 4th
great early civilization was lost for
3500 years
 NW India, Pakistan & Afghanistan
 Called Indus Valley Civilization
 No text, just physical remains
 Debate over life then exists today
 1827
British soldier Charles Masson
deserts army, pretends to be an
American and travels to NW India
frontier
 Returned to England and wrote a book
about what he saw
 British used brick ruins to build 93 miles
of track
 1921
1st archaeological dig at Harappa
and Mohenjo-Daro along with many other
sites
 3000BC until 1500BC
 Declined and disappeared for unknown
reasons
 Do not know what they even called
themselves
 Geography
is similar to Mesopotamia –
rivers with silt and mud
 India 1.5 million square miles
 North Great Mountains
 Alluvial Plains on rivers
 Deccan Plateau in south is dry
 Malabar Coast is tropical rain forest in west
 Ganges River was sacred
 Should bathe in Ganges once in your life
 Hinduism arises here
 1500
settlements found with several large
cities
 40 foot thick walls with 20,000 to 40,000
people
 Very crowded and large for the time
 Indus Valley cities seemed well planned
and organized with gridded streets
 All structures made from baked mud
bricks
 Wells
and neighborhoods are uniform
and standard
 Bricks were uniform in 2 sizes ratioed 1 to
2 to 4
 Standardized weights and measures for
trade ratioed 1,2,4,8,16, 32 and 64
 Canals
and irrigation
 Streets were graded with drainage
 Some pipes and indoor water
 People had public water and were able to
bathe
 21’ x 36’ x 7’ deep pool to bathe in
 Ritual bathing took place as water was of
religious significance
 System
of writing with over 400 symbols
 Cannot translate the script to date
 No text longer than 20 symbols so no
written records
 Found – toys, pots, dishes, whistles, marbles,
dice
 Had copper
 Traded distantly
 Port city on the coast with evidence of trade
 Most art was glazed seals with animals
 1900
BC it goes into decline and cities
are abandoned by 1500 BC
 Some scholars thought they were
invaded but more common is it was
internal decline
 Irrigation may have increased salt in soil
hurting yields
 Droughts occurred
 Planning
lessens and trade declines
 Quality of products and bricks declines
 Many unanswered questions
 Know little of their politics or religion
 Few images of warfare or kings
 No palaces
 No findings of government buildings
 By
1500 BC ancient Indian cities were
gone
 1500 BC to 500 BC – large body of text
with little archaeological evidence
 Migrants from south central Asia move
south and west into India
 Aryans – not related to Germany –
migrate to India
 Nava
– ship – sanskrit
 Matru – mother
 Pitru – father
 Not sure if cities were conquered or
people intermingled over time
(centuries)
 They intermixed culturally
 New
language was sanskrit
 New set of gods
 Patriarchal and patrilineal focus
 Rigid social structure with people
divided into classes
 Didn’t use bricks or build large
structures
 Were illiterate but had poetry that was
passed down orally
 Poems
were about gods and heroes
 Vedas (vettas) – oldest known poems that
were written down
 Rig Veda – The Verses of Knowledge –
1017 poems
 Most poems addressed to gods
 Millions of words that cover various time
periods
 Offer
clues to early culture
 Organized into tribal kin centered groups
 List of specialized jobs: bow maker, rope
maker, bowstring maker, arrow maker, hide
dresser, cane splitter, thorn worker,
ointment maker, sheath maker, stone
breaker, horse keeper, wood carrier, fire
kindler, cowherd, hunter, fisherman,
goldsmith, smith, merchant, physician, and
astrologer
 Most
women were involved in textile
work – spinning, weaving, embroidering
and dying
 Warriors
who used horses and chariots
with spoked wheels
 Had bronze axes and swords
 Chariot had a driver and archer or spear
thrower
 Aryans were very militaristic
 The gods encouraged good warriors
 Male dominated society
 Gambling
was widespread
 Valley becomes very populated
 Very little political history
 Obsessed with gods and mysteries of the
universe
 Found disorder of gods not worth
recording
 Arabic number system began here
 Advances in medical thinking
Caste system – people are born into a specific social
class from which they cannot change
 4 categories called varnas
1. Brahams – educated religious leaders,
scholars & philosophers
2. Warriors – politicians, soldiers and civil
authorities
3. Third class – merchants, peasants and farmers
4. Fourth class – shudras – common workers or
servants

Lowest class outside of caste system –
untouchables and pariahs (outcast or rejected)
 Many
rules separating the classes
 Had marks for identification
 Top 3 classes were twice born –
ceremony at puberty for boys
 Wore a sash showing caste
 Caste system provided stability and roles
 May be discriminatory but each had to
help each other
 Hinduism
was born from the caste system
 Many customs in the caste system
 No single founder or text
 Is not tied to a place or group
 Vedas are the core of proper ritual and
behavior
 Gita – ethical text with duties and
obligations
 Bodily
death does not kill the eternal soul
 Soul is born over and over again
 Must act selflessly without desire or
ambition
 Moral behavior dependent on following
duty or role
 Dharma – selfless execution of earthly
duties
 God
Krishna gave orders
 Gods had roles and duties as well
 Karma – consequences of your own
actions
 Meditation and tolerance came out of this
era
 Truth can be reached through varied
paths
 Transmigration
of souls – reborn into a new
body with status based on how you lived
your life
 You could move up in the caste system by
living a good life
 Aryan religion made sacrifices to the gods
 Food and animals burned at altar
 Brahams eventually became too ritualized
and excessive which splintered hinduism
and led to buddhism