PLANNED CITIES
ON THE INDUS
Map
Mountains
• Subcontinent-3 mountain ranges
(Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and
Himalaya) separate Indus River
Valley from the rest of Asia
• Mountains created natural barrier
and helped protect the Indus
Valley from invasions
Rivers and Monsoons
• River-Yearly floods deposit silt,
BUT the floods were very
unpredictable and the river
sometimes changed it course
• Monsoons-seasonal winds that
bring heavy rains in the spring,
watered crops and caused
flooding
Mysterious Civilization
• Historians have not yet deciphered the Indus
system of writing
• Very little is known, except from discoveries
from archaeological digs
Indus River Valley
• Located in modern day Pakistan
• Area much larger than Mesopotamia
or Egypt
• Developed trade with distant people,
including the Mesopotamians
• Few weapons have been found,
suggesting that it was a peaceful
society
• Artifacts such as clay and wooden
kids toys suggest a prosperous society
Indus Trade Routes
Planned Cities
• Archaeologists have found ruins of more than 100
sophisticated cities along the Indus
• Laid out their cities on a precise grid system
• Very-large scale building, walled cites, with fortified
citadels
• Separate residential (houses) districts, uniform housing
suggests that social divisions were not great
• Buildings were made from oven baked bricks
• Very sophisticated plumbing and sewage systems
• Suggests that Indus people had developed a strong central
government
Connections to Indian culture
• Religious artifacts reveal links to
modern Hindu (Indian religion)
culture
• Figures show early representations of
Shiva, a major Indian god
• Other figures relate to a mother
goddess and fertility
• Some figures suggest the worship of
cattle
• ALL OF THESE BECAME PART OF
LATER INDIAN CULTURE
Mysterious End
• Neared its end around 1500 BCE
• What happened? THEORIES
– Indus River changed course and no longer
fertilized fields near the cities
– People wore out the valley’s land from
overgrazing, overfarming, overcutting
– A sudden catastrophe or natural disater
– Attack from human enemies, probably a nomadic
tribe
Mohenjo-daro
view of the “Citadel”
The “Great Bath”
another view of the “Great
Bath”
view of a small, side street
looks like a small
tower, but actually
it is a
neighborhood well
A bathroom on a private
residence
A public well in Harappa, or
perhaps an ancient laundromat...
A large drain or sewer
Harappan grain store
house