1.
History at Key Stage 2
Unit 16:
How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

2. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
When was the Indus Valley civilisation? BC AD
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
500
1000
1500
2000
BC: Indus Valley
1666: The Great Fire of London
1000 BC – 323 BC: Ancient Greece s:
The Viking Age
55 BC AD: Roman Britain
3100 BC – 1069 BC: Ancient Egypt
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

3. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
Where was the Indus Valley civilisation?
The Indus valley was in Asia, in parts of what are now India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Click to have a closer look:
The Indus river
Afghanistan
The area where the Indus
Valley civilisation was is shown in bright green
Harappa
India
Pakistan
Mohenjo-Daro
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

4. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
What was the environment like in the Indus Valley?
Why do you think people would want to settle in the Indus valley?
Mountains
Hills
River
How do you think the environmental features would affect the lives of people living here?
Desert
Sea
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

5. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
How was the Indus Valley civilisation discovered?
In the first evidence
of the Indus Valley civilisation
was discovered.
It was a set of engraved seals
found near the town of Harappa,
like the ones shown in the picture
Following this discovery, a team
of archaeologists including
Rakhal Das Banerjee, John Marshall, E.J.H Mackay and M.S.Vats excavated the area and found the remains of buildings and streets.
It soon became clear that what they had found was evidence of an ancient civilisation.
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

6. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
What do streets and buildings tell us about life in Mohenjo-Daro?
Straight streets between houses
Houses
built in straight lines
Clay bricks baked in the sun
City gate
Drains
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

7. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
What do pictures of artefacts tell us about life in Mohenjo-Daro?
Choose a picture of an artefact and write a description of it.
In your description you may want to mention:
The size and shape of the artefact
The colour of the artefact
How the artefact is decorated
What you think it might have been used for
Reasons why you think it was used for this purpose
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

8. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
What sort of written evidence is there of the Indus Valley civilisation?
The Indus Valley civilisation’s system of writing was based on pictures, called ideograms.
Each ideogram could have several different meanings.
Can you think of examples of how we use pictures or ideograms to communicate nowadays?
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

9. Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?
How can the fish ideogram be interpreted?
The fish ideogram could have two meanings:
Star
Fish
Why do you think the fish ideogram might have the meaning ‘star’?
The Indus Valley people believed that the stars were like fish swimming in the night sky.
Unit 16: How can we find out about the Indus Valley civilisation?

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