The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the largest ancient civilizations.
As the name suggests, the civilization blossomed on the banks of the Indus River and its tributaries.
It’s covered present day Pakistan and the Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.
It was a really advanced civilization.
They had cities which were defended by walls and forts.
Indus Valley Civilization is called a city civilization.
Some of the cities of the Indus Valley had like 35000 to 40000 people living in them.
A vast number of settlements were built on the banks of the Indus River and surrounding areas.
These settlements cover a remarkable region, almost 1.3 million square kilometers of land.
The most important cities in the Indus Valley were Chanhudaro, Kalibangan, Banawali, Lothal, Dholavira, Sutkagendor, Surkotada and of course the most famous ones being Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
These cities were well planned and built out of brick and stone.
They had drainage systems, water storage systems and systems for weights and trade.
They were very hygienic. Back then, lifespan was quite short and cultures east of the Mediterranean put a lot of emphasis on hygiene, far more than those in Europe during the early medieval period. The ruins of Mohenjo-Daro show that the level of hygiene was much higher than today. Which is kind of messed up when you think about it. I have a friend who takes a bath 3 times a week. She says that she is conserving water. But the real reason is that she is VERY lazy.
They had somewhere over 600 wells and sewers. So, you know they had a really good drainage system, for the time period that they were in.
Their civilization began around 2600 BC, and died out by 1900 BC.
The people had occupations like craftsmen, traders, soldiers and administrators.
The food that the city people consumed, came from their villages.
So, as the villagers began to produce excess grain, they could devote themselves to activities other than farming.
This led to the advent of city civilizations.
The cities of Harappa were really well planned.
They even had covered drains.
They used bricks of the same size and weight to build.
The bricks were made in a furnace.
They used burnt bricks for constructing domestic and public buildings.
The city streets were straight and broad.
Houses faced streets, and were at least two storeys high.
They had brick staircases leading to the upper levels and the roof.
The houses were protected against noise, odors and thieves.
Life was centered around an enclosed courtyard, and there was a balcony over the court-yard.
Each house had its own well and a washroom.
Citadel
The citadel was the main part of the city.
It was built on a raised platform.
It was built using bricks. It was also surrounded by a huge brick wall.
Inside, there were public buildings, a bath, granaries(i.e., places where you store grain) and accommodations for people who taught religion.
People went to the Citadel for protection when the city was under attack.
They had a really good trade system.
The Harappans were great traders.
They had a complex system of trade networks.
They were masters in making copper, bronze, tin and lead.
They traded in shell, dried fish and pearls from the coast.
They also traded in copper, tin, turquoise, ivory and precious stones from the hill country.
Their networks stretched into Central Asia, Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula.
All in all, they were pretty wealthy.
Muziris and Pattanam
Muziris was a port town, that flourished on the mouth of the Periyar delta in Kerala, between the first century BC, and the fourth century AD.
After the conquest of Egypt by Rome, Muziris became a key center for trade, between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean regions.
Muziris came to be known as 'the Emporium of the East'.
With the decline of the Roman Empire, the trade declined too.
And thus, Muziris lost its importance.
Pattanam was a small village near Kochi.
It was the richest Indo-Roman site on the Indian Ocean rim.
And findings suggest that Pattanam was built on the site of the lost city of Muziris.
Excavations at Pattanam have uncovered archaeological treasures that indicate 3000 years of history.
Harappan style of writing
Some historians say that the Indus Valley Civilization is called as Dravidian because of the language and the culture.
They had a language of containing symbols called the Indus Valley script.
The Harappans knew how to write.
Over 2,000 stone seals have been found in the Indus Valley.
These seals were small tablets which would leave an impression when pressed into soft substances like clay.
They were quadrilateral in shape.
These seals are some form writing, but unfortunately they have not been deciphered yet.
The Harappan writing consists of short strings of symbols.
Some say that each symbol represents a picture or idea, others say that it represents a sound.
The fact, however, is that no one has actually been able to understand or read the writing of the Harappans yet.
Ornaments
Indus valley people liked dressing up and wearing ornaments.
Archaeological discoveries suggest that both men and women of the Indus valley civilization wore jewelry.
They wore necklaces, bead and amulets made from gold, silver and semi-precious stones including carnelian, turquoise and lapis lazuli.
Decline of the Harappan civilization
The Harappan civilization began around 2600 BC and finally declined between 2000 and 1800 BC.
There is no singular reason for this.
Climate changes may have played a role, since Earth was starting to become warmer at this time.
The land was dry and there was a water shortage problem which effected cultivation.
It is also thought that earthquakes or fires may have destroyed the cities.
The city of Mohenjo-Daro shows evidence of having been destroyed by fire.
Some scholars posit that the population was wiped out by an epidemic or disease.
It is also likely that the area grew too large to be controlled in an effective manner. This may have encouraged outsider attacks.
Some say that the nomadic Aryans invaded India around 1500 BC, and destroyed the Indus Valley civilization. Thus, bringing one of the most brilliant civilizations of the ancient world to an end.
Many modern historians say the theories of an Aryan invasion is a myth.
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