The Indus Valley Civilization
By:
Olha Lee
Janette Hernandez
2600-1500 BCE
Geography
Location: Western part of the
Indian Sub continent
Geographic impact: The Indus
River helped spark a trade,
farming, and transportation.
The Indus Valley Civilization was
not isolated because there were
many other little communities all
around them that they traded
with.
Time Period
Most historian believe the Indus Civilization was around 2600-1500 BCE but there are
still disagreements about this topic.
Peaked: 2400 BCE
Decline: 1500BCE
Economy
Indus Valley Civilization based their economy on
hunting, trading, farming and fishing
The merchants of the social class handled trade, they
were called Vaishayas.
Materials traded:
Gold from South India
Copper from Afghanistan
Turquoise from Iran
Government
It is believed the Indus Valley Civilization didn’t have
an emperor or king figure because there hasn’t been
any type of a capitol building or place where they
would meet.
There hasn’t been a discovery that this civilization had
laws, but historians believe that each social class had
their own job to do.
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Beliefs
They were polytheistic
The seals that they made showed that they worshiped other
things like, the unicorn, elephant, bull
They treated the women like the head of the household
Indra, the war god, was one of the main gods that was
worshiped
Technology
 Built building out of burned brick
 Sewage system
 Wells
 Food storage system
 Pool
Writing
They had a form of writing using symbols but
historians haven't been able to translate
 400 characters (Too many symbols for it to represent letters and not
enough for every symbol to represent a picture)
 Unicorn and the bull were the most common symbol,
the bull symbolizes strength
Architecture
They planned their cities out like Harappa &
Montenegro
Sewer systems
Measurements were precise
Houses were 1-2 stories high
Flat roofs
Slavery
Most historians believe that there was slavery but not
enough evidence is available to be 100% sure about it
Rise and Fall
The fall of the Indus Valley Civilizations hasn’t been
determined how it occurred yet. It is uncertain if it
was because of a climate change like a drought,
monsoon, flood, or the Aryan invasion.
Contributions
The Indus Valley Civilization invented beads and put
them on a necklace. They also were the first to grow
cotton.
Golden Age
2400 BC would be considered the golden age for the
Indus people; everything was going well for them
including crops, hunting, fishing, trading
Social Classes
Most of the time the women were the head of the
household
They had about 4 different social classes:
Brahmins (Priest)
Kshatriyas (warriors)
Vaishayas (cultivators, merchants)
Shudras (peasants, workers)
The higher class wore a bull on their seal
Agriculture
They domesticated cotton, sesame, peas, and barley
The Indus people didn’t practice canal irrigation
Firsts
They were one of the first to grow and domesticate
cotton
Also they were one of the first to start using beads to
make jewlery
Citations:
http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/indus/home_set.html
http://www.crystalinks.com/induscivilization.html
http://www.rivervalleycivilizations.com/indus.php
http://india.mrdonn.org/indus.html
http://www.halfmantr.com/display-polity/113-indus-valley-civilization?start=1
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/F1-IndusCivilization/indus.htm
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