Indus Valley

Way of Life

100

An Indus city was made of mud-brick buildings. It had walls and roads. Water was very important to Indus people, so the builders started by digging wells, and laying drains. Main streets were up to 10 metres wide, wide enough for carts to pass. Side streets were narrow, more like alleys. Some cities had a citadel high on a mound. In the citadel were bigger buildings. Perhaps the city's rulers lived there. Most people lived and worked in the lower part of town. Most Indus people did not live in cities at all. Perhaps 9 out of 10 people were farmers and traders who lived in small villages.

what is What were Indus cities like?

200

An empire is a large country or group of countries, with different peoples ruled by a king or emperor. The Indus Valley civilisation was very large, but we do not know if it had kings. It seems that nothing much changed there for hundreds of years. New houses were built on top of old ones, and city street plans stayed the same. Life went on in the same way for generations. This might mean the Indus rulers controlled everything. Or it might just mean they were happy the way things were. What look like crowns were found at a site called Kunal. Did they belong to an Indus king? Perhaps each city had its own ruler.

what is Was there an Indus Empire?

300

An Indus city had strong walls, and in history, walls usually mean people want to keep out enemies. Think of a medieval castle. Like a castle, an Indus city had towers and gateways, but we do not know if there were soldiers. At the city gates city officials could check traders coming in and out. There were probably guards too, in case of trouble. Other ancient civilisations, such as Egypt, had large armies. Kings fought battles with enemies. But the Indus people seem to have lived in peace for most of their history. Other ancient writings tell us about wars. Since we can't yet read the Indus writing, we just don't know.

what is Did Indus cities have soldiers?

400

Pictures on seals and other artefacts show what look like figures of gods. One looks like a Mother Goddess. People probably believed this goddess gave health and fertility to people, animals and plants. Another seal picture shows a male god with horns and three faces. Around him are animals, including an elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo. This god is a bit like the Hindu god Shiva (who also has three faces). Plants, trees and animals were probably important to Indus people. The pipal or fig tree is shown in Indus seals, and is still a sacred tree for many Buddhists and Hindus. Some people think that the Indus religion shaped early Hindu beliefs.

what is Indus gods

500

In ancient times dead people were often buried with belongings, to use in a world after death. Graves were filled with food, pots, weapons, jewels, clothes even furniture. Small model people and houses were also found in graves too. Most Indus people were buried in coffins. In the grave, people put pottery jars, probably with food and drink for the dead person. At Harappa, archaeologists found a woman's body in a wood coffin lined with reed mats. This was how people from Sumer were buried. Perhaps she was a Sumerian who had come to live in the Indus city.

what is Burying the dead

trade and travel

100

Indus Valley cities lived by trade. Farmers brought food into the cities. City workers made such things as pots, beads and cotton cloth. Traders brought the materials workers needed, and took away finished goods to trade in other cities. Trade goods included terracotta pots, beads, gold and silver, coloured gem stones such as turquoise and lapis lazuli, metals, flints (for making stone tools), seashells and pearls. Minerals came from Iran and Afghanistan. Lead and copper came from India. Jade came from China and cedar tree wood was floated down the rivers from Kashmir and the Himalayas.

what is What did Indus Valley people trade?

200

Sargon of Akkad (2334 to 2279 BC) was a king in Mesopotamia. This was one of the first ancient civilisations. We know Indus Valley traders went there, because Indus seals have been found in Mesopotamia. Sargon's scribes kept written records of ships from other lands. So we learn that the Mesopotamians bought gold, copper and jewellery from 'Meluhha'. Was Meluhha the Mesopotamian name for the Indus civilisation? Or was it the Indus Valley people's own name for their land? To reach Mesopotamia, Indus ships sailed west. They probably kept close to land. Bits of old Indus pottery found on beaches in Oman, in the Gulf, came from storage jars left behind by traders.

what is Trade with Mesopotamia?

300

Indus Valley traders did not use money. So they probably exchanged goods - say, swapping two sacks of wheat for one basket of minerals. The traders weighed their goods on balance scales, using stone cubes as weights. The weights were made from cubes of a flinty rock called grey chert. The smallest cube was very light, weighing less than 1 gram! The heaviest was over 11 kilograms - a bit more than 4 bags of supermarket potatoes.

What is Checking the weight

400

In 1872, archaeologist Alexander Cunningham was puzzled by a flat piece of stone from Harappa which had writing on it. It was a seal. Another archaeologist, Rakhal Banerji found more seals in 1919. Over 3,500 seals have now been found. Most are square or oblong, and small, about 25 mm across. They are made from steatite or faience, usually baked hard. Each seal has a picture and writing on it, carved with a copper tool. Pressed into soft clay, a seal left an impression (a copy of the picture and writing). When the clay dried hard, it could be used as a tag which could then be tied to a pot or basket. Indus Valley traders probably used seals like labels, to show who owned a sack of grain, or that the correct city tax had been paid.

What is What were seals?

500

Many seals have pictures of animals on them. Animals on seals include elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, fish-eating crocodiles (gharial) and zebu (humped cattle). The most commonly pictured animal on Indus seals is a 'unicorn'. In ancient stories, the unicorn was a mythical beast, usually looking like a horse, with one horn. Some people think the Indus Valley 'unicorn' is really a cow sideways-on. It may have been a 'good luck' charm, or the badge of an important group of traders.

What is Seal animals

discovery

100

In 1826, a British traveller in India called Charles Masson came across some mysterious brick mounds. He thought they looked like old castles. Thirty years later in 1856, engineers building a railway found more bricks, and carted them off to build the railway. This was the first people knew of the lost Indus city of Harappa. In the 1920s, archaeologists began to excavate the sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. They uncovered the remains of long-forgotten cities. They had found the Indus Valley civilisation.

What is Who found the Indus cities?

200

Archaeologists first look for clues, such as bricks, stones or bits of broken pottery ('sherds'). They study photographs taken from planes or balloons, because aerial photos may show ruins hidden beneath the ground. Before excavating a site, a team of archaeologists marks out a grid, in squares. They make an excavation map of the site. They work square by square, clearing away soil. They remove finds (artefacts, bones, plant seeds) very carefully. They mark each find, and where it was found. They work carefully, because most very old things are easily broken. They may use a scanner to look underground. A geophysical scan can show up a buried building.

What is How do archaeologists explore a lost city?

300

Mohenjo-Daro is the biggest Indus city. Mohenjo-Daro means 'Mound of the Dead'. But so far no cemetery has been found there. The site lies about 5 kilometres away from where the Indus River is today. The river might have been closer to the city 5,000 years ago (rivers change over time). Mohenjo-Daro was built on mounds made from soil and mud bricks. The biggest mound, the High Mound, had a mud-brick wall all around it. Most people lived in the Lower Town. Lower Town was built on several mounds.

What is Mohenjo-Daro, Mound of the Dead

400

Harappa is about 600 kilometres northeast of Mohenjo-Daro. It was built close to important trade routes by road and river. It was a busy city, but today Harappa has almost disappeared. Many of the bricks from its houses and walls were taken away, to make new buildings. At Harappa, archaeologists found the ruins of a big building they call the Great Granary. A granary is a place to store grain, such as wheat. This building is a mystery, because although it looks like a granary, no grain has been found. Perhaps it was a palace! At Harappa, there were two cemeteries. There were furnaces for making copper, a metal the Indus people used for knives and other tools.

What is Harappa the ruined city

500

n the 1920s archaeologists found 39 skeletons at the city of Mohenjo-Daro. Were these men, woman and children who had been killed by invaders? Some archaeologists thought so. However, only two skeletons had cut-marks on their bones, the kind made by a sword or spear. One was an old wound, another was healing- perhaps after an accident. There is no evidence of battles. Perhaps these people were left together because they died from disease.

What is Mystery skeletons

games and toys

100

Indus Valley people seem to have loved toys. They made many toys, such as toy carts and toy animals, from baked clay. Archaeologists have found model cows that waggle their heads on a string, and toy monkeys that could slide down ropes, and little squirrels. They have also discovered toy carts have a little roof, to keep off the rain and hot sun. Indus children may also have played with pull-along animals on wheels, as well as rattles and bird-whistles all made from terracotta. One clay figure is of a boy holding a small disc, probably used in a throw-and-chase game.

What is What toys did children play with?