1. Indus Valley Civilization: Economics
Traded with China, SE Asia, S. India, Afghanistan, and Mesopotamia
Jade from Mesopotamia and Jewels from SE Asia found
Indus seals found in Mesopotamia
Art showing oxen pulling carts used for transport
Job specialization extensive but craftsmen inferior to those in Egypt and Mesopotamia
Weaker weapons made of bronze; no swords

2. Indus Valley Civilization: Economics
Seals are important to unlocking information about the Indus Valley; they were found all over the Indus Valley as well as in China and Mesopotamia. Seals were fixed to objects and used by traders to identify products or merchants. The are also the best clues to understanding language of the Indus Valley.

3. Clothing: Men and women dressed in colorful robes
Clothing: Men and women dressed in colorful robes. Women wore jewelry of gold and precious stone, and even wore lipstick! Among the treasures that have been found was a statue of a woman wearing a bracelet ( similar to designs worn in India today).

4. Now on to the Crash Course…

5. The Indo-European Migrations and Early Aryan India

6. Indo-Europeans (Aryans)
Central Asian tribes
Nomadic and pastoral people
Great warriors
Domesticated the horse
Early iron workers

7. Aryans Take over the Indus Valley
Just like not much is known about the development of this region, not much is known about its decline.
For unknown reasons, around 1750 B.C.E the Indus Valley began to decline. Then about 1500 B.C., nomadic warriors known as the Aryans conquered the Indus Valley.

8. Characteristics of the Aryan Civilization
They measured their wealth in sheep, goats, and especially cattle.
Horses were also valued.
Early Aryans did not have a written language but relied an oral tradition called Sanskrit.

9. Indus Valley Civilization: Society and Culture
Social classes existed
Size of house in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa varied
Dominated by powerful priestly class, which ruled from the cities; meditated with the gods and the people
Little is known about the religion
A horned god shown on seals in the lotus position
Mother goddess worshipped by ordinary people/ horned god by priests

10. Movement of the Aryans

11. Indus Valley Civilization
Rosetta Stone
Click on link.
Scholars don’t know much about the Indus Valley because they can’t decipher the writing, but there has been some success in another region…
Egyptian writing was deciphered using the Rosetta Stone a tablet with three languages (formal hieroglyphics, informal Egyptian, and Greek) able to decode using Greek language

12. Aryans and Dravidians
The interaction of Dravidian peoples with the Aryans laid the foundations of modern Indian society.
Dravidian: Mostly in South Asia; Variety of languages

13. Sanskrit and the Vedas
Sanskrit used in previous religious and literary works.
Vedas = “wisdom”
The Rig Veda, most important of the Vedas, was committed to writing c. 600 BCE.

14. The Vedic Age
This period is characterized by competition for land and resources.
There was much fighting between Aryans and Dravidians.
The Aryans did not have a state or government but were controlled by chiefdoms.
Chiefdoms were dominated by a raja who governed in collaboration with a council of village elders.

15. The Vedic Age
They learned to work with iron as they migrated throughout the Indian subcontinent.
They made axes and plows that increased food production and led to population growth.
Traditional chiefdoms evolved into regional kingdoms and they built permanent capitals.

16. Origins of the Caste System
The Aryans’ had a social hierarchy based on hereditary distinctions between individual and groups according their occupations and roles in society.
The Sanskrit term for these social distinctions is varna, which suggests that original distinctions were based on skin color.
Over time, color distinctions became less clear.

17. Ayran/Hindu Social Structure
Brahmins – warriors, priests
Kshatriyas – rulers, warriors
Vaishyas – farmers, merchants, artisans
Sudras – laborers; landless
Untouchables– unpleasant, polluted jobs; not directly owned by others
Done
Social mobility…did it exist?

18. Gender Structure during the Vedic Era
There was a strict patriarchal system.
Women had no public authority and could not inherit land unless there was no male heir.
Women received no formal education.
The most important duties were for the woman to maintain the home and bear children.

19. Gender Structure during the Vedic Era
The practice of sati, the sacrifice of a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre, though never widely practiced in India, was considered a powerful illustration of a patriarchal system.

20. Early Aryans and Religion
Early Aryans were polytheistic.
They practiced ritual sacrifice as a way to gain divine support.
Over time, their practices changed dramatically.
They eventually drew inspiration from the Dravidians.
reincarnation

21. Upanishads: “sitting in front of”
Called for high ethical standards
Respect for all living things
Cautioned against excessive attachment to material things

22. Vedic Age ends with invasions of Darius and Alexander
We will study this in our second unit.

23. Now it’s time to turn our attention towards China!
Know This Map!
Now it’s time to turn our attention towards China!