The Indus valley civilization was a large, ancient civilization located in south Asia along the Indus river valley. At its peak, the Indus civilization had over 5 million inhabitants spread across 1,260,000 square kilometers, making it one of the largest ancient civilizations. Inhabitants developed new crafting and metallurgy techniques and built cities with brick roads, drainage systems, and multi-story houses.

2. The Indus valley civilization (IVC) was a bronze age civilization
located in the western region of south Asia. The civilization was spread
over some 1,260,000 km, making it the largest ancient civilization.
The Indus valley is one of the worlds earliest urban civilizations, at its
peak, the Indus civilization may have had a population of well over five
million.
Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new
techniques in handicraft and metallurgy. The civilization is noted for its
cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multi-storeyed
houses.

4.  Excavation of Harappan sites has been
ongoing since 1920, with important break
through occurring as recently as 1999.
 There were earlier and later cultures,
often called Early Harappan and Late
Harappan, in the same area of the
Harappan Civilization.
 The Harappan civilization is sometimes
called the Mature Harappan culture to
distinguish it from these cultures.
 Up to 1999, about 1,056 cities and
settlements have been found, of
which 96 sites have been excavated
mainly in the general region of the
Indus river.

5. Archaeological records provide no immediate
answers for a centre of power or for depictions of
people in power in Harappan society. But, there are
indications of complex decisions being taken and
implemented.
The Harappans were agriculturists. Their
economy was entirely dominated by
horticulture. There were massive granaries in
each city. Many of the Harappan seals had
pictures of animals that imply a wet and
marshy environment, such as rhinoceroses,
elephants and tigers. The Harappans also had
a wide variety of domesticated animals.

6. Between 400 and as many as
600 distinct Indus symbols have
been found on seals, small
tablets, ceramic pots and more
than a dozen other materials,
including a "signboard" that
apparently once hung over the
gate of the inner citadel of the
Indus city of Dholavira.

8. The Pashupati Seal is the name of
a steatite seal (dating from 2600–1900 BCE)
discovered at Mohenjo-daro.
The seal depicts a seated,
possibly ithyphallic and tricephalic, figure
with a horned headdress, surrounded by
animals.
It is purported to be one of the earliest
depictions of the Hindu god Shiva
(The seal is named after "Pashupati", an
epithet of Shiva) or Rudra, who is associated
with asceticism, yoga, and linga; regarded as
a lord of animal; and often depicted as
having three heads.

9. The Great Bath
 The Great Bath of Mohenjodaro is
called the "earliest public water tank
of the ancient world“.
 The Great Bath measures 11.88
metres x 7.01 metres, and has a
maximum depth of 2.43 metres. Two
wide staircases, one from the north
and one from the south, served as the
entry to the structure.
 A hole was also found at one end of
the Bath which might have been used
to drain the water into it.

10.  The drainage system of Mohenjo-Daro is so
elaborate that “the like of which has not
yet been found anywhere in the world in any
other city of the same antiquity.”
 The drainage system and drains were
covered with bricks or stones and were
provided with inspection traps and main
holes at regular intervals for inspection.

11.  The Town Planning System of Indus
Valley Civilization (Harappan Civilization)
was city based.
 The excellent drainage and sanitation
systems are remarkable. The Indus
civilization flourished around cities.
 The ruins of the cities so far unearthed
show remarkable town planning system
and excellent system of drainage and
sanitation of the Indus Valley
Civilization.
 The city was the heart of the
civilization.

12.  Archaeologists have offered four explanations for the
collapse of the Harappan “Civilization”.
 Three are based on ecological factors: intense flooding,
decrease in precipitation, and the dessication of the
Sarasvati River.
 The fourth hypothesis is that of the Aryan Invasion,
proposed by Sir R. E. Mortimer Wheeler and Stuart
Piggott.
 Fourth largely abandoned in the 1940s in favor of a
combination of factors from ecological disasters.