Where is the Indus valley ?
The Indus Valley is on the border between
India,Pakistan and Afghanistan.The main city
may have been Mohenjo-Daro but it could
have been Harappa.
To the West of Mohenjo-Daro are the
Highlands.North East of Mohenjo Daro are
the Himalayan mountains.
Mohenjo-Daro timeline
Small
villages are
established
in the area
around
Mohenjo2600 BC
Daro.
3300 BC
Building of a
planned city is
begun at
Mohenjo-Daro.
MohenjoDaro is a
thriving
trade city.
1800 BC
Mohenjo
-Daro’s
ruins are
found.
26001800 BC
1948 AD
1922 AD
Mohenjo-Daro
falls into decline
and is later
abandoned.
Plans are
approved
to
preserve
MohenjoDaro.
1980 AD
1973 AD
First attempts
to conserve
Mohenjo-Daro
are made.
Mohenjo-Daro
becomes a
World Heritage
Site.
When was the Harappan
Civilization at its peak in the
Indus Valley?
The Indus Valley civilization lived in
the Valley about 4000 years ago,
2600-1900B.C. It was discovered by
numerous scientists and
archaeologists in 1921. Alexander
Cunningham, the director general of
the Archaeological Survey in
India(ASI), visited the Harappan
ruins to look at the Buddhist
remains along with the next director
of the ASI, John Marshall. They set
up an excavation to investigate the
mysterious ancient ruins. The dig
began in 1920 led by archaeologist
Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni.
.Many different artefacts have
been uncovered in the Indus Valleys
main cities, Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa.
The Civilization in the Indus
Valley
The people in the Indus valley formed the
earliest urban civilization in the sub
Indian continent and one of the earliest in
the world.Another name for the Indus
valley civilization is the Harappan
civilization. The first excavations that
were made in the cities of Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro which were conducted in
1921-1922. Excavations also discovered
that men and women dressed in colourful
robes , the women also wore lipstick! For
dinner it might have been hot bread
served with barley or rice. They all were
all very good farmers they grew things
such as peas, melons , wheat and dates.the
fish in the Indus river were caught by fish
hooks and were eaten with most probably
bread. They ate animals aswell such as
sheep, pigs, zebus (a kind of cow) and
water buffalo . The Indus valley
civilization was a wonderful place.
Why did the Harappan
civilization decide to live in the
Indus Valley?
The Indus Valley civilization may
of lived there because of the
Indus River which flows through
the valley. It over-flowed every
year leaving soil perfect for
growing crops in. It could of also
been used for transport and
food such as fish. The Indus
Valley was also well protected
by the Himalayan Mountain
Range.
Streets and Buildings
The City Structure
The Indus tribe lived in houses just
like today. They where built from
bricks and cement and must have
been very strong because lots of
these buildings are still standing
today. They had a very complex city
structure with one to two floors, to
each building, yet there has been no
evidence that the tribe had doors
separating any of the rooms.
There is a road, which runs through
the city, where carts ran down to
transport goods. These where pulled
by camels, oxen and elephants, which
where also used to travel on.
The Great Bath
The great bath was a special place in the Indus Valley. It was used for baptizing
babies. Like the drains, the bricks were clay to make it waterproof so none of the
water could escape. The only way the water could escape was through a special system
where, if they wanted to, they can let the water out if it got to dirty and then they
could fill it up again. It also has a plug hole which was used for totally emptying out
the bath.
The bath is made from
tightly fitted bricks which
had tar on the inside of the
bath. The tar was used as a
water proof layer so the
people could bath.
Archaeologists aren’t sure
how they filled it up but
they found a well near by.
The bath was 12 metres
long and 7 metres wide.
Archaeologists think,
where the brick pedestals
are, there use to be really
tall pillars.
This is the great bath
today
This is the plug of the
great bath.
The Drainage System
There is evidence of very sophisticated drainage systems
in the cities of the Indus Civilisation. The drainage
systems were so big that a human would have been able to
walk through the middle of one. This was really helpful
because if the drain was blocked, the drain could be easily
accessed. They were also very clever because they used
cement and clay bricks to make the drains, which always
sloped downhill. There is evidence which shows lots of
small footprints in the bricks. This may indicate that
children helped to make the bricks.
This drain is about 5
meters deep.
Pots from The Indus valley
Many pots, pans and cooking vessels have been
found in the ancient civilization of the Indus
valley. Each of them have had their own
decorative, unique design, with some of them
just plain. The pictures to the right are also
evidence that they used, and had a strong
connection with animals. The pots have shown
that they were skilled and put a lot of time
into making them. Most of the pots were made
of terracotta but some of the ones used for
cooking were made of bronze.They used fire to
harden the terracotta pots.Some of the
poorer people had pots with no decoration. The
pots shown on this page have been slip painted
by the people who sold them. They made the
clay very watery, and then stained with berries
and other natural resources such as ash and
flowers. Decorated pots can also be a sign of
wealth because they would cost a lot to trade.
The pots were mostly used for storing foods
and drink. Some of them were more ornamental
rather than practical . Some of the bodies
found were buried with pots but they were with
no decoration at all.
Indus valley toys
These toy figures are made out of clay . They were for children to
play with.The wood could of rotted so they might of put wood back
on. The axels are replaced as well as the poles on the back of the
cart.
These are ceramic sculptures of a small cart with vases
and tools pulled by oxen,from Mohenjo-daro.
These carts show they had a strong connection with animals because many
of the toys feature animals pulling the carts.Some of these animals
are:oxen,cows and horses.
These are terracotta toy
carts from the Harappan
period site of Nausharo
in Baluchistan
I used to enjoy
playing with these.
Dice
Physical and written evidence of dice and
dominoes have been uncovered by
archaeologists studying the Ancient Indus.
Also they were studying ancient China,
Meso-America, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
An ancient form of Ludo was played as well
as an ancient form of chess, which was
played in the Indus valley. A board,
uncovered in the area of Mohenjo-Daro,
was said to be the oldest chess board
discovered in the world.
Gaming pieces
The oldest gaming pieces in the world, somewhere in the range of
5,000 years old where found in the Indus Valley and Nal Culture,
in the range of 3000 – 2500 BC. A pair of incised marble gaming
pieces with a distinctive Indus Valley motif incised along the tops
of both pieces were found. The tops of each have been partially
drilled and are 4.5 cm. Along with my other Indus Valley gaming
pieces, these pieces are the oldest in the collection, somewhere in
the range of 4,500 - 5,000 years old.
Models and Figurines
Many archaeologists think that
Harappan people used figurines
when they prayed. Maybe the
Harrapan people worshiped a
female goddess. If they did, do
you think it would affect the
women in the Indus Valley
civilisation?
Hundreds of small
figurines of
people,animals,birds and
masks provide clues about
peoples daily lives and
religious beliefs.they are
usually hand modelled in
terracotta.
The people in the Indus
Valley carve large numbers
of figurines of women.
These statues differ from
those found in many other
cultures in attention to
jewellery and hairstyles
other sites had carts with
clay wheels and maybe the
earliest toy.
Female figurines
have been found in
all shapes and sizes.
Some are slim, some
fat and some nurse
babies.Many female
figurines are wearing
bangles and have
different
headdress's, such as
cloth turbans. Some
female figurines are
adored with flowers
and lots of jewellery
such as bracelets
and decorated belts.
Seals of the Indus Valley
Don’t worry, we don’t mean seals as in the animal, but seals as in white fired glazed
steatite with a decoration or writing carved on. The seals are the key which
archaeologists used to realised that the Indus civilization really exists. There was
two seals found in 1924 in two different ancient cities six hundred km apart which
proved the two cities were linked. The seals were used for part of trade and some
seals have their family names carved on.
This is a unicorn seal
found in Morhenjo
daro in 1931 and
proved they believed
in mythical creatures.
This seal was
found seventeen
feet and four
inches below the
ground!
The goods that were
traded are pots, jewellery
and other valuables
explained in other slides.
There were more than 2,000
seals discovered by
archaeologists in different
ancient Indus cities. We think
that the symbols on the seals
may have been a way of writing
and the animals showed that
maybe the people kept animals.
This seal of a bull is about
the size of a large post
stamp.
These are some other
animal motifs appearing on
seals found primarily at the
largest cities include
dangerous wild animals like
the rhinoceros, the water
buffalo, the gharial (in the
crocodilian family) and the
tiger. All of these animals
would have been familiar to
people living at the edge of
the thick jungles and
swampy grasslands of the
Indus plain and they were
revered as totemic animals,
closely associated with
important myths and
legends.
This is a terracotta seal
from Mohenjo-daro
depicting a collection of
animals and some script
symbols. This sealing may
have been used in specific
rituals as a narrative token
that tells the story of an
important myth.
This seal was thought to
have been made about 4000
years ago .
Indus valley’s jewellery
People of the Indus Valley
really loved they're
jewellery ,one of the Indus
valley civilization best
features is its jewellery.We
have evidence of the amount
of jewellery found in the
Indus valley.
The Indus valley is
rich in many metals
and worthy stones
such as Carnelian,
gold, copper,
turquoise and other
metals/semi
precious stones
We think this ring is made out
of carnelian and a precious
stone.
Each bead in the Indus
valley is approximately 2-3
centimetres long.
The people of the Indus valley didn’t get
the precious materials themselves, they
traded with other nearby cities who had
originally mined these expensive jewels
and stones . They then brought them
back to their own civilization and then
fashioned them into jewellery.
They then took the beautiful jewellery
to nearby markets and sold them to the
public.
The jewellers
would display their
goods using models
which are rather
like the modernday mannequins.
This is a broach
found in the
Indus valley.
The Indus valley’s
jewellery is one of the
oldest in the world.
These are some
necklaces and
bracelet's from
the Indus valley.