NATURAL RESOURCES IN INDUS CIVILIZATION

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INDUS VALLEY The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilisation (3300–1300 BCE,The Bronze Age is a time period characterised by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilisation)in northwest Indian subcontinent (including present day Pakistan, northwest India) and also in some regions in northeast Afghanistan. It was one of three early civilisations of the Old World followed by Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and the most widespread among them,covering an area of 1.25 million km2.

NATURAL RESOURCES

1. The Indus basin was rich in timber for building and fuel ,but there was no local building stone , and baked or kiln-fired brick was the standard building material.

2. They had many resources - fresh water , materials like gold, silver,semi precious stone and marine resources Entrance gate

INDUS RIVERThe Indus is a very large, complex river in Pakistan. The source of the Indus river is Singikabab (5165 m altitude), near the Mansarover Lake in Tibet. This lake is also the source for the other major tributary of the Indus, the River Sutlej. It is 2900 km. long and flows through the Himalayas and the Punjab before entering Pakistan. The Indus has five main tributaries, the Jhelum, the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi and the Chenab.

http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg6/home.html

1. Good source of water. 2. Used for drinking and cooking

purposes. 3. They ate fishes from the river. 4. Used for sanitary purposes. 5. Crops were grown included wheat,

barley peas,melons and sesame. 6. Used in great bath. 7. Clay was obtained from the river which

was used for making clay.

3)http://a.harappa.com/content/what-kinds-things-did-indus-people-eat

Uses of Indus river

3)http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/indus_valley/technology_and_jobs/ http://www.sewerhistory.org/images/w/wam/moh_wam17.jpg

CLAY1. Used for making moulds for

bricks , henceforth bricks were used for building houses and to lay the flooring.

2. It was used to make utensils and sculptures.

3. Clay was used to plaster the walls.A common size was 7 cm high x 14 cm wide x 28 cm long.

BRICKFirst the brick-makers mixed soil, clay and water to make squishy mud. Next they squashed the mud into a wooden mould which was the shape of a brick. Mud-bricks could dry in the hot sun. But it was better to put them inside a kiln. The fire in the kiln heated or 'fired' the bricks at a high temperature to make them very hard.

All Indus Valley bricks were the same ratio of 1 : 2 : 4 but came in different sizes. A common size was 7 cm high x 14 cm wide x 28 cm long. Bricks were laid in rows or 'courses', end to end and crossways, using wet mud as cement to stick the bricks together.

WOOD1. Used for construction

purposes. 2. They use to burn sticks and

logs for household purpose. 3. Used to make tools for

hunting and fishing. 4. Wood was used to make

sculpture . 5. People at that time used it to

make floating base on river.

Dansing girl

wooden milk jug vase

lady of spiked throne

1. Small pieces of timbers were tied together to form ornaments.

2. Wheels were made of wood.

3. Timber was used to make coffin.

4. Cedar, Rosewood , Deodar etc were the timbers available at that time.

Indus tradeIndus Valley cities lived by trade. Farmers brought food into the cities. City workers made such things as pots, beads and cotton cloth. Traders brought the materials workers needed, and took away finished goods to trade in other cities. Trade goods included terracotta pots, beads, gold and silver, coloured gem stones such as turquoise and lapis lazuli, metals, flints (for making stone tools), seashells and pearls.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/schools/primaryhistory/images/indus_valley/trade_and_travel/i_boat_seal.jpg

Minerals came from Iran and Afghanistan. Lead and copper came from India. Jade came from China and cedar tree wood was floated down the rivers from Kashmir and the Himalayas. • Sea trade was probably

heaviest with Oman since numerous Indus artefacts have been found in Oman.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/indus_valley/trade_and_travel/

Harappan Ports 1. Lothal 2. Sutkagen-dor 3. Sotka-koh 4. Balakot

SutkagenBalakot

Imports Carnelian: Baluchistan and Gujarat Jade: Central Asia Turquoise: Baluchistan and Iran Shell: Gujarat, Karachi and Oman Ivory: Gujarat and Punjab Mother of Pearl: Oman Wool: Mesopotamia Incense: Mesopotamia

http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg16/home.html

Manufacturing good Carved chlorite containers: Baluchistan and Iran Green schist containers: Baluchistan and Iran Fuchsite containers: Baluchistan and Afghanistan

Gold: Afghanistan and Karnataka Silver: Afghanistan and Iran Copper: Oman, Baluchistan and Rajasthan Lead: East or south India Lapis lazuli: Baluchistan and Afghanistan Fuchsite: Northern Karnataka Amethyst: Maharashtra Agate: Baluchistan and Gujarat

Manufactured Goods Carnelian beads: Mesopotamia Shell inlays: Mesopotamia Shell bangles: Mesopotamia Lapis lazuli: Mesopotamia Bone inlays Clarified Butter: Oman Pickled vegetables: Oman Pickled fruits: Oman Honey: Oman Chert weights: Oman Wine: Oman

Exports

1. Gold: Mesopotamia 2. Silver: Mesopotamia 3. Bronze: Mesopotamia 4. Ebony 5. Ivory: Oman 6. Indigo: Oman 7. Wood: Oman 8. Livestock: Oman 9. Grain: Oman 10. Fresh fruit: Oman

http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg16/home.html

NECKLACE

1. Necklace from mohenjo-daro made from gold, agate, jasper,statite and green stone

2. The gold beads are hollow and pendent agate and jasper beads are attached with thick gold wire.

3. Steatite beads with gold caps serve to separate each of the pendent bead

Silver seal

Clay seal

SEALS

Copper plate

Mohenjo-daro

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia's major resources were its water and fertile soil. Mesopotamia was the gift of the Tigris and Euphrates. This was especially true of the alluvial plain to the south, where the well-watered fertility of the land nurtured such staples of the people's diet as barley, sesame, and dates. http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/MesopotamiaMari.htm

Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization by the Western world, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq.

A unique resource of the land was bitumen, a natural asphalt that seeped from beds in the ground, especially in the area around Hit on the Euphrates. Bitumen had many uses: as an adhesive for bricks, as a waterproof coating in construction, and as a cement to create works of art.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/b/bitumen_boat_model.aspx

From riverine clay the Mesopotamians not only made bricks but also fashioned clay tablets to write on with the help of pens cut from the reeds that grew along the rivers' banks.

Import

1. Timber -Zagros Mountains and Lebanon

2. copper and tin -Anatolia, the Caucasus,

3. Iran; silver from - Taurus Mountains 4. gold -Egypt and even India 5. Afghanistan -precious blue mineral

called lapis lazuli

Gudea Statue I carved diorite

The critical resources that Mesopotamia largely lacked were building stone (except in Assyria where gypsum was available), construction-grade timber, and minerals, including copper and tin (needed to make bronze), iron, silver, and gold.

Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of EgyptThe greatest natural resource in Ancient Egypt was the Nile River. The river provided fish, transportation, and an annual flood that fertilized the land for growing good crops. Egypt also had other items of natural resources in rocks and metals.http://historylink101.com/n/egypt_1/a-natural_resources.htm

The Egyptians mined from various areas in Egypt. White limestone came from quarries near Memphis, quartzite from Gebel el-Ahmar, and sandstone from Gebel es-Silsila. Alabaster was quarried out of the eastern desert. Granite quarries were found around Aswan.

Copper was the main metal used in Ancient Egypt . Copper comes naturally mixed with other minerals in an ore form. The ore had to be heated to remove the copper from the other elements. The Egyptians used a heating process called smelting to remove any impurities from the copper

Copper chisel

carvings in the ancient Egyptian Gebel el Silsila sandstone quarry.

Flint was another important stone for Ancient Egyptians. It was used in making sickles for harvesting crops and in making weapons. Steatite, another type of stone, was used in making scarabs.

Flax was another natural resource that Egypt developed. Flax grew well in the fertile Nile Valley. It was pulled out by the roots and then dried. Seeds were removed, and the core of the plant was placed in water for a week or more. Then they beat and separated it into parts that were spun into linen cloth.

Another naturally grown crop in Egypt was papyrus. It was made into writing material, a predecessor to paper. The papyrus plant grew in several feet of water. It was pulled out, and the stem was cut into strips. The strips were overlaid in vertical and horizontal layers and put under pressure by pounding it together. The sap of the plant acted like a glue after it dried, holding the strips together in a white loose-textured paper.

Egypt lacked good trees for wood due to the dryness of the climate. Cedar wood had to be imported from Lebanon to meet the Egyptians’ needs.

Papyrus paper

Thank you

REFRENCEShttp://historylink101.com/n/egypt_1/a-natural_resources.htm

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/b/bitumen_boat_model.aspxwww.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/MesopotamiaMari.htm

www.ancientindia.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg16/home.html

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/indus_valley/trade_and_travel/

www.wikipedia.com www.slideshare.com www.google.com