Where is the Indus valley ?

The Indus Valley is on the border between India,Pakistan and Afghanistan.The main city may have been Mohenjo-Daro but it could have been Harappa.

To the West of Mohenjo-Daro are the Highlands.North East of Mohenjo Daro are the Himalayan mountains.

3300 BC

2600 BC

2600-

1800 BC

1800 BC

1922 AD

1948 AD

1973 AD

1980 AD

Small villages are established in the area around Mohenjo-Daro.

Building of a planned city is begun at Mohenjo-Daro.

Mohenjo-Daro is a thriving trade city.

Mohenjo-Daro falls into decline and is later

abandoned.

Mohenjo-Daro’s ruins are found.

First attempts to conserve Mohenjo-Daro are made.

Plans are approved to preserve Mohenjo-Daro.

Mohenjo-Daro becomes a World Heritage Site.

Mohenjo-Daro timeline

When was the Harappan Civilization at its peak in the

Indus Valley? The Indus Valley civilization lived in the Valley about 4000 years ago, 2600-1900B.C. It was discovered by numerous scientists and archaeologists in 1921. Alexander Cunningham, the director general of the Archaeological Survey in India(ASI), visited the Harappan ruins to look at the Buddhist remains along with the next director of the ASI, John Marshall. They set up an excavation to investigate the mysterious ancient ruins. The dig began in 1920 led by archaeologist Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni. .Many different artefacts have been uncovered in the Indus Valleys main cities, Mohenjo-Daro and

Harappa.

The Civilization in the Indus Valley

The people in the Indus valley formed the earliest urban civilization in the sub Indian continent and one of the earliest in the world.Another name for the Indus valley civilization is the Harappan civilization. The first excavations that were made in the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro which were conducted in 1921-1922. Excavations also discovered that men and women dressed in colourful robes , the women also wore lipstick! For dinner it might have been hot bread served with barley or rice. They all were all very good farmers they grew things such as peas, melons , wheat and dates.the fish in the Indus river were caught by fish hooks and were eaten with most probably bread. They ate animals aswell such as sheep, pigs, zebus (a kind of cow) and water buffalo . The Indus valley civilization was a wonderful place.

Why did the Harappan civilization decide to live in the Indus Valley?

The Indus Valley civilization may of lived there because of the Indus River which flows through the valley. It over-flowed every year leaving soil perfect for growing crops in. It could of also been used for transport and food such as fish. The Indus Valley was also well protected by the Himalayan Mountain

Range.

Streets and Buildings

The City Structure

The Indus tribe lived in houses just like today. They where built from bricks and cement and must have been very strong because lots of these buildings are still standing today. They had a very complex city structure with one to two floors, to each building, yet there has been no evidence that the tribe had doors separating any of the rooms.

There is a road, which runs through the city, where carts ran down to transport goods. These where pulled by camels, oxen and elephants, which where also used to travel on.

The Great Bath The great bath was a special place in the Indus Valley. It was used for baptizing

babies. Like the drains, the bricks were clay to make it waterproof so none of the water could escape. The only way the water could escape was through a special system

where, if they wanted to, they can let the water out if it got to dirty and then they could fill it up again. It also has a plug hole which was used for totally emptying out

the bath.

This is the plug of the great bath.

This is the great bath today

The bath is made from tightly fitted bricks which had tar on the inside of the bath. The tar was used as a water proof layer so the people could bath. Archaeologists aren’t sure how they filled it up but they found a well near by.

The bath was 12 metres long and 7 metres wide. Archaeologists think, where the brick pedestals are, there use to be really tall pillars.

The Drainage System There is evidence of very sophisticated drainage systems in the cities of the Indus Civilisation. The drainage systems were so big that a human would have been able to walk through the middle of one. This was really helpful because if the drain was blocked, the drain could be easily accessed. They were also very clever because they used cement and clay bricks to make the drains, which always sloped downhill. There is evidence which shows lots of small footprints in the bricks. This may indicate that children helped to make the bricks.

This drain is about 5

meters deep.

Pots from The Indus valley Many pots, pans and cooking vessels have been found in the ancient civilization of the Indus valley. Each of them have had their own decorative, unique design, with some of them just plain. The pictures to the right are also evidence that they used, and had a strong connection with animals. The pots have shown that they were skilled and put a lot of time into making them. Most of the pots were made of terracotta but some of the ones used for cooking were made of bronze.They used fire to harden the terracotta pots.Some of the poorer people had pots with no decoration. The pots shown on this page have been slip painted by the people who sold them. They made the clay very watery, and then stained with berries and other natural resources such as ash and

flowers. Decorated pots can also be a sign of wealth because they would cost a lot to trade. The pots were mostly used for storing foods and drink. Some of them were more ornamental rather than practical . Some of the bodies found were buried with pots but they were with no decoration at all.

Indus valley toys

These toy figures are made out of clay . They were for children to play with.The wood could of rotted so they might of put wood back on. The axels are replaced as well as the poles on the back of the cart.

These are ceramic sculptures of a small cart with vases and tools pulled by oxen,from Mohenjo-daro.

These carts show they had a strong connection with animals because many of the toys feature animals pulling the carts.Some of these animals are:oxen,cows and horses.

These are terracotta toy carts from the Harappan period site of Nausharo in Baluchistan

I used to enjoy playing with these.

Dice Physical and written evidence of dice and dominoes have been uncovered by archaeologists studying the Ancient Indus. Also they were studying ancient China, Meso-America, Egypt, Greece and Rome. An ancient form of Ludo was played as well as an ancient form of chess, which was played in the Indus valley. A board, uncovered in the area of Mohenjo-Daro, was said to be the oldest chess board discovered in the world.

The oldest gaming pieces in the world, somewhere in the range of 5,000 years old where found in the Indus Valley and Nal Culture, in the range of 3000 – 2500 BC. A pair of incised marble gaming pieces with a distinctive Indus Valley motif incised along the tops of both pieces were found. The tops of each have been partially drilled and are 4.5 cm. Along with my other Indus Valley gaming pieces, these pieces are the oldest in the collection, somewhere in the range of 4,500 - 5,000 years old.

Gaming pieces

Models and Figurines

Many archaeologists think that Harappan people used figurines when they prayed. Maybe the Harrapan people worshiped a female goddess. If they did, do you think it would affect the women in the Indus Valley civilisation?

Hundreds of small figurines of people,animals,birds and masks provide clues about peoples daily lives and religious beliefs.they are usually hand modelled in terracotta.

The people in the Indus Valley carve large numbers of figurines of women. These statues differ from those found in many other cultures in attention to jewellery and hairstyles other sites had carts with clay wheels and maybe the earliest toy.

Female figurines have been found in all shapes and sizes. Some are slim, some fat and some nurse babies.Many female figurines are wearing bangles and have different headdress's, such as cloth turbans. Some female figurines are adored with flowers and lots of jewellery such as bracelets and decorated belts.

Seals of the Indus Valley

Don’t worry, we don’t mean seals as in the animal, but seals as in white fired glazed steatite with a decoration or writing carved on. The seals are the key which archaeologists used to realised that the Indus civilization really exists. There was two seals found in 1924 in two different ancient cities six hundred km apart which proved the two cities were linked. The seals were used for part of trade and some seals have their family names carved on.

This seal was found seventeen feet and four inches below the ground!

This is a unicorn seal found in Morhenjo daro in 1931 and proved they believed in mythical creatures.

There were more than 2,000 seals discovered by archaeologists in different ancient Indus cities. We think that the symbols on the seals may have been a way of writing and the animals showed that maybe the people kept animals.

This seal of a bull is about the size of a large post

stamp.

The goods that were traded are pots, jewellery and other valuables explained in other slides.

These are some other animal motifs appearing on seals found primarily at the largest cities include dangerous wild animals like the rhinoceros, the water buffalo, the gharial (in the crocodilian family) and the tiger. All of these animals would have been familiar to people living at the edge of the thick jungles and swampy grasslands of the Indus plain and they were revered as totemic animals, closely associated with important myths and legends.

This is a terracotta seal from Mohenjo-daro depicting a collection of animals and some script symbols. This sealing may have been used in specific rituals as a narrative token that tells the story of an important myth.

This seal was thought to

have been made about 4000 years ago .

Indus valley’s jewellery People of the Indus Valley really loved they're jewellery ,one of the Indus valley civilization best features is its jewellery.We have evidence of the amount of jewellery found in the Indus valley.

Each bead in the Indus valley is approximately 2-3 centimetres long.

The Indus valley is rich in many metals and worthy stones such as Carnelian, gold, copper, turquoise and other metals/semi precious stones

We think this ring is made out of carnelian and a precious stone.

The Indus valley’s

jewellery is one of the oldest in the world.

These are some necklaces and bracelet's from the Indus valley.

This is a broach found in the Indus valley.

The people of the Indus valley didn’t get the precious materials themselves, they traded with other nearby cities who had originally mined these expensive jewels and stones . They then brought them back to their own civilization and then fashioned them into jewellery.

They then took the beautiful jewellery to nearby markets and sold them to the public.

The jewellers would display their goods using models which are rather like the modern-day mannequins.