Indus Valley Civilization2500 B.C.E. – 1500 B.C.E.

Background

• Excavated in 1920s

• Lesser known ancient civilization

• Sophisticated public works

• A huge valley

Where: Between the Indus and the Sarwati Rivers

*Location in floodplain made for rich agricultural yield

*Flooded reliably 2 times a year

Major Cities

•Mohenjo-Daro (lower)Agricultural city

GranariesPublic baths

Major Cities

•Harappa (upper)

Public worksDomesticated animalsCultivation of wheat and rice

Notable Indicators of an Advanced Society:

*Written language*Evidence of trade*Evidence of city planning *(sewers!)*Domesticated animals*Made cotton cloth

Religious Element of Indus Valley Civilization

• Little evidence

•Polytheistic

•Mother Goddess

•Bathing as a means of purification (Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro)

E. Artistic/IntellectualElement of Indus Valley Civilization•Seals

•Figurines, Jewelry, Pottery

•Mathematics

•Pictograph Writing

What was not found:

• Evidence Weapons or warfare• No accepted reason why they

left, only theories• Horses• Still much to be uncovered• Much is literally blowing away

due to salinization and lack of funding

V. Decline of Indus Valley Civilization• Changing Rivers/Environmental Disaster?

• Invasion by the Aryans or people from the Caucasus

• Earthquake? Something Else?

• What we do know is that by the 1500s the society was in such a state of decline that it was relatively easy for nomadic cattle-herding peoples to settle in the region and eventually take up farming.• We can also be fairly sure that the vast majority of the IVC peoples

did not remain in the region.

Images

• Great Bath

Images

• Drain System

Images

• Toilets

Images

• Houses

Further Questions?

•Why did the civilization not spread further?•What happened to them?•What was the importance of the baths?•What was their governmental structure such that it allowed for little-to-no violence?

Sources

• http://www.crystalinks.com/induscivilization.html (Illustration of Harappa)

• http://www.archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/aryan-harappan-myth.html (Sarwati River Map)