Indus River Valley Ancient India

Geography Located in modern day Pakistan Rich agricultural lands surrounded by highlands, mountains, deserts, and the ocean Developed in the area known as the Indian Floodplain

Indus River Valley It was named after the city of Harappa. Harappa and the city of Mohenjo-Daro were important cities. This Indus Valley “civilization” flourished around 4000-1000 BCE

Other River Civilizations Locations

Early Harappan-Ravi Phase 3300-2800 BCE Trade networks linked culture with related regional cultures and distant sources of raw materials Domesticated crops included peas, sesame seeds, dates and cotton. Domestic animals also used, such as the water buffalo

Middle Harappan-Integration Era 2600-1900 BCE By 2500 BCE, communities had been turned into urban centers. Over 1052 cities and settlements have been found Irrigation used to increase crop production and mud brick structures.

Late Harappan 1700-1300 BCE Cremation of human remains The bones were stored in painted pottery burial urns Reddish pottery, painted in black with shapes and designs with different surface treatments to the earlier period. Expansion of settlements into the east Rice became a main crop Apparent breakdown of the widespread trade of the Indus civilization, with materials such as marine shells no longer used.

Natural Resources The Indus Valley contained numerous natural resources that were an important part of Harappan civilization. Resources included: Fresh water and timber Materials such as gold, silver, semi-precious stones.

City Plans Houses had flat roofs and were just about identical Each was built around a courtyard, with windows overlooking the courtyard. The outside walls had no windows. Each home had its own private drinking well and its own private bathroom. Clay pipes led from the bathrooms to sewers located under the streets. These sewers drained into nearly rivers and streams.

Language The Indus (or Harappan) people used a pictographic script. Some 3500 examples of this script survive in stamp seals carved in stone, in molded terracotta and faience amulets, in fragments of pottery, and in a few other categories of inscribed objects.

Economy-Trade The Harappan civilization was mainly urban and based on trading. Inhabitants of the Indus valley traded with Mesopotamia, southern India, Afghanistan, and Persia for gold, silver, copper, and turquoise.

Economy-Agriculture Irrigation systems were used to take advantage of the fertile grounds along the Indus River. Walls were built to control the river's annual flooding. Crops grown included wheat, barley, peas, melons, and sesame. This civilization was the first to cultivate cotton for the production of cloth.

Collapse of Harappan “Civilization” The de-urbanization period of the Harappan Civilization saw the collapse and disappearance of the urban phenomena in the South Asia. The theme for this period is localization. Architectural and ceramic forms changed along with the loss of writing, planned settlements, public sanitation, monumental architecture, seaborne and exotic trade, seals, and weights.

Four Theories of Collapse Three theories are based on ecological factors: intense flooding, decrease in precipitation, and the dessication of the Sarasvati River. The fourth hypothesis is that of the Aryan Invasion, proposed by Sir R. E. Mortimer Wheeler and Stuart Piggott. Fourth largely abandoned in the 1940s in favor of a combination of factors from ecological disasters.