civilizations

Indus Valley Civilization

I

INTRODUCTION

Indus Valley Civilization

In the Indus valley area now known as Pakistan, an advanced Bronze Age culture rose up about 2500 bc and lasted for nearly 1000 years. Scholars do not know how it began or whether its people were related to those who now occupy Southwest Asia. Nomadic tribes called Aryans invaded the Indus River valley, probably from the region north of the Caspian Sea, in 1500 bc. The Aryan culture became dominant in the area, eclipsing that of its predecessors.

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Indus Valley Civilization (2500?-1700 bc), earliest known civilization of South Asia, corresponding to the Bronze Age cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete (Kríti). The remains of settlements belonging to this culture have been found throughout the Indus River valley in Pakistan, westward along the coast to the Iranian border, in India's northwestern states as far east as New Delhi, and on the Oxus River in northern Afghanistan. The Indus Valley civilization encompasses one of the largest geographical areas covered by a single Bronze Age culture.

II

CHARACTERISTICS

Indus Valley Art

The Indus Valley civilization thrived in the area of present-day Pakistan and western India between about 2500 and 1700 bc. A farming community, the civilization created artwork associated with agricultural life. Found at the archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro, this ceramic figure depicts two oxen pulling a woman in a cart.

Scala/Art Resource, NY

Excavated settlements reveal blocks of mud-brick buildings separated by streets, and the cities, such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappā, are dominated by large public buildings. These buildings were at one time identified as colleges, temples, granaries, and palaces, but later research has not confirmed such interpretations. The cities are usually divided into two distinctive groups of buildings, one of which may be enclosed by a wall.

The work of Indus Valley artisans shows a high degree of craft specialization. Characteristic artifacts include a distinctive black-on-red pottery, ceramic toys and figurines, etched carnelian beads, metal (bronze, silver, and gold) ornaments and tools, and stamp seals with an undeciphered script. Unfortunately, the nature of the social organization in this complex culture still evades complete interpretation.

Sometime after 2000 bc, complex ecological changes occurred in the Indus Valley area, forcing abandonment of many settlements and altering the basic characteristics of the civilization. Late Indus Valley culture is known mainly from excavated small farming villages. Artifacts associated with these sites are stylistically similar to earlier types but show more regional variation.

III

HISTORY OF EXCAVATIONS

Stone Tablets from Mohenjo-Daro

These stone tablets were found at Mohenjo-Daro, an archaeological site in modern Pakistan. The city of Mohenjo-Daro flourished during the Indus Valley civilization (2500?-1700 bc). Merchants use the stone tablets, which show examples of pictographic writing, to mark their goods.

Charles and Josette Lenars/Corbis

The Indus Valley civilization was first defined by the British archaeologist Sir John Marshall's diggings at Mohenjo-Daro and M. S. Vat's excavations at Harappā (both in what is now Pakistan) in the 1920s, and it is sometimes called Harappān civilization after the latter site. In 1946 the British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler, excavating at Harappā, located stylistically different pottery in the earliest occupied areas. Subsequent discoveries at nearby Kot Diji established that this early pottery at Harappā belonged to the early Bronze Age Kot Diji culture. Since 1960 Indian, Pakistani, and Western scholars have defined several additional early Bronze Age cultures at Goth Āmri, Sothi, Gumla, and other sites in Pakistan, each of which has some traits in common and contributed to the formation of the Indus Valley civilization.