Where is the Indus valley ?

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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.
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Mohenjo-Daro timeline
Small villages are established in the area around
Mohenjo-Daro.
Plans are approved to preserve Mohenjo-Daro.
Mohenjo-Daros ruins are found.
Mohenjo-Daro is a thriving trade city.
2600 BC
1800 BC
1948 AD
1980 AD
3300 BC
2600- 1800 BC
1922 AD
1973 AD
Building of a planned city is begun at
Mohenjo-Daro.
First attempts to conserve Mohenjo-Daro are made.
Mohenjo-Daro falls into decline and is later
abandoned.
Mohenjo-Daro becomes a World Heritage Site.
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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.
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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.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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 arent 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.
This is the great bath today
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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.
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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.
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Indus valley toys
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These carts show they had a strong connection
with animals because many of the toys feature
animals pulling the carts.Some of these animals
areoxen,cows and horses.
These are terracotta toy carts from the Harappan
period site of Nausharo in Baluchistan
I used to enjoy playing with these.
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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.
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Gaming pieces
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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?
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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.
Hundreds of small figurines of people,animals,bird
s 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.
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Seals of the Indus Valley
Dont worry, we dont 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 is a unicorn seal found in Morhenjo daro in
1931 and proved they believed in mythical
creatures.
This seal was found seventeen feet and four
inches below the ground!
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The goods that were traded are pots, jewellery
and other valuables explained in other slides.
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.
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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 .
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Indus valleys 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.
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.
Each bead in the Indus valley is approximately
2-3 centimetres long.
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The Indus valleys jewellery is one of the oldest
in the world.
The people of the Indus valley didnt 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.
These are some necklaces and bracelet's from the
Indus valley.
The jewellers would display their goods using
models which are rather like the modern-day
mannequins.
This is a broach found in the Indus valley.