1. Indus River Valley By: Noah Cicogna, Jon Ramos, Austin Russo, and Andrew Longhurst

2. Social ► Classes, egalitarian society ► Known for advancements in public conveniences ► Common ancestors with Mesopotamia ► Began as an urban civilization in the hills around the valley.  People migrated down into the valley through the millennia. ► To the north of the cities were citadels.  Raised platform holding public and personal baths; along with food storages that would be safe from flooding.  Completely surrounded by walls

3. Customs and Traditions ► Dice and small sculptures of bullock carts were used as toys ► Simple ritualistic barriers that showed no sign of hierarchy

4. Language, Communication, and Technology ► Uniform system of weights and measures ► Harappan language ► Little written records have been found.  Difficult to decipher

5. Arts and Architecture ► Crafts included pottery making, dyeing, metal working in bronze, and bead making. ► Fire-baked bricks ► Steatite stone tools ► Materials included jade, lapis lazuli, turquoise, amethyst, and steatite beads. ► Small stone structures thought to represent priestly or government officials and goddesses.  These are only inferences since there is no adjoining text. ► First known use of cotton fibers used in weaving textiles. ► Lower city laid out in a gridiron with main streets about 45 feet wide. ► Brick lined drains carried liquid and solid waste into sumps.

6. Religion ► Three headed figure in Harappan seals can be connected to later Aryan god Shiva. ► Sculptures suggest religious connection ► Nothing is known for sure about the Indus River valley’s religion due to limited information.

7. Government and Politics ► Controlled territories:  as far west as the Makran Coast  north and west into Punjab  the upper Ganges River valley  South and east to Dholavira in Kutch, onto the banks of the Narmanda River ► Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro  3 miles in circumference  Able to hold 40,000 people  Fortified walls ► Cities but no clearly delineated state structures. ► Great organizational and bureaucratic capacity.

8. Economic ► Sheep, cattle, zebu ► Trade by boat  Indus river  Arabian Sea  Persian Gulf  Tigris and Euphrates ► Indus valley goods found in Mesopotamia and vise versa ► Ganges valley allowed the discovery and use of:  Rice  Iron