Geography & River
The Indus River Valley was located primarily in the modern-day countries of Pakistan and this neighboring nation.
What is India?
Indus Valley cities built their structures out of bricks made from clay and hardened using this heat process, making them super durable.
What is oven-baking (or kiln-baked bricks)?
Merchants in the Indus Valley used these small, carved stone objects stamped with animal symbols to mark their trade goods.
What are seals (or stone seals)?
The main reason historians still know so little about Indus Valley political life and religious beliefs today.
What is their writing/script has not been deciphered (translated)?
ONE of the two major twin cities of the Indus Valley Civilization.
What is Harappa OR Mohenjo-Daro?
Like the Nile in Egypt, the Indus River relied on seasonal melting snow from this mountain range to flood and provide fertile soil.
What are the Himalayas (or Himalayan Mountains)?
Indus cities were organized on this type of pattern, showing advanced urban planning and engineering.
What is a grid system (or grid pattern)?
Indus Valley merchants traded heavily across the Arabian Sea with this other ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
What is Sumer (or Mesopotamia)?
Unlike Ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley civilization left behind no evidence of large standing armies or these military conflicts.
What are wars (or battles/major weapons)?
The Indus Valley people were among the first in the world to grow and weave this plant fiber into cloth.
What is cotton?
The rich, fertile soil left behind by river flooding that allowed Indus farmers to grow crops like wheat and barley.
What is silt?
Nearly every home in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro had this modern luxury, connected to an underground street system.
What is an indoor toilet (or indoor plumbing/drainage system)?
Indus merchants used standard sets of these to ensure fair trade of grains, metals, and textiles.
What are weights and measures?
Around 1900 BCE, Indus cities were gradually abandoned due to natural disasters, including earthquakes and changing patterns of these seasonal weather events.
What are monsoons (or floods/droughts)?
Mohenjo-Daro literally translates to "Mound of the..." this.
What is Dead?
The Indus River empties into this large body of water to the south.
What is the Arabian Sea?
The raised, fortified area of an Indus city that likely held important public buildings or religious structures.
What is the citadel?
Archaeologists found small clay carts, dice, and whistles, suggesting that Harappan children enjoyed playing with these.
What are toys (or games)?
One theory for the collapse of the Indus Valley involves this major river drying up over time due to tectonic shifts.
What is the Ghaggar-Hakra River (or Sarasvati River)?
A famous small bronze statue discovered at Mohenjo-Daro depicts a young woman in a confident stance, known as the "Dancing..." what?
What is the Dancing Girl?
Seasonal winds that bring heavy rains to the region during the summer months, essential for agriculture.
What are monsoons?
Located at Mohenjo-Daro, this large structure with a waterproof bitumen lining was likely used for public bathing or religious rituals.
What is the Great Bath?
Unlike ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, archaeologists have found no evidence of these large, weapon-filled structures, suggesting a peaceful society.
What are royal tombs (or palaces / grand royal monuments)?
The nominee group of nomadic, horse-riding people from Central Asia who migrated into the region as Harappan cities were declining.
Who are the Aryans (or Indo-Aryans)?
The Indus Valley Civilization flourished during this metal age, named after an alloy of copper and tin used for tools and ornaments.
What is the Bronze Age?