The Indus River Valley civilization arose around 6500 BCE in what is now Pakistan and northwestern India. Two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, were home to over 50,000 people each and featured advanced architecture including defensive walls, well-planned streets, and sophisticated water and drainage systems. The Indus people cultivated wheat, barley and cotton and engaged in extensive trade. Though the civilization declined between 2000-1800 BCE for unknown reasons, it was highly advanced for its time period.

1. Indus River Valley
Civilization (Harappa)
By Kayla Delaney, Molly Huffaker
Lewis Oliver, and Maeve Russell
http://www.lehladakh.net/indus_sindhu_.jpg

2. Beginnings of Civilization
• Farming began around 6500 B.C. at
Mehrgarh, a village settlement in the hills
west of the Indus Valley
• Main crops (wheat and barley) grown
initially to supplement hunting and
gathering
• Already had extensive trade networks
– Revealed by burial goods of turquoise and lapis
lazuli from Central Asia and Afghanistan

3. Indus River Valley
• Consisted of to large cities,
Harappa and Mohenjo­daro
• Lasted ~2600­1900 BCE
• 50,000 mi2
• Extended from the Arabian
sea to the Himalayas and New
Delhi
• Grew wheat, barely, Vield
peas, mustard, sesame,cotton
• Domesticated dogs, cats,
cattle, pigs, camels, and
buffalo

4. Achievements
• Created wheels for both
pottery and transportation
• Pictograph writing system
• Stone stamps (seals) to show
ownership
• Walls surrounding city to
prevent Vlooding
• Toilets made out of bricks
• Bull driven carts
• Barbed hooks,lines and nets
for Vishing http://www.exoticindiaart.com/artimages/indus_sm.jpg

5. Religion
• No temples found
• Terra­cotta Vigurines
found for sacriVicial
purposes
• Discrete cemeteries and
burial grounds
• Human Vigurines in yoga
position with ornaments
and headdresses
symbolize fertility god

6. Religion continued
• Geometric symbols
show beliefs in
cosmology
• Narrative seals found
on burials under sacred
“bo tree”
• “Shiva seals” show a
man seated in yoga
position surrounded by
animals represent
religious Vigure, Shiva

7. Art
• Artisans used bronze,
gold, silver, terracotta,
glazed ceramics, and
semi­precious stones
• Art found on vessels,
seals, and amulets
• Seals found with
animal motifs
• Art used for personal
possession http://img.tfd.com/thumb/9/9d/Dancing_girl_mohenjodaro.jpg

8. Architecture
• Private houses with
central space surrounded
by living and storage
rooms
• Interior protected by
walls and entryway
• Large houses surrounded
by smaller houses might
have been for extended
family http://spiffykiffy.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/gateway-at-harappa1.jpg
• Circular brick wells with
wedge shaped bricks

9. Architecture continued
• Large public structures
with multiple entrances
• City had grid pattern
with streets and
buildings facing cardinal
directions
• Buildings built out of
mud bricks coated with http://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/ancient/images/
sw/mohenjo-daro-ruins-285685-sw.jpg
plaster on a platform

10. Government
• Autocratic government
necessary for the valley’s large
scale building projects
– Needed the capacity to organize
and supervise large numbers of
laborers
• Existence of a strong ruling class
indicated by the presence of
large and well­fortiVied citadels
in each city
• Rigid and uniform ordering of
culture http://www.astronomy.pomona.edu/archeo/india/temple.p61.GIF

11. Government continued
• Society dominated by a
powerful priestly class
– Main coordinators of fortress
construction and defense
preparation
– May have overseen handicraft
production and supervised both
regional and long distance trade
• Priests had impressive
control over the city
– Were intermediaries between
the city populace and a number
of gods and goddesses

12. Economic Life
• Traded with
Afghanistan, South
India, and Iran
• Imported gold, silver,
copper, turquoise and
other semi­precious
stones
• Used seals to show
ownership of products
traded http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/27/gallery/indus-script-540x540.jpg

13. Relationships with
Surrounding Peoples
• Traded with People of
India, Afghanistan,
and Iran
• Seals of Harappan
civilization found in
places as far away as
Mesopotamia
http://www.freewebs.com/a1sap/bull.jpg

14. Theories Regarding the
Civilzation’s Demise (2000­
1800 B.C.)
1. Gradual environmental
changed caused by
agricultural disaster,
overpopulation and
exploitation of
resources
2. Tectonic plate activity
caused Vlooding and
drying of Sarawti River
3. Warfare
4. Epidemic disease

15. After the Demise
• After 1800 B.C., people living in the region
returned to dwelling in smaller, more
scattered settlements
• No settlements on the scale of the Indus
cities existed in South Asia for the next 1000
years
• Pirak ­ one of the largest settlements
– Flourished around 1500 B.C.
– Large for the period, but less than one quarter of
the size of the major Indus Valley cities
– Thought to be agriculturally prosperous because
of its large houses and grain storage silos

16. Works Cited
Indus River Valley Government. 24 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/civilizations
india/gov/index.html>.
Indus Valley. 24 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.history‐world.org/indus_valley.htm>.
Indus Valley Civilization. 24 Feb. 2010.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization>.
Scarre, Chris. Timelines of the Ancient World: A Visual Chronology from the Origins of
Life to A.D. 1500. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1993. Print.