INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

Shubham, Nimish, Nihar, Shivangi, Gopinath

Structure of the presentation
 Global civilization’s Timeline
 Introduction
 Excavations
 Phases oh Harappan civilization
 Town planning system
 Citadel
 Important cities of IVC
 Economic life
 End of civilization
Introduction to Indus Valley
Civilization.
TIMELINE
INTRODUCTION
BRONZE AGE CIVILIZATION

TIME PERIOD=3300BCE to 1300 BCE(4100

years back)

One of the 3 early civilizations (Meso,

Ancient Egypt, Indus Valley)

Also known as Harappan civilization.

INTRODUCTION…
Extended situated on the basins of from
what today is northwest Afganisthan to
Pakistan.

It was situated on the basins of Indus

river(today’s dried up Saraswati river)coursed
through northwest India and eastern
Pakistan.

It may had a population of over 5million.

 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
 EXCAVATIONS

Harappa was first site to be excavated in 1920s.

Excavation took place mainly in general regions of Indus river

and Ghaggra Harakra rivers and their main tributaries.

Until1999, 1056 cities had been found ,out of which 96 have

been excavated .
Phases of Harappan civilization
 Early Harappan civilization.( 3300BC to 2800 BC)
 Mature Harappan civilization.
 Late Harappan civilization.
Early Harappan civilization
Period - 3300BC to 2800 BC
 Related to Hakra phase
 Characterized by centralized authority and increased quality of life
 Trade network was established and domestication of crops
kalibhanjan in India
 kot daji ,peas, sesame seeds , dates were grown
SITES OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
1. Mohenjo-daro
2. Harappa
3. Kalibangam
4. Rakhigarhi
5. Dolavira
6. Lothal
7. Surkotada
Mature Harappan civilization
By 2600 , IVC entered in this phase
Early communities were turning into large centers
Harappa and Mohanjo- Daro in Pakistan
Lothal in India.
Introduced concept of irrigation
Geography
Rich agricultural land surrounded.

Dry river beds along Ghaggra Hakra river(50cities).

Civilization had same situation as those in Egypt and

Peru.
Town Planning System and General
Development Pattern of Indus
Valley Cities.
Town Planning System
The Town Planning System of
Indus Valley Civilization was city
based.

The excellent drainage and

sanitation systems are
remarkable.
Urban Cities
The Indus civilization flourished around cities.
A Sophisticated urban culture.
The ruins of the cities show remarkable town
planning, and excellent system of drainage and DHOLAVIRA KALIBHANGAN

sanitation of the Indus Valley Civilization.

The city was the heart of the civilization. Eg
Harappa, Mohenjo daro, Lothal, Dolavira

LOTHAL MOHENJO DARO

Division of Cities CITADEL
Almost all the cities were divided into two
parts –
1] A CITADEL, on Western Side
2] A LOWER TOWN, on Eastern Side.
The CITADEL consisted of large structures
Citadel
which functioned as Administrative
Buildings.
LOWER TOWN consisted of housing for
people
LOWER
TOWN
GENERAL HOUSING SYSTEM

The houses can be divided into three main

groups viz.
1.Dwelling houses,
2.Larger buildings,
3.Public baths.
HOUSING SYSTEM
Town dwellers were divided into
various social classes.
The Rich and the Ruling class lived
in the multi-roomed spacious
houses.
Poorer section lived in small
tenements.
The public building and big houses
were situated on the streets.
HOUSING SYSTEM
Encroachment on public roads or
lanes by building houses was not
permitted.

The modest houses were

situated on the lanes.
Buildings And Housing
Smaller houses had two
rooms, while larger houses had
many rooms.
They were plain, utilitarian and
comfortable to live.
Some of the buildings were
probably multi-storied
Buildings And Housing
Most of the houses had baths, wells and covered drains
connected with street drains.
Ordinary buildings had little ventilation arrangements, as
doors and windows were rarely fixed in the outer walls.
Doors of entrance were fixed not on the front wall but on the
side walls.
One could enter a house by the door facing the side lanes of
the house.
The doors were made of wood.
Large buildings had spacious doors.
 BUILDING MATERIAL
No stone built house in the Indus cities.
Most of the houses were built of burnt bricks.
Unburnt sun-dried bricks were also used.
That portion of the buildings where
contamination with water was possible, burnt
bricks were used.
For other parts sun-dried bricks were used.
Most of the bricks were of equal size.
The staircases of big buildings were solid; the
roofs were flat and were made of wood
 STREETS
The streets were broad varying from 9
feet to 34 feet.
They ran straight to a mile.
They were suitable for wheeled traffic.
Lanes were joined with the streets.
Each lane had a public welt.
Street lamps were provided for
welfare of public.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
The elaborate drainage system was a
remarkable feature of the civilization.
No ancient civilization before, had such an
advanced drainage and sanitation system.
Each house had horizontal and vertical drains.
House drains emptied themselves into the
main drains which ran under the main streets
and below many lanes.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
There were underground drains
for the streets.
These drains were covered by
stone slabs.
The soak pits were made of
bricks.
The house drains were connected
with road drains.
CITADEL
The Granary of Harappan Civilization
2 rows of 6 rooms and a Central
Passageway about 7 meters
wide, paved with Baked Bricks.
Each room of 15.2 by 6.1 meters.
Small triangular opening may
have served as air ducts to allow
the flow of fresh air beneath the
hollow floors.
GREAT PUBLIC BATH
 THE GREAT PUBLIC BATH
An impressive building, used as a public bath.
The bathing pool is 39 feet by 23 feet with 8
feet depth.
There is a system to fill and empty the water of
the bathing pool
There are galleries and rooms on all sides of
the bathing pool.
This public bath was attached to the Mohenjo-
Daro fort where upper class people lived.
IMPORTANT CITIES OF INDUS
VALLEY CIVILIZATION
 IMPORTANT CITIES
•Uniform culture over a wide area
•Cities built on a common plan
-a grid: always NS and EW axes •Mohenjo-daro
•Harappa
•Kalibangan
•Rakhigarhi
•Dholavira
•Lothal
•Surkotada

Theancientweb.com
 LOTHAL

On the banks of a
tributary of the river
Bhogavo which
joined Sabarmati -
which fell into the
Gulf of Khambat

Average width of periphery wall

– 12 m thk.

hindunet.org

The city of trade

 DOCK was used for trade of LOTHAL
beads and other valuable for
spices

3.2m

2.5 m

Youtube.com

Raised platform for bathing

- 60 cms.
30 cms above ground level
National museum
National museum
BEAD- MAKING KILN
DRAINAGE
 DHOLAVIRA

LOCATION- IN
KUTCH DISTRICT
GUJARAT

DHOLAVIRA was 2nd largest site of Indus Valley Civilization

hindunet.org
 DHOLAVIRA

Water carried to reservoir though covered channels

Hindunet.org
RESERVOIR AT DHOLAVIRA SITE

Sketch depicting water canalized from dam to the

reservoir
Hindunet.org
•The city of Dholavira in its fullest form was proportionate and proportionality resolved
configuration following a resolute set of principles of planning and architecture with
DHOLAVIRA
mathematical precision.

Division Width Length Ratio

City, internal 616.87 711.10 4:5

Castle, internal at available top 92 114 4:5

Castle, external (as per present exposure) 118 151 4:5

Citadel (castle + bailey), external approximately (including bastions) 140 280 1:2

Bailey, internal 120 120 1:1

Middle Town + Stadium, internal 290.45 340.5 6:7

Middle Town, excluding Stadium, internal 242 340.5 5:7

Stadium, internal 47.5 283 1:6

Lower Town, built-up area 300 300 1:1

asi.nic.in
 KALIBANGAN

Left bank
of
saraswati
river

hindunet.org
 CONSTRUCTION KALIBANGAN

Street-widths
were: 1.8 m.,
3.6m, 5.4m
and 7.2 m. 5.4 m

(note the
ratio of
1.8 m
1:2:3:4)

National museum
National museum

Narrow streets Wide streets

On the floors, soiling of terracotta nodules intermixed with pieces of charcoal was overlaid with the clay
floor

sealing of clay in the houses

 KALIBANGAN
The city excelled in CLAY, COPPER &
BRONZE work It depicts a
prosecution of seven
men wearing kilts &
helmets and attacking
a tiger
Hindunet.org

CLAY SEALS were

extracted in plenty
And figures
were
Hindunet.org
embossed

Hindunet.org

BRONZE BULL

BULL was an essential figure as it was

used in agriculture
Hindunet.org

TERACOTTA BULL
HARAPPA

The southern reservoir of the citadel

 HARAPPA
The circular working platforms located to the south of
the "granary" or Great Hall.
They were used for husking grain.

Harappa.com

Harappa.com

Mound F,A plan of circular platforms; B sections of sediments above platform and Even at that time, structures were plastered; with mud
section through central pit..
MOHENJO-DARO

The site plan of mohenjo-daro showing the city and locations of the
city and the citadel with the view of the great bath.

hindunet.org
 PUSHKARINI a
stepped tank in castle

A huge well in the castle

Storm water drains in the castle

 INTERPRETATION OF
ARCHEOLOGISTS
A view of the GREAT BATH in the CITADEL of
mohenjo-daro; computer generated according to
the interpretation of the archaeologists
THE GREAT BATH
A view of the multi-storey GRANARY in the
CITADEL; used for storage with small
entrances were goods are taken through
pulleys.
THE GRANARY
www.flickr.com
EONOMIC LIFE OF INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
ECONOMIC LIFE
AGRICULTURE & ANIMAL HUSBANDRY were
backbone of economy.
Flourished due to availability of plenty of
WATER,FERTILE BASINS OF INDUS,PASTURE
LANDS
 EXTERNAL TRADE dominated URBAN CENTERS
CRAFT CENTERS
CHAHUNDRA was a small settlement dedicated
to bead making, shell making, metal cutting,
weight making
SEALS AND WEIGHTS
 SEALS were used for LONG
DISTANCE TRANSPORTATION.
SEALS were imprinted on a wet
clay and that was attached to
parcel.
Exchanges were regulated by
precise system of WEIGHTS.
It had cubical shape, and made
up of stone called chert
TOYS

BULLOCK KART TOYS

 TOYS

TERACOTTA BULLOCK CART BULLOCK CART

TOYS

DICE AT MOHENJADARO
MRS.HARAPPAN MR.HARAPPAN
ORNAMENTS

 Both women and men were found of ornaments made up of

gold,silver,copper
 Ornaments were decorated with precious stone like
jade,carnelian,agate,lapis-lazuli
ORNAMENTS
POTTERY

BURIAL POTTERY BURIAL POTTERY

POTTERY
END OF CIVILIZATION
Probable Reasons for declination of IVC
The study of archaeologist suggest main probable 6 reasons for
declination of Indus valley Civilization:
1.The law of nature
2.Floods
3.Earthquakes
4.Change of the course of Indus
5.Plague
6.Foreign Invasion
1.Law of nature
Renowned historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee has categorized the
decay of a culture as its final stage after a culture is born and grows
to its highest point of efficacy.

The Harappan culture was no exception to this general law of

nature.

Its decline set in around 1800 B.C. and in course of time came its
extinction.
2.Floods
The massive floods in the Indus must have
been a potent cause for the extinction of
the Harappan culture.
The point is proved by the silt-clay that
covers the collapsed houses at Mohenjo-
Daro.
Repeated floods must have forced the
people to flee the inundated places and set
up permanent habitat elsewhere.
As a consequence came the decline of
Harappa.
3.Earthquakes
The Harappan culture occupied an
area that was prone to earthquakes
as it came under a seismographic
zone.
Repeated seismographic vibrations
must have led to erosion that
brought down the buildings.
Earthquakes constitute an
important reason for the decline of
Harappan culture.
4. Change of the course
of the Indus
Some Historians attribute the decline
of the Harappan culture to the river
Indus changing its course frequently.
 As such the Indus delta shifted away
from Mohenjo-Daro and water
became scarce.
Water scarcity must have led to the
exodus of the Harappan people to
other places.
5. Plague
Outbreak of the plague epidemic is shown as a
reason for the decline of Harappan civilization.
Skeletal remains from the main roads of Harappa
and Mohenjo-Daro as found out through
archaeological efforts tell a sad story.
When an epidemic like plague visits a human
habitation, it leaves its trail of death
everywhere.
The scattered skeletal remains therefore lead
some to attribute it to epidemic like plague,
though there is no concrete proof of outbreak of
plague in the region.
 6.Foreign Invasion
The Aryan invasion is one of proposed reason for the
decline of Harappan culture.
 There is archaeological proof of genocide and skeletal
remains scattered everywhere in Mohenjo-Daro.
 An autopsy on these skeletons reveals damages that
must have been caused by sharp objects or weapons.
Knowledge and use of iron as weapons was known to
the Aryans, not to the Harappan people.
Defeat and death of the Harappan people must have
come at the hands of the invading Aryans.

Direction of Aryan invasion

THANK YOU !!!