1. India’s Early Civilizations
Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro

2. 1. Benefits of the Indus River
Summer monsoons made the rivers rise and flood which left rich, fertile soil
Farmers used the soil to grow crops to feed their families

3. 2. Results of having a lot of food
Spend more time doing things like:
Making tools
Building houses
Trade extra food and goods with other people (which gained them wealth)
Build larger cities
Why would become more wealthy lead to building bigger cities?

4. 3. How long did Civilization last?
Began about 3000 B.C.E. and lasted until 1500 B.C.E.
How many years is this? What does B.C.E. stand for?
More than a thousand villages and towns were part of this civilization.
Stretched from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.

5. 4. Major cities of Indus River Valley
Study the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro
Called the Harappan or Indus civilization
Well-planned cities that had as many as 35,000 people.

6. 5. Characteristics of the cities
Fortress on a brick platform to keep guard over residents
Wide main streets and smaller side streets
A wall surrounded each neighborhood
Narrow lanes separated the houses
Houses had flat roofs
Built with mud bricks that were baked in ovens
Some houses were larger than others but they had a similar layout
Courtyard in the middle and smaller rooms around it

8. The houses had flat roofs and many had staircases that allowed people to climb to the roof from the street

9. Mohenjo-Daro means “Mound of the Dead”
Mohenjo-Daro means “Mound of the Dead”. The cities ruins were discovered in the 1920s.
House Walls
Water drains

10. Immense Citadels would help people to scout for invading armies and general public well being.

11. 6. Conveniences of the cities
Wells supplied water
Residents had indoor bathrooms
Wastewater flowed to drains under the streets, running through pipes to pits outside city walls
Houses had garbage chutes connected to a bin in the street
Residents built large granaries to store food for the entire city’s population

12. Bathrooms and indoor plumbing
Water well

13. 7. Harappan society
Special script to write on seals and stamps (not sure how to decipher the markings because there are no historical records and we can’t read their language).
Royal palace and temple may have been enclosed into a fortress revealing that religion and politics were closely connected
Many were farmers who grew rice, wheat, barley, peas, and cotton
City people made copper and bronze tools, clay pottery, and cotton cloth, jewelry from gold, shells, and ivory
Toys were found like small monkeys and dice.

15. People were literate and used Indus Script
People were literate and used Indus Script. The language was a short string of symbols that were associated with the Indus Valley culture.
The language is still coded because we can’t understand it.