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Mohenjo-daro has aplanned layoutbased on a street grid ofrectilinearbuildings. Most were built of

fired and mortaredbrick; some incorporated sun-driedmud-brickand wooden superstructures. The

sheer size of the city, and its provision of public buildings and facilities, suggests a high level of social

organization. At its peak of development, Mohenjo-daro could have housed around 35,000 residents.

The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City. The Citadel a mud-brickmound around 12 metres (39 ft) high is known to have supported public baths, a large residential

structure designed to house 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls.

The city had a central marketplace, with a large central well. Individual households or groups of

households obtained their water from smaller wells. Waste water was channeled to covered drains

that lined the major streets. Some houses, presumably those of wealthier inhabitants, include rooms

that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and one building had an underground furnace (known

as ahypocaust), possibly for heated bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that

opened onto side-lanes. Some buildings had two stories.

In 1950, Sir Mortimer Wheeler identified one large building in Mohenjo-daro as a "Great Granary".

Certain wall-divisions in its massive wooden superstructure appeared to be grain storage-bays,

complete with air-ducts to dry the grain. According to Wheeler, carts would have brought grain from

the countryside and unloaded them directly into the bays. However,Jonathan Mark Kenoyernoted

the complete lack of evidence for grain at the "granary", which, he argued, might therefore be better

termed a "Great Hall" of uncertain function.[10]

Close to the "Great Granary" is a large and elaborate

public bath, sometimes called theGreat Bath. From a colonnaded courtyard, steps lead down to the

brick-built pool, which was waterproofed by a lining ofbitumen. The pool measures 12m long, 7m

wide and 2.4m deep. It may have been used for religious purification. Other large buildings include a

"Pillared Hall", thought to be an assembly hall of some kind, and the so-called "College Hall", a

complex of buildings comprising 78 rooms, thought to have been a priestly residence.

Mohenjo-daro had no circuit of city walls, but was otherwise well fortified, with guard towers to the

west of the main settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south. Considering these fortifications

and the structure of other majorIndus valleycities likeHarappa, it is postulated that Mohenjo-daro

was an administrative center. Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same architectural

layout, and were generally not heavily fortified like other Indus Valley sites. It is obvious from the

identical city layouts of all Indus sites, that there was some kind of political or administrative centrality,

but the extent and functioning of an administrative center remains unclear.

Mohenjo-daro was successively destroyed and rebuilt at least seven times. Each time, the new cities

were built directly on top of the old ones. Flooding by theIndusis thought to have been the cause of

destruction.

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Harappan architecture is thearchitectureof theHarappans, an ancient people who lived in theIndus

Valleyfrom about3300 BCEto1600 BCE. The Harappans were advanced for their time, especially in

architecture.

Diagram of how Indus Valley cities were laid out (click on picture for bigger image).

Contents

[hide]

1 City walls

2 Streets

3 Wells

4 Houses

5 Tools

6 Lack of temples

7 See also

8 References

[edit]City walls

Each city in the Indus Valley was surrounded by massivewallsandgateways. The walls were built to

controltradeand also to stop the city from beingflooded. Each part of the city was made up of walled

sections. Each section included differentbuildingssuch as: Public buildings, houses, markets, craft

workshops, etc.

[edit]Streets

The Harappans were great city planners. They based their city streets on agrid system. Streets were

oriented east to west. Each street had a well organized drain system. If the drains were not cleaned,

the water ran into the houses andsiltbuilt up. Then the Harappans would build another story on top of

it. This raised the level of the city over the years, and todayarchaeologistscall these high structures

"mounds".

[edit]Wells

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An old well inLothal, a town near Harappa. The building styles of the two cities were fairly similar.

Although not every Harappan house had awell, they are quite common and comprise one of the most

recognizable features of Harappan urbanism. Over the years, the level of streets and houses were

raised owing to the accumulation of debris (see above) which necessitated raising the height of the

wells. This is the reason why very tall wells are often seen at Harappa and in surrounding areas.

[edit]HousesHouses and other buildings were made of sun-dried orkiln-fired mud brick. These bricks were so

strong, they have stood up to thousands of years of wear. Each house had an indoor and outdoor

kitchen. The outdoor kitchen would be used when it was warmer (so that the oven wouldnt heat up

the house), and the indoor kitchen for use when it was colder. In present day, village houses in this

region (e.g. inKachchh) still have two kitchens. Indoor kitchens are used mostly as store houses and

are only used for cooking when it rains. Otherwise, residents prefer to use the outdoor kitchens

because the dry shrub and cow dung used as cooking fuel are very smoky, making indoor cooking

difficult.

[edit]ToolsThe Harappans usedchisels,pickaxes, andsaws. The saws they used hadundulatededges so that

dust escaped from the cut that they were sawing. These tools were most likely made ofcopper, as

copper tools and weapons have been found at Harappan sites.

[edit]Lack of temples

So far, no unequivocal examples of temples have been found at sites belonging to the Indus Valley

Civilization. Archaeologists do not know yet what religion was practiced in the Indus Valley

Civilization. Community water pools (swimming or bathing) do exist, which may be linked with religion

practice. Water plays an important role inHindusacred places, and pilgrimage to such places often

involves sacred bathing (apart from theGanges). The architecture of water pools used by Hindu

pilgrimage and in Harappan cities are similar, although scholars disagree whether such similarities

are functional, or cultural, in nature.

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[Picture: Mohenjo-daro Ruins]

Mohenjo-daro, was a city of the Indus Valley Civilization built around 2600 BC and is located in the Sindh

Province of Pakistan. This ancient five thousand year old city is the largest of Indus Valley and is widely

recognized as one of the most important early cities of South Asia and the Indus Valley Civilization. Mohenjo

Daro was one of the worlds first cities and contemporaneous with ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian

civilizations. It is sometimes referred to as "An Ancient Indus Valley Metropolis".

It was the most developed and advanced city in South Asia during its peak. The planning and engineering

showed the importance of the city to the people of the Indus valley.

Mohenjo-daro is a remarkable construction, considering its antiquity. It has a planned layout based on a grid of

streets, which were laid out in perfect patterns. At its height the city probably had around 35,000 residents. The

buildings of the city were particularly advanced, with structures constructed of same-sized sun dried bricks of

baked mud and burned wood.

The public buildings of these cities also suggest a high degree of social organization. The great granary at

Mohenjo-daro is designed with bays to receive carts delivering crops from the countryside, and there are ducts

for air to circulate beneath the stored grain to dry it.

Close to the granary, there is a building similarly civic in nature - a great public bath house, with steps down to a

brick-lined pool in a colonnaded courtyard The elaborate bath area was very well built, with a layer of natural tar

to keep it from leaking, and in the center was the swimming pool.

The houses were protected from noise, odours, and thieves. This urban plan included the world's first urban

sanitation systems.

Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. Some of the houses included

rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined

the major streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. A variety of buildings were up to

two storeys high.

Being an agricultural city, it also featured a large well, and central marketplace. It also had a building with an

underground furnace (hypocaust), possibly for heated bathing.

Defensively Mohenjo-daro was a well fortified city. Lacking city walls, it did have towers to the west of the main

settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south. Considering these fortifications and the structure of other

major Indus valley cities like Harappa, lead to the question of whether Mohenjo-daro was an administrativecenter. Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same architectural layout, and were generally not

heavily fortified like other Indus Valley sites. It is obvious from the identical city layouts of all Indus sites, that

there was some kind of political or administrative centrality, however the extent and functioning of an

administrative center remains unclear. .

Mohenjo-daro was successively destroyed and rebuilt at least seven times. Each time, the new cities were built

directly on top of the old ones. Flooding by the Indus is thought to have been the cause of destruction.

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