INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION






·         Old stone age – 10000 BCE (Paleolithic)

·         Middle stone age – 10000-6000 BCE (Mesolithic)

·         New stone age – 6000-4000 BCE (Neolithic)

·         Metal age – 3000-1000 BC (Copper, bronze iron)


Features of Indus valley civilization;

·         2700 -BC, 1900 (800 years)

·         On the valleys of river Indus

·         The author of the Indus civilisation – R.E Mortimer Wheeler

·         Also known as Harappan Civilization

·         Beginning of city life

·         Harappan sites discovered by – Dayaram Sahni (1921) – Montgomori district, Punjab, Pakistan.

·         Mohenjo-Daro discovered by – R.D Banerji in (1927) – Larkana district, Sind, Pakistan.

·         City was divided into citadel (west) and lower town(east).

·         Red pottery painted with designs in black.

·         Stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools, long stone blades etc.

·         Copper, bronze, silver, gold present.

·         Artificially produced – faience.

·         The written method of Indus Script was from right to left and left to right.

·         Specialists for handcrafts.

·         Import of raw materials.

·         Plough was used.

·         Indus product recently got its GI tag – Terracotta Toys.

·         Bodies were buried in wooden coffins, but during the later stages ‘H symmetry culture’ evolved where bodies were buried in painted burial urns,

·          Sugar cane not cultivated, horse, iron, Tin not used.

·         Harappan Archaeological site damaged in 1856 -1857, used as track ballast for building railway line.

·         Shapes are used in jars of Indus people – S shapes.

·         “cradle of civilisation” because – soil is Fertile.

 

Indus valley sites and specialties; 

·         Harappa




Ø  1st time about existence of Harappa – Charles Masson

Ø  Seals out of stones

Ø  Citadel outside on banks of river Ravi

Ø  Harappan culture are made of (seals) steatite.

Ø  The great granary found at Harappa in north of the citadel.

Ø  Harappan cattle are known as – Zebu.

Ø  Harappan people practised – double cropping


·         Mohenjo-Daro





Ø  Is the largest city. It is estimated to have spread over on how many hectares “200”

Ø  Larkana district.

Ø  Great Bath, Great Granary, Dancing Girl, Man with Bread, Cotton, Assembly hall

Ø  Term means “Mount of the Dead“

Ø  On the bank of river Indus

Ø  Believed to have been destructed by flood or invasion


·        
Chanhudaro



Ø  Bank of Indus River – discovered by Gopal Majumdar and Mackey (1931)

Ø  Pre Harappan culture – Jhangar culture and Jhukar culture

Ø  Only cite without citadel.

·         Kalibangan





Ø  At Rajastan on the banks of river Ghaggar, discovered by A. Ghosh (1953)

Ø  Fire altars

Ø  Bones of camel

Ø  Evidence of furrows

Ø  Horse remains (even through Indus Valley people didn’t use horses).

Ø    Known as third capital of Indus Empire.

Ø  Ploughed field used.

 

·         Lothal




Ø  At Gujarat near Bhogava river, discovered by S.R Rao (1957)

Ø  Fire altars

Ø  Beside the tributary of Sabamati

Ø  Store house

Ø  Dockyard and earliest port

Ø  Water managements system

Ø  Double burial

Ø  Rice burial

Ø  Rice husk

Ø  House had front entrance (exception)

 

·         Banawali




Ø  Haryana

Ø  On banks of lost river Saraswathi

Ø  Barley cultivation.

 

·         Dholavira




Ø  Biggest site in India, until the discovery of Rakhigarhi.

Ø  Located in Khadir Beyt, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Discovered by J.P Joshi/Rabindra Singh (1990)

Ø  3 parts + large open area for ceremonies

Ø  Large letters of the Harappan script (sign boards).

 

·         Religion of Indus valley people;



Ø  Pashupathi Mahadev (Proto siva)

Ø  Mother goddess

Ø  Nature/animal worship

Ø  Unicorn, dove, Peepal tree, fire

Ø  Amulets

Ø  Idol worship was practiced (not a feature of Aryans)

Ø  Did not construct temples.

Ø  Similarity to Hindu religious practices. (Hinduism in its present form originated later)

Ø  No caste system.

 

·         Indus valley Society and Culture;


Ø  Systematic method of weights and measures (16 and its multiples)

Ø  Pictographic Script, Boustrophedon script – deciphering efforts by I. Mahadevan

Ø  Equal status to men and women

Ø  Economic Inequality, not an egalitarian society

Ø  Textiles – spinning and weaving

Ø  3 types – burial, cremation and post cremation were there, though Burial was common.

Ø  Majority of people proto – Australoids and mediterraneans (Dravidians), though Mongoloids, Nordics etc were present in the city culture.


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