Faculty of Architecture

Presentation on

Indus Valley Civilisation

By

• Abdullah Zohdi Taha• Salman Mohammad Khan

• Yoppeel Kashyap• Zunoor Faisal

Indus Valley Civilisation3300–1300 BCMature Phase 2600-1900 BCE

Extent of Indus Valley Civilisation• Ghaggar- Hakra river• Westernmost India• Southeastern

Afghanistan• Baluchistan Iran

Important cities

•Mohanjodaro

•Rakhigadi

•Harappa

•Ganweri Wala

Harappa 30 / 38’ N 72 // 52’ E

found By Charles Masson

Main Gateway – Harappa City

Mohenjo daro 27 /19’’ N 68 /08 ’’

found by Rakhaldas Bandopadhyay

Mound of the dead

Town Planning Principles Some Key Facts

• Population at peak time - 5 million• Citadel Consisting of 5000 residents alone• Two storied buildings unearthed• Mohenjo Daro and Harappa reconstructed

over and over again 7 times due to damage and floods.

• Public Buildings for town • Visible goal of town planning to promote

socialisation• Harappa and mohenjodaro having same

architectural layout.

Town planning based on rigid grid system of streets

A view of the houses and streets, with the citadel and stupa mound in the background. The tops of eroding buildings have been capped with a protective layer of mud brick that will help to soak up the efflorescent salts and protect the underlying fired brick from fragmentation.

Present day ProtectionOne relatively successful low cost technique used to combat the destructive nature of salts in the fired bricks is to cover the walls with a thick layer of mud and straw plaster and to spray them with clay slurry. When the salts percolate to the surface of the mud plaster, the crystals form without damaging the underlying fired brick.

Public Buildings - The Great Bath

 The great bath surrounded by a brick colonnade, measures approximately 12 meters north-south and 7 meters wide, with a maximum depth of 2.4 meters. In the background is a massive brick structure with narrow passages that was first identified as a hammam or hot-air bath, and later as the state granary.

The Great Bath was entered using two wide staircases, one from the north and one from the south. The floor of the tank is watertight due to finely fitted bricks laid on edge with gypsum plaster. Brick colonnades were discovered on the eastern, northern and southern edges, but the western edge (at the left) was missing. Sir John Marshall assumed that they would have been present and subsequent reconstructions have replaced these missing columns.

The pillared hall was approximately 27.5 meters square (90 feet square) with twenty square brick pillars arranged in four rows, only two of which are still preserved. Strips of paved floors sloped from south to north and each strip of flooring had row of bricks set on edge along both sides. The cross wall in the foreground was built later and divided the hall into smaller rooms.

Close-up view of the pillared hall, which may have been a hall of assembly with paved walkways and places for people to sit in ordered rows along each aisle between massive brick pillars.

A large open space or courtyard (10 meters square) is surrounded by a wall that had 13 openings, possibly for windows. This unique structure is situated in the northern part of an extremely large building complex containing around 78 rooms and passageways, but no well. The building lies to the east of the Great Bath and was thought to be a "college" or residence of priests.

Looking north along the street to the east of the Great Bath. The building on the right is a single large structure called the College, and may have been the residence of priests or other elites

This room in VS area was made with bricks set on edge to create a watertight floor. A small well was located in the southeast corner (top right) and circular brick depressions were set into the floor, presumably to hold pottery vessels. The early excavators suggested that the room might have been a dyer's workshop. 

The small room in the center of the photograph contained 14 skeletons, thought to be the remains of a massacre.

Wells were made with wedge shaped bricks to make a strong circular structure. Some bricks were made with special grooves to keep the ropes from sliding sideways when drawing water.

This oval well is located in room 19 northeast of Great Bath. It is the only well with an oval structure and may have been used to draw water for nearby bathing platforms or for filling the Great Bath.

Although most wells were located inside private buildings, the city planners of Mohenjo Daro provided some public wells that could be accessed directly from the main street. This well and nearby walls have been covered with mud brick to protect them from salt crystallization.

This unique well and associated bathing platform was discovered in the course of building a catchment drain around the site. It was reconstructed on the ground floor of Mohenjo-daro site museum.

Buddhist stupa view

Overview of the "granary" area looking towards the southeast. The walls have been partly restored for conservation purposes by the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan.

In the upper levels of , a small baked brick structure with sump pots was found. This structure, possibly a latrine, is on the northern margin of a major east-west street that ran along the southern edge of the "granary" area. It dates to late in Period 3C, perhaps 200-300 years after the original "granary" structure had been buried by later construction.

Virtual reconstruction of the great hall or resident of the priests.

Ancient Indus Valley City Well, Mohenjo-daro, Sindh

Drains – Smaller ones leading to large covred drains

Many drains from upper buildings were directed to the street through enclosed channels or terracotta pipes. The pipes were made using multiple telescoping segments that fit snugly with the next segment.

A bathing platform in UM area with blocked up doorway leading into the room. The brick floor was made with carefully fitted flat paved bricks and a smaller catchment drain along the side of the platform. A small step was placed at one side of the platform, and a ledge of finely fitted bricks protected the base of the wall.

A small drain leads from the well and finely fitted brick floor of the dyer's workshop to a covered drain at the edge of the street.

Mohenjo Daro streets

Sun Died Bricks

Prominent Artifacts

Dancing girl, 10.8 cm in height, Made out of Bronze.

Toy cart found burried in a room in citadel

The Priest King• Wears a cloak on his

head.

• Cloak wth a trefoil pattern covering one shoulder.

• Pierced earings

One of the many seals found

The Indus valley BowlDish

Some of the earlieast images published by Charles Masson, East India Company.