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INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

Pakistan Studies Lecture-2
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
• Pursue knowledge about the discovery of IVC
• Judgment of the origins and importance of IVC
• They would know the causes of decline of IVC
Shabana Siddiqui
• To describe economical relation of IVC
Senior Lecturer & QMS Coordinator
School of Public Health, DUHS
• They would be answer the verbal and written
questions

The IVC lived in the Valley about 4000 years

Points need to be discuss ago, 2600-1900B.C.
• IVC is one of the ancient
civilization besides Mesopotamia
•1 Discovery of Indus Valley Civilization (Iraq & Syria) River Euphrates,
•2 Origins of Indus Valley Civilization Tigris while Egypt civilization (the
Nile river).
•3 Geography of Indus Valley Civilization
• Largest urban civilization(Indus
•4. Nature of Urbanization river)
•5 Trade and Commerce and Links with Outside
• This ancient civilization belonged to
World the bronze age. It existed for about
•6 Theories Concerning the Decline of the Indus 1000 years from 2500 BC to 1500
BC.
Valley Civilization.
• It was spread to a large area
covering about 1,260,000 km.
around Indus River and its
tributaries

Geography of Indus Valley Where is the Indus valley ?

Civilization The world’s first and Largest
civilization The Indus Valley
Civilization flourished around on
• 1. Harappa and the western border between
India,Pakistan and Afghanistan
Mohenjo-Daro
Between 9000-4000 years ago
• 2. Lothal at the before the IVC, settlement had
Indian Sites begun in the areas around
Baluchistan called “Mehargarh”
• 3. Continuation Remaining the main cities are
of Harappan Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in IVC
Civilization in the To the West of Mohenjo-Daro are
Indo Genetic the Highlands. North East of
Mohenjo Daro are the Himalayan
Valley. mountains.

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• Ruins of Harrappa were first
described in 1842 by Charles Masson
in his Narrative of Various Journeys in
Balochistan, Afghanistan, and Punjab
• 1856, General Alexander
Cunningham, visited Harappa where
the British engineers John and
William Brunton were laying the East
Indian Railway Company line
connecting the cities of Karachi and
Lahore.
• In 1872–75 Alexander Cunningham
published the first Harappan seal (with
an erroneous identification as Brahmi
letters).
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.
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• In 1912, that more Harappan seals were discovered by J.
Fleet,
• In 1921-22 resulting in the discovery of the civilization
at Harappa by Sir John Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya
Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats,
• at Mohenjo-daro by Rakhal Das Banerjee, E. J. H.
MacKay, and Sir John Marshall.
• In 1944 diggings continued by Sir Mortimer
Wheeler, Director of the Archaeological Survey of
India. Among other archaeologists who worked on IVC
sites before the partition of the subcontinent were
Ahmad Hasan Dani , Brij Basi Lal, Nani Gopal
Majumdar, and Sir Marc Aurel Stein.
The Civilization in the Indus Valley
In 1921-1922 discovered that men and
women dressed in colourful robes , the
women also use lipstick!
For dinner it might have been hot bread
served with barley or rice.
They all were 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 as well such as sheep,
pigs, zebus (a kind of cow) and water
buffalo. The Indus valley civilization was a
wonderful place.
Streets and Buildings
The City Structure
Citadel (West)
The Indus tribe lived in houses just like
today. They where built from bricks (Burned
and Sundried) 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 A lower Town (East)
separating any of the rooms. Staircase were
solid and roof were made by the wooden.
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. Streets were broad from 9-34 feet
They also use BOATs for travelling through
Indus River
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The Great Bath The Drainage System

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 There is evidence of very sophisticated drainage systems
water could escape. The only way the water could escape was through a special system in the cities of the Indus Civilisation. The drainage
where, if they wanted to, they can let the water out if it got to dirty and then they systems were so big that a human would have been able to
could fill it up again. It also has a plug hole which was used for totally emptying out walk through the middle of one. This was really helpful
the bath. because if the drain was blocked, the drain could be easily
accessed. They were also very clever because they used
The bath is made from tightly This is the great bath This is the plug of the cement and clay bricks to make the drains, which always
fitted bricks which had tar on today great bath. sloped downhill. There is evidence which shows lots of
the inside of the bath. The tar small footprints in the bricks. This may indicate that
was used as a water proof layer children helped to make the bricks.
so the people could bath.
Archaeologists aren’t sure how
they filled it up but they found a
well nearby.
This drain is about 5
The bath was 12 metres long
meters deep.
and 7 metres wide.
Archaeologists think, where the
brick pedestals are, there use
to be really tall pillars.

Pots from The Indus valley Indus valley toys

Many pots, pans and cooking vessels have been
found in the ancient civilization of the Indus valley. These toy figures are made out of clay . They were for children to
Each of them have had their own decorative, play with. The wood could of rotted so they might of put wood back
unique design, with some of them just plain. The on. The axels are replaced as well as the poles on the back of the
pictures to the right are also evidence that they used, cart.
and had a strong connection with animals. The pots
These are ceramic sculptures of a small cart with vases
have shown that they were skilled and put a lot of
time into making them. Most of the pots were made and tools pulled by oxen,from Mohenjo-daro.
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.

These carts show they had a strong connection with animals because many Dice
of the toys feature animals pulling the carts.Some of these animals Physical and written evidence of dice and
are:oxen,cows and horses. dominoes have been uncovered by
archaeologists studying the Ancient Indus.
These are terracotta toy Also they were studying ancient China,
carts from the Harappan Meso-America, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
period site of Nausharo An ancient form of Ludo was played as well
in Baluchistan 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.

I used to enjoy
playing with these.

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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 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 Hundreds of small Female figurines

figurines of have been found in
people,animals,birds and all shapes and sizes.
masks provide clues about Some are slim, some
peoples daily lives and fat and some nurse
religious beliefs.they are babies.Many female
usually hand modelled in figurines are
terracotta. wearing bangles
and have different
headdress's, such
The people in the Indus as cloth turbans.
Valley carve large numbers Some female
of figurines of women. figurines are
These statues differ from adored with flowers
Many archaeologists think that those found in many other and lots of
Harappan people used figurines when cultures in attention to jewellery such as
bracelets and
they prayed. Maybe the Harrapan jewellery and hairstyles
other sites had carts with decorated belts.
people worshiped a female goddess.
clay wheels and maybe the
If they did, do you think it would earliest toy.
affect the women in the Indus Valley
civilisation?

Seals of the Indus Valley The goods that were

traded are pots, jewellery
and other valuables
explained in other slides.

There were more than 2,000

some seals as in white fired glazed steatite with a decoration or writing seals discovered by
carved on. The seals are the key which archaeologists used to realised that archaeologists in different
the Indus civilization really exists. There was two seals found in 1924 in two ancient Indus cities. We think
that the symbols on the seals
different ancient cities six hundred km apart which proved the two cities
may have been a way of writing
were linked. The seals were used for part of trade and some seals have their and the animals showed that
family names carved on. maybe the people kept animals.
This is a unicorn seal
found in Morhenjo
daro in 1931 and
proved they believed
in mythical creatures. This seal of a bull is about
the size of a large post
This seal was
found seventeen stamp.
feet and four
inches below the
ground!

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Indus valley’s jewellery

These are some other animal motifs
appearing on seals found primarily at the
largest cities include dangerous wild People of the Indus Valley
animals like the rhinoceros, the water really loved they're
The Indus valley is
buffalo, the garial (in the crocodilian jewellery ,one of the Indus
rich in many metals
valley civilization best
family) and the tiger. All of these and worthy stones
features is its jewellery.We
animals would have been familiar to have evidence of the amount
such as Carnelian
people living at the edge of the thick gold, copper,
of jewellery found in the
turquoise and other
jungles and swampy grasslands of the Indus valley.
metals/semi
Indus plain and they were revered as precious stones
totemic animals, closely associated with
important myths and legends. We think this ring is made out
of carnelian ( ‫ )عقیق‬and a
This is a terracotta seal from Mohenjo- precious stone.
Daro depicting a collection of animals
and some script symbols. This sealing
may have been used in specific rituals as This seal was thought Each bead in the Indus
a narrative token that tells the story of valley is approximately 2-3
to have been made
centimetres long.
an important myth. about 4000 years ago .

The people of the Indus valley didn’t

The Indus valley’s
get the precious materials themselves,
they traded with other nearby cities jewellery is one of the
who had originally mined these oldest in the world.
expensive jewels and stones . They
then brought them back to their own
civilization and then fashioned them These are some
into jewellery. necklaces and
bracelet's from
They then took the beautiful jewellery
the Indus valley.
to nearby markets and sold them to
the public.

The jewellers
would display their
goods using models
which are rather
like the modern-
day mannequins.

This is a broach
found in the
Indus valley.
END

Trade and Commerce with Outside

Nature of Urbanization World
• 1. Street Planning • 1. Nature of Trade and
• 2. Granary Commerce
• 3. Great Bath • 2. Routes of Trade and
• 4. Social Organization Commerce
• 5. Relations with • 3. Articles of Trade
Agrarian Hinterland. and Commerce
• 4. The Ruling
Merchant Classes.

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Medicine in IVC
• They do dental work to help toothache as long ago as 9000 years
• Two human teeth found in “Mehargarh”
• “Charaka” and “Shushruta” were two ancient books composed
around 12000 years ago (Vedas)
• Detail given about Plastic, Eye and dental surgery
• Kind of Medicine called Ayurvedic
• Between 5500 to 7000 BCE old 9 skull found with 11 drill holes in
Pakistani graveyards
• “ These amazing holes were made in Molars” David Frayer
anthropologist of University of Kansas
• Archeologist says “A small bow was used to drive the flint drill
tips

• Roberto Macchiarelli “ We must remember that Theories of the Decline of Indus

anesthesia may not have been invented at the time ,definitely it Valley Civilization
had to be painful for the patient”
• Researchers were impressed by how advance • 1. The Myth (ِ‫)حکایت‬of Aryan
society had been in Pakistan’ Baluchistan Invasion. The Indus cities
Province. (Discovery Channel) were at their richest between
2600 and 1900 BC.
• Decimal (0-9) point invention of Indian and Arab
• Between 1900 and 1700 BC,
and Arab spread it to Europe this great civilization started
• In technology the people of IVC discovered dyes to fall apart. Trade with
paint and print cloths (block printing, tie and Mesopotamia stopped.
dye) • 2. Environmental Sifts
https://explorable.com/ancient-medicine • 3. New Researches

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.

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3. Earthquakes:
Geographically, 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. Yet, the change of course of the Indus is not reason enough
for the decline in Lothal, Kalibangan, Rupar etc. because the
Mohenjo-Daro situation did not occur in these regions.
6. Foreign Invasion:
Sir Mortimer Wheeler however is of the opinion that the Aryan
invasion is the reason for the decline of Harappan culture. There is
archaeological proof of genocide and unburied 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(Dasyus), not to the Harappan people. Defeat
and death of the Harapan people must have come at the hands of the
invading Aryans which came from Central Europe through Central
Asia. Vedas talk about horses and chariots
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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.
Decline of Mohenjo-Daro
The city also had several layers to illustrate it that it had been
destroyed and rebuilt multiple times, probably because of severe
flooding from the Indus River. As a result, one theory of
the decline of Mohenjo-Daro is that the people simply decided to
leave because of frequent floods.
Aryan invasion; That the Aryans from Central Asia invaded the
Indus Valley Civilization (IVC). But, the Aryans came to the
Indian subcontinent only in 1500 BC, and it is believed that the IVC
declined in 1700 BC.
References
• http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/history/harap
pan-culture/top-6-cause-of-decline-of-the-
harappan-culture/47579/
• http://www.crystalinks.com/induscivilization.ht
ml
• https://jang.com.pk/news/541801#_
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2643
83453_Indus_Valley_Civilization_Table_1_The_C
hronology_of_Indus_Valley_Civilization
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