Search results
Learn about the history, culture, and features of the Indus Valley Civilization, also known as Harappan Civilization, from this PDF document. It covers the important sites, phases, town planning, agriculture, economy, and script of this ancient urban civilization.
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilisation (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1600 BCE) mainly in the northwestern regions of the South Asia, extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India.
- Adesh Katariya
The Indus Civilization represents the earliest manifestation of urban development in the plains of the Indus valley and its extension along the Arabian sea-coast. The four principal settlements so far excavated provide the material to reconstruct the cultural content of the civilization.
- 1. Beginnings
- 2. Subsistence Strategies
- How artefacts are identified
- 3.1 Laying out drains
- Citadels
- The most ancient system yet discovered
- Which of the architectural features of Mohenjodaro indicate planning?
- 4.1 Burials
- 4.2 Looking for “luxuries”
- 6. Strategies for Procuring Materials
- 6.1 Materials from the subcontinent and beyond
- What were from the
- 7.1 Seals and sealings
- 8.1 Palaces and kings
- 10. Discovering the Harappan Civilisation
- 10.1 Cunningham’s confusion
- Sites, mounds, layers
- 10.2 A new old civilisation
- 10.3 New techniques and questions
- 11. Problems of Piecing Together the Past
- 11.1 Classifying finds
- 11.2 Problems of interpretation
- What are the aspects of Harappan economy that have been reconstructed from archaeological evidence?
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
There were several archaeological cultures in the region prior to the Mature Harappan. These cultures were associated with distinctive pottery, evidence of agriculture and pastoralism, and some crafts. Settlements were generally small, and there were virtually no large buildings. It appears that there was a break between the Early Harappan and the ...
If you look at Maps 1 and 2 you will notice that the Mature Harappan culture developed in some of the areas occupied by the Early Harappan cultures. These cultures also shared certain common elements including subsistence strategies. The Harappans ate a wide range of plant and animal products, including fish. Archaeologists have been able to recons...
Processing of food required grinding equipment as well as vessels for mixing, blending and cooking. These were made of stone, metal and terracotta. This is an excerpt from one of the earliest reports on excavations at Mohenjodaro, the best-known Harappan site: Saddle querns ... are found in considerable numbers ... and they seem to have been the on...
One of the most distinctive features of Harappan cities was the carefully planned drainage system. If you look at the plan of the Lower Town you will notice that roads and streets were laid out along an approximate “grid” pattern, intersecting at right angles. It seems that streets with drains were laid out first and then houses built along them. I...
While most Harappan settlements have a small high western part and a larger lower eastern section, there are variations. At sites such as Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat), the entire settlement was fortified, and sections within the town were also separated by walls. The Citadel within Lothal was not walled off, but was built at a height.
About the drains, Mackay noted: “It is certainly the most complete ancient system as yet discovered.” Every house was connected to the street drains. The main channels were made of bricks set in mortar and were covered with loose bricks that could be removed for cleaning. In some cases, limestone was used for the covers. House drains first emptied ...
probably long Bath. was a in a by a sides. of and tank, watertight edge of rooms of well. flowed Across a lay a with on corridor, each to a the uniqueness of as it Citadel, distinctive scholars special Ü Are there other structures on the Citadel apart from the warehouse and the Great Bath?
Archaeologists generally use certain strategies to find out whether there were social or economic differences amongst people living within a particular culture. These include studying burials. You are probably familiar with the massive pyramids of Egypt, some of which were contemporaneous with the Harappan civilisation. Many of these pyramids were ...
Another strategy to identify social differences is to study artefacts, which archaeologists broadly classify as utilitarian and luxuries. The first category includes objects of daily use made fairly easily out of ordinary materials such as stone or clay. These include querns, pottery, needles, flesh-rubbers (body scrubbers), etc., and are usually f...
As is obvious, a variety of materials was used for craft production. While some such as clay were locally available, many such as stone, timber and metal had to be procured from outside the alluvial plain. Terracotta toy models of bullock carts suggest that this was one important means of transporting goods and people across land routes. Riverine r...
The Harappans procured materials for craft production in various ways. For instance, they established settlements such as Nageshwar and Balakot in areas where shell was available. Other such sites were Shortughai, in far-off Afghanistan, near the best source of lapis lazuli, a blue stone that was apparently very highly valued, and Lothal which was ...
in the name that Oman, was texts a Besides, ships Oman, Mesopotamia?
Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long-distance communication. Imagine a bag of goods being sent from one place to another. Its mouth was tied with rope and on the knot was affixed some wet clay on which one or more seals were pressed, leaving an impression. If the bag reached with its sealing intact, it meant that it had not been tampered...
If we look for a centre of power or for depictions of people in power, archaeological records provide no immediate answers. A large building found at Mohenjodaro was labelled as a palace by archaeologists but no spectacular finds were associated with it. A stone statue was labelled and continues to be known as the “priest-king”. This is because arc...
So far, we have examined facets of the Harappan civilisation in the context of how archaeologists have used evidence from material remains to piece together parts of a fascinating history. However, there is another story as well – about how archaeologists “discovered” the civilisation. When Harappan cities fell into ruin, people gradually forgot al...
When Cunningham, the first Director-General of the ASI, began archaeological excavations in the mid-nineteenth century, archaeologists preferred to use the written word (texts and inscriptions) as a guide to investigations. In fact, Cunningham’s main interest was in the archaeology of the Early Historic (c. sixth century BCE-fourth century CE) and ...
Archaeological sites are formed through the production, use and discarding of materials and structures. When people continue to live in the same place, their constant use and reuse of the landscape results in the build up of occupational debris, called a mound. Brief or permanent abandonment results in alteration of the landscape by wind or water a...
Subsequently, seals were discovered at Harappa by archaeologists such as Daya Ram Sahni in the early decades of the twentieth century, in layers that were definitely much older than Early Historic levels. It was then that their significance began to be realised. Another archaeologist, Rakhal Das Banerji found similar seals at Mohenjodaro, leading t...
It was R.E.M. Wheeler, after he took over as Director-General of the ASI in 1944, who rectified this problem. Wheeler recognised that it was necessary to follow the stratigraphy of the mound rather than dig mechanically along uniform horizontal lines. Moreover, as an ex-army brigadier, he brought with him a military precision to the practice of arc...
As we have seen, it is not the Harappan script that helps in understanding the ancient civilisation. Rather, it is material evidence that allows archaeologists to better reconstruct Harappan life. This material could be pottery, tools, ornaments, household objects, etc. Organic materials such as cloth, leather, wood and reeds generally decompose, e...
Recovering artefacts is just the beginning of the archaeological enterprise. Archaeologists then classify their finds. One simple principle of classification is in terms of material, such as stone, clay, metal, bone, ivory, etc. The second, and more complicated, is in terms of function: archaeologists have to decide whether, for instance, an artefa...
The problems of archaeological interpretation are perhaps most evident in attempts to reconstruct religious practices. Early archaeologists thought that certain objects which seemed unusual or unfamiliar may have had a religious significance. These included terracotta figurines of women, heavily jewelled, some with elaborate head-dresses. These wer...
What has been achieved after so many decades of archaeological work? We have a fairly good idea of the Harappan economy. We have been able to tease out social differences and we have some idea of how the civilisation functioned. It is really not clear how much more we would know if the script were to be deciphered. If a bilingual inscription is fou...
A PDF file of the NCERT history textbook for Class XII, covering the Harappan Civilisation, also known as the Indus Valley Civilisation. Learn about the origins, subsistence strategies, settlements, trade, crafts and decline of the civilisation.
- 3MB
- 27
OBJECTIVES. s. At the end of this unit, you will be able to : explain various aspects of the achievements of the people of the Indus Valley; \ identify the major concepts, terms and teach~ngpoints required to be taught; identify the specific objectives of teaching those concepts and terms;
Learn about the sculptures, seals, pottery, jewellery and other arts of the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of the earliest examples of civic planning. Explore the realistic and diverse forms of human and animal figures, the lost wax technique, the terracotta figurines and the enigmatic seals.
Nov 2, 2017 · A book by Sir Mortimer Wheeler on the ancient history and archaeology of the Indus valley civilization and its neighbors. Download or stream the PDF from the Archaeological Survey of India Central Archaeological Library.
People also ask
Which ancient civilizations lived in the Indus Valley?
When did the Indus Valley Civilisation start?
What is Indus Civilization?
Who discovered a new civilisation in the Indus Valley?
