Harappan Civilization

2500-1500 B.C.E.

IX Eng ‘C’
 Ancient Civilizations in
India
• India has had civilizations as far back as 200,000 years ago
• From 8000-5000 B.C.E. there were Neolithic villages west of the
Indus River valley in the Iranian Plateau
• Because water covers much of the oldest remains, archaeologists
and historians aren’t sure exactly how far back in time Harappan
civilization stretches. The earliest strata indicates that by 2500
B.C.E., Harappan civilization was well established.
 Mysteries of
Harappa

• In addition to inconvenient water, Harappan

civilization remains mysterious because historians
can’t read Harappan script.
• Harappan script seems to have used 400
characters that were both phonetic and
logographic on thousands of clay seals and copper
tablets.
• Like the Nile and Tigris/Euphrates river
valleys, the Indus Valley deposited
alluvial soil across its flood plain,
allowing early farmers to establish
agriculture. Indus river people also
domesticated poultry, sheep, and goats
and grew cotton by ~5000 B.C.E.
• By ~3000 B.C.E. the Dravidian People
had built a complex society with large
urban centers.
• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the
major cities (pop. 35-40,000) and there
were about 300 smaller settlements
along the Indus River.
• Harappan civilization controlled an area
of roughly 500,000 sq. miles. The
Harappan “empire” was at least twice as
big as either Egypt or Mesopotamia.
Mohenjo-Daro
 Organization
• There is no overt evidence indicating royal authority or
the usual stress on military might, but there were city
walls, a large granary, and a fortified citadel in each of
the two major cities, indicating that Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro were organizational centers.
• The dwelling places in the cities indicate a large
degree of social stratification, but nearly all houses
had indoor plumbing with showers and toilets. There
was also a large public bath at Mohenjo-Daro. Was
ritual cleanliness an important part of Harappan
religion?
• There are very few grave sites throughout the
Harappan lands; in other civilizations, grave burials
normally help historians understand the beliefs of
ancient cultures. This lack of evidence means that
there aren’t as many preserved luxury goods. It also
indicates that like later Indian peoples, the Harappans
may have cremated their dead.
Great Bath- Mohenjo Daro
 • Another striking feature of Harappan
civilization was that throughout the large
territory there was a remarkable degree of
standardization in not only in architectural
styles, but also weight and measures and
even brick sizes.
• The layout of the major cities indicates that
they were planned before they were built,
rather than rising up organically as the
population grew.
Harappan • Between 2300-1750 B.C.E. the Harappan
people traded pearls, gems, copper, and
Culture ivory for Mesopotamian wool, leather, and
olive oil.
• Harappan artisans produced many beautiful
ornaments and statues.
• Their religion, like those of most early
agricultural societies, was concerned with
fertility and procreation.
 Decline of Harappa
• By 1900 B.C., Harappan civilization was already
on the decline. The traditional explanation was
that aggressive Indo-Aryans destroyed
Harappan civilization.
• The more recent evidence indicates that
Harappan civilization broke down from within,
probably due to environmental factors. Careless
deforestation degraded the integrity of the
Harappan landscape and ruined the farm lands.
• Thirty unburied skeletons in
Mohenjo Daro indicated a
catastrophic earthquake or fire
took place there.
• Between 1700-1500 B.C. people
were abandoning the cities. They
had completely collapsed by 1500 Continuity or
B.C.
Change?
• The eternal question of historians
of India has been “how much
continuity was there between
Harappan and Classical Indian
civilizations?"