Pictures

Introduction

A civilization is a complex human society, usually made up of different

cities, with certain characteristics of cultural and technological development.
The word “civilization” relates to the Latin word “civitas1” or “city.” This is
why the most basic definition of the word “civilization” is a “society made up
of cities.” But early in the development of the term, anthropologists and
others used “civilization” and “civilized society” to differentiate between
societies they found culturally superior.

The first civilizations formed on the banks of rivers. The most notable
examples are the Ancient Egyptians, who were based on the Nile, the
Mesopotamians in the Fertile Crescent on the Tigris/Euphrates rivers, the
Ancient Chinese on the Yellow River, and Ancient India on the Fertile banks
of the Indus. These early civilizations began to form around the time of the
Neolithic Revolution. Rivers were attractive locations for the first civilizations
because they provided a steady supply of drinking water and made the land
fertile for growing crops. Moreover, goods and people could be transported
easily, and the people in these civilizations could fish and hunt the animals
that came to drink water. Additionally, those lost in the wilderness could
return to civilization by traveling downstream, where the major centers of
the human population tend to concentrate.
 Harappan Civilization.

Intro

The Indus River Valley Civilization, 3300-1300 BCE, also known as the
Harappan Civilization, extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to
Pakistan and northwest India. They were first discovered by laborers
constructing the railway connection between Lahore and Karachi in modern-
day Pakistan along the Indus River Valley. The first major excavation started
in the 1920s with Harappa being the first site to be excavated between 1920
and 1934. Before the excavation of these Harappan cities, scholars thought
that Indian civilizations had begun in the Ganges valley as Aryan immigrants
from Persia and Central Asia populated the region around 1250 BCE. The
discovery of ancient Harappan cities unsettled that conception and moved the
timeline back another 1500 years. Scholars are still piecing together
information about this mysterious civilization, but they have learned a great
deal about it since its rediscovery. Its origins seem to lie in a settlement
named Mehrgarh in the foothills of a mountain pass in modern-day
Baluchistan in western Pakistan. There is evidence of settlement in this area
as early as 7000 BCE. The Indus Valley Civilization is often separated into
three phases: the Early Harappan Phase from 3300 to 2600 BCE,
the Mature Harappan Phase from 2600 to 1900 BCE, and the Late
Harappan Phase from 1900 to 1300 BCE. The Indus cities are noted for
their urban planning, a technical and political process concerned with the
use of land and the design of the urban environment. They are also noted for
their baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems,
and clusters of large, nonresidential buildings. The Indus Valley Civilization
began to decline around 1800 BCE. Archaeological evidence indicates that
trade with Mesopotamia, located largely in modern Iraq, seemed to have
ended. The advanced drainage systems and baths of the great cities were built
over or blocked. Writing began to disappear, and the standardized weights
and measures used for trade and taxation fell out of use.

Sources
A historical source is an original source that contains important historical
information. These sources are something that informs us about history at the
most basic level, and these sources are used as clues to study history
Historical sources include documents, artifacts, archaeological sites, features,
oral transmissions, stone inscriptions, paintings, recorded sounds, images,
and oral history. Even ancient relics and ruins, broadly speaking, are
historical sources. We get information about the Harappan Civilization from
various sources, the chief being the Great Bath, Citadel, Seals, Bearded Man,
Dancing Girl, Dockyard, and Script.
Urban infrastructure and architecture
By 2600 BCE, small Early Harappan communities had developed into large
urban centers. These cities include Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-Daro
in modern-day Pakistan and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and
Lothal in modern-day India. In total, more than 1,052 cities and settlements
have been found, mainly in the general region of the Indus River and its
tributaries. Out of this Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Banawali, and Dholavira are
the most important sites of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Mohenjo-Daro is thought to have been built in the twenty-sixth century
BCE; it became not only the largest city of the Indus Valley Civilization but
one of the world’s earliest major urban centers. Located west of the Indus
River in the Larkana District, Mohenjo-Daro was one of the most
sophisticated cities of the period, with advanced engineering and urban
planning. Harappa was a fortified city in modern-day Pakistan that is
believed to have been home to as many as 23,500 residents living in sculpted
houses with flat roofs made of red sand and clay. The city spread over 150
hectares—370 acres—and had fortified administrative and religious centers
of the same type used in Mohenjo-Daro. Both cities had similar
organizations and featured citadels, central areas in a city that were heavily
fortified and protected with defensive military structures. Additionally, both
cities were situated along the Indus River
The remains of the Indus Valley Civilization cities indicate remarkable
organization; there were well-ordered wastewater drainage and trash
collection systems and possibly even public baths and granaries, which are
storehouses for grain. The quality of urban planning suggests efficient
municipal governments that place a high priority on hygiene or religious
ritual. Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards,
granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. These massive
walls likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have deterred
military conflicts. Unlike Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, the inhabitants of
the Indus Valley Civilization did not build large, monumental structures.
There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples—or even of kings,
armies, or priests—and the largest structures may be granaries. The city of
Mohenjo-Daro contains the Great Bath, which may have been a large, public
bathing and a social area used for religious purposes. It resembled a large
swimming pool. This building is 55 meters long and 35 meters wide. There is
a swimming pool in the center, 12 meters long, 7 meters wide, and 2.5 meters
deep.
Other impressive structures which reflected the Harappan
civilization's great progress in the field of architecture are The Assembly Hall
in Mohenjo-Daro and the Great Granary situated in Harappa. The Assembly
Hall is a large room that may have been used to hold public meetings or
meetings of the members of an organization such as a school, church, or
deliberative assembly. The Great Granary was used for storing grains. It
had Circular black platforms which were used for threshing grains.
Main Features of the Harappan Civilization
The people of the Indus River Valley Civilization achieved many notable
advances in technology, Urban or Town planning, Drainage system, and
Civic organization. Fire-baked bricks—which were uniform in size and
moisture-resistant—were important in building baths and sewage structures
and are evidence that Harappans were among the first to develop a system
of standardized weights and measures. The consistency of brick size across
cities is evidence of a broader civilization.
The most striking feature of the Harappan Civilization is the urban planning.
The Indus cities followed a grid pattern. Each city was divided into two parts.
To the west of each city was a Citadel, built on a high platform. Public
buildings, religious structures and granaries were built on the Citadel. The
ruling class comprising rich merchants and priests lived there. The Citadel
was surrounded by a wall that separated the Citadel and the lower town and
proved as protection against invasion and floods.
The main streets followed a grid pattern running from North to South or from
east to west. The houses stood on both sides of the streets and were rounded
at the corners to allow carts to move easily. The streets crossed one another at
right angles, dividing the city into square or rectangular blocks. The houses
ranged from a single room up to twelve rooms. They were made up of burnt
bricks and mud mortar. Each house had a bathroom, a storeroom, a kitchen, a
well and dustbins. The kitchen had a fireplace, with an oven in the courtyard.
The bathrooms had paved and slanting floors. Doors and windows opened on
the streets. House drains emptied wastewater into the street drains which led
to the main drains, which emptied themselves into the outskirts of the city.
The ancient Indus systems of sewage and drainage developed
and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than
any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East and even more
efficient than those in many areas of Pakistan and India today. Individual
homes drew water from wells, while wastewater was directed to covered
drains on the main streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and
smaller lanes, and even the smallest homes on the city outskirts were believed
to have been connected to the system, further supporting the conclusion that
cleanliness was a matter of great importance.
The Indus Valley people lived in well-planned towns. The towns
had adequate arrangements for water supply. The discovery of lampposts at
intervals reveals the existence of street lighting. Sanitation was also properly
looked after. Rubbish was thrown into the dustbins. The sweepers kept the
cities neat and clean. There were inns for travelers. The system of watch and
ward at night also existed. Nobody could build pottery kilns in the city. All
these indicate the existence of some civic organization whose authority was
well-respected by the people.
It has been rightly said that well-planned towns, elaborate systems
of drainage, and efficient civic organization were the monumental
achievements of the Indus Valley people.
Trade
The people of the Indus valley maintained close commercial relations with
the outside world. There is an overwhelming mass of evidence that clearly
shows that a flourishing trade, probably through the land routes of
Baluchistan and Persia, took place between the Indus Valley and
Mesopotamia (Sumer) in ancient times. Numerous seals of Indian origin with
Indus script and Brahmani bulls have been found at various Sumerian sites.
Likewise, various importations from Sumer, like an engraved steatite vessel,
a model ram, an adze, small pottery rings, etc. recovered in the Indus Valley,
clearly indicate trading intercourse between Indus and Sumer in ancient
times. Historians believe that the Indus Valley people had also maintained
trade relations with Egypt and Crete through Sumer. The representation on a
seal of a mastless ship, with a central cabin and a steersman seated at the
rudder, compelled Dr. Mackay, a British archeologist from Bristol known for
his excavations and studies of Mohenjo-Daro and other sites belonging to
the Indus Valley Civilization, to believe that the Indus Valley people were in
touch with Sumer, Egypt and Crete by the sea-route also.
 Art and Crafts of the Harappan people
The Indus Valley people were good artists and possessed artistic skill of high
order. They made great progress in the field of art and craft. Many statues
and figurines of men and animals have been discovered at various places in
the Indus Valley. The bronze figure of a dancing girl, with her hand on her
hip, found in Mohenjo-Daro is a masterpiece of the Indus Art of Sculpture. It
shows a high degree of development in the art of sculpture. The stone
figurine of a shawl-clad Yogi excavated from Mohenjo-Daro is also a fine
example of their art. The statues of a young bull, a strong watch dog, and a
dancer standing on her right leg while raising her left leg in front, are really
praiseworthy. All these statues look quite life-like and speak highly of the
artistic skill of the Indus sculpture.
The art of pottery had reached its zenith. Pottery was made on the wheel and
was, therefore, regular in shape. The Indus potter was a skilled craftsman and
produced plain, colored and glazed pottery. It is generally believed that the
glazed Indus pottery is the earliest examples of its kind in the ancient world.
The Indus pottery was famous for its color, shape, rich design, and perfect
finish.
Seals and their Importance
The discovery of a large number of seals occupies a special importance of its
own in the Indus Valley Civilization. More than 2000 seals have been
excavated from the Indus Valley sites. The are made of various materials
such as pottery, steatite, faience, ivory, etc. Much of the information
regarding the Indus Valley people has been drawn from these seals. Besides
providing much knowledge about the physical features of men, women,
animals and birds of those days, they reveal the artistic skill of the artists and
craftsmen of the Indus Valley. An idea of the dress, ornaments, hair style, etc.
of the Indus Valley people can be derived from the figures engraved on these
seals. These seals also throw a good deal of light on the religious faiths and
commercial activities of the Indus Valley people.
Of all the 2000 odd seals, the most important is that of Shiva Pashupati which
has beenfound at Mohenjo-Daro. It is a three-faced deity, wearing a buffalo
horned headress, seated cross-legged on a throne, surrounded by and
elephant, tiger, buffalo, and rhinoceros with two deers at his feet. Most of the
depiction in the seals has been identified by historians as a human sacrifice
to the Mother Goddess.
Religion
Stone images, figurines and engravings on seals help us to know the religious
ideas and beliefs of the Inus Valley people.The discovery of many statues and
figurines of the Mother Goddess or Shakthi shows that the worship of the
divine mother was very common. Her head-dress is like a fan and she is
wearing many ornaments. In one particular seal, she has been shown standing
in the bifurcated branches of a pipal tree and a worshipper is shown as
bringing a goat in front of the deity, perhaps for offering as a sacrifice to the
Goddess. Moreover, the discovery of so many smoke-stained female figures
has led the historians to believe that possibly oil or incense was burnt before
the female deity to get her blessings. The worship of the Mother Goddess
reveals that these people believed that female energy is the source of all
creation. Among the male gods, Shiva was the most prominent. No temples
have been discovered among the ruins of the Indus Valley.So it is evident
that they did not worship their gods in temples.They worshipped animals like
bull, buffalo, tiger, rhinoceros, crocodile, snake, etc. They also worshipped
the Pipal tree. It was regarded as the abode of the gods.
 Reference

 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/civilizations/
 https://www.khanacademy.org/
 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/
chapter/river-valley-civilizations/
