4harappan/
colapse.htm