Indus River Valley
Civilization
Indus River Valley
Civilization
Directions: Using pages 170-174 in your text , the attached
reading, and your own knowledge, classify the information
about the Indus River Valley Civilization (Harappan). In the
first column list the FACTS that scientists know about the
civilization and in the second column list the
CONCLUSIONS scientists have reached.
Words: suggests, think, must have, probably, concluded
FACTS
CONCLUSIONS
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Facts
Largest of early civilizations
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– (2500BC-1500BC)
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Developed in river valleys
urban
Large cities
– Harappa/Mohenjo Daro
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Streets – checkerboard pattern
Walled fortress
Uniform brick
Areas of large buildings
Areas two storied buildings
– Bathing Facilities
– sewer system
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Fragments of cloth
Farmed
Figurines of bulls & women
Clay Seals (carving
pictographs) found in
Mesopotamia
Cities built and rebuilt over
time
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Conclusions
May have developed from
hunting & gathering to
agricultural
Well organized gov’t with
building codes – urban
planning
Harappa/Mohenjo Daro
– Capital cities of strong empire
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Districts: gov’t, workshops for
craftsmen, and residential
Collected food as form of tax
First to grow
cotton/domesticate chickens
Worshipped Mother goddess,
cattle important
Writing system to identify
goods
Traded with several
civilizations
Gradual decline: at first
thought invaders NOW
environmental changes - video
Roots of Indus Valley
Civilization
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Earliest civilizations in
Indus Valley was
discovered in 1856 by a
railroad crew.
– Harappa
– Mohenjo-Dara or “Hill of the
Dead”
– Both cities shared urban
design and architectural
features.
– 3 miles in circumference with
populations of 40,000
Indus Valley Civilization
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Vast territory united in homogeneous
culture suggests strong centralized
government, integrated economy and
good internal communications
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
To the north is a citadel or
raised area.
In Mohenjo-Daro, the citadel
is built on an architectural
platform about 45 feet
above the plain.
On the summit was a huge
communal bath.
Next to the large bath was a
huge open space—a granary
where food was stored from
possible floods.
Fortified walls mark the
southeast corner.
Elaborate Public Baths
Bath area
• Mohenjo-daro (2600-1900
BCE). Almost every house
unit at Mohenjo-daro was
equipped with a private
bathing area
• with drains to take the
dirty water out into a
larger drain that emptied
into a sewage drain.
• Many of these bathing
areas had water-tight
floors to keep moisture
from seeping into the
other rooms nearby or
below.
This brick structure had a hole
in the top that was connected to
a small drain leading out of the
base into a rectangular basin.
Early excavators suggested this
might have been a toilet.
A small well was located
in the southeast corner
(top right) and circular
brick depressions were
set into the floor,
presumably to hold
pottery vessels. The early
excavators suggested
that the room might have
been a dyer's workshop.
Standard Weights and
Measures
The famous "Dancing girl" found in
Mohenjo-daro is an artifact that is some
4,500 years old. The 10.8 cm long bronze
statue of the dancing girl was found in
1926 from a house in Mohenjo-daro.
Writing
Indus inscriptions are found only on small objects, mostly
stone seals and on pottery.
 About 3700 inscriptions are presently known.
The inscriptions are all extremely brief, averaging not more
than about five signs in a text. Longer inscriptions might
have been written on palm leaves or cloth which have
perished.
Unicorn Seal
most common motif on Indus
seals
Early Civilizations of
India
Assignment
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Read pages 170 -174
– Complete page 174 #2, 3, 5 only
Dravidians:
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people of Southern India who may be
descended from the ancient Indus
River Valley settlers
Aryans or Indo-Aryans
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Aryan race Theory - discredited
Made popular by Arthur de Gobineau
famous for developing the theory of the
Aryan master race in his book An Essay
on the Inequality of the Human Races
– 1850’s
 Theories
now discredited
Aryans: more correctly
Indo-Aryans
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Aryan race Theory - discredited
– racial grouping
– late 19th century to the mid 20th century to
describe peoples of Indo-European Eurasian
heritage
– Derived from the idea that the original
speakers of the Indo-European languages
and their descendants up to the present
day constitute a distinctive race
– used by Nazis and others to support claims
of supremacy
Aryans or Indo-Aryans
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Migrated into South Asia from north of Black
and Caspian Seas - Around 1500 BC
Sanskrit meaning “noble”
Tribes of the Indo-European peoples
Part of Linguistic family not a race
Nomadic herders
Skillful warriors: iron weapons, archers,
chariots (possibly)
City-states ruled by rajah
May have contributed to collapse of Indus
Valley Civilization
Map
Influenced Indian Culture:
 Long
lasting effects of Indo-Aryans
–village life
–Religion
–social structure
Village Life
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Indo-Aryans moved across
Indo-Gangetic Plains and settled into
villages
Farming and herding
Value on cattle
– The word for war meant “a desire for
more cows”
– Vedas: Rain is like cow’s milk and the sun
is its calf”
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Governing: Rajahs: hereditary chief –
rule village
Vedas (Religious Influence)
– oral religious traditions of the IndoAryans
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Vedas: oldest Rig Veda
 Eventually recorded in Sanskrit
– (written language developed by IndoAryans – basis of Hindi)
 Basis
of Hinduism (long lasting effect)
Varna (Social Structure)
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Sanskrit meaning color – created a
complex system of social order
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Social structure and classes of the IndoAryans
–Brahmins: priest
–Kshatriyas: warriors
–Vaisyas: land owners, merchants,
herders
–Sudras: servants, peasants (p. 174 quote)
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evolved into caste (long lasting effect)
– Caste: rigid system of social ranking by birth