Rise and Fall of the Indus Civilization: A Historical Overview

2. Early Neolithic villages had fairly large populations, long-distance trade and storage of surplus foods Period 1 (6500-5500 BC) mud-brick storage compartments at Mehrgarh (Baluchistan; western Pakistan)

3. Indus Civilization Early Harappan, or Era of Regionalization (3200-2600 BC) Mature Harappan, or Era of Integration (2600-1900 BC) Eclipse of Indus, or Era of Localization (1900-1200 BC)

4. Origins of Indus Civilization • Diffusion from Mesopotamia, as urban settlements seemed to appear suddenly without clear local antecedents • Local Development: since 1970s definition of proto-urban phase (Kot Diji phase) suggests that planned cities of mature Indus phase not suddenly imposed but developed out of earlier settlements, such as Kot Diji and Rehman Dheri in Indus Valley

5. Kot Diji • Proto-urban towns, formative stage of Indus Civilization • Rehman Dheri, with grid city plan ca. 3300-3200 BC

6. Early Harappa (Kot Diji phase), “Era of Regionalization” • densely packed villages and towns, all with extensive irrigation systems, • subsistence, like earlier Neolithic, including a variety of domesticated animals (notably cattle) and crops, including barley, and wheat • Indus civilization emphasized floodplain agriculture, which lead to sophisticated irrigation systems • Settlements along the river susceptible to periods of violent flooding and stone walls were erected as flood barriers, which became the city walls of some settlements. • The Hydraulic hypothesis (Wittfogel) • Rapid increase in size between 3200-2600 BC, ultimately giving rise to the cities of the “mature Harappan period” from c. 2600-1900 BC

7. Harappa – Mohenjo-Daro • Two settlements that define apogee of Indus urbanism in mature Harappan period, c. 2600-1900 BC • Similar urban plans, including planned neighborhoods in a grid pattern, indoor bathrooms connected to sewer system, bathhouses and communal storage facilities, citadels, palaces, temples, etc. • Population >35,000, with 100s of smaller farming villages tied to large cities • Significant trading centers, showing evidence of large-scale exchange with Mesopotamia and ancient India

12. Typical Harappan cities and towns are fortified, oriented along the cardinal directions, with substantial evidence for specialized craft manufacturing

13. Components of Mature Harappan Sites • An acropolis (citadel) on high platform, which may have had administrative function, surrounded by workshops, markets, and living quarters in a lower level • Extensive public sewer and drainage systems • Craft specialization; complex engineering and maintenance; increase in social stratification and diversity of material culture, including the use of luxury goods • Appearance of a system of writing, uniform system of weights and measures, and common systems of urban planning and artifact types

14. About 4000 examples of Harappan writing, primarily found on stone stamp seals, amulets, or fragments of pottery • Some symbols represent syllables (170-220 simple signs) and others, entire words (170-200 composite signs), often include single standing animal

16. At the peak of Indus civilization, settlement hierarchy had five major urban centers

17. Dholavira had several large reservoirs and an elaborate system of drains to collect water from the city walls and house tops to fill these water tanks.

18. 32 secondary settlements, which show similar plans to (5) major urban centers, but significantly smaller (<20 ha) Kalibangan

19. Lothal, eastern Outpost of Indus Lower town dockyard

20. The Post-Urban Phase and the Harappan Eclipse, c. 1900 BC Changes include loss of planned urban forms and monumental public buildings and abandonment of larger cities (like Harappa and Ganwerilwala), disappearance of much material culture (script, standardized measures) and reduced craft specialization, and long-distance trade declined The uniformity of the Indus material culture was replaced by a cultural mosaic and regional differences in settlement and subsistence develop throughout the post-urban Indus Valley

21. What happened to Indus? • Invasion of Indo-Europeans (Aryans) with Hindu religion (Wheeler)? • Natural disasters, flooding of cities, changes in river courses, drying up of rivers, deforestation and salinization? • Today, most believe that collapse was multi-causal, but notably included destabilization of networks of trade and redistribution critical to integration across the Indus and a resulting loss of authority by elites

22. Two major families: Dravidian Indo-European But, highly diverse: in India today: 14 official & 1652 native languages What language did they speak?

23. Gandharan grave culture, 1700-1600 BC, emerged a couple centuries after Indus urban collapse, and was one of a variety of distinctive cultures during the “localization era”

24. c. 518, Indus Valley Conquered by Persian empire Siddhartha, 563-483 800-1000 years after Indus cities, major urban civilization emerged in the Indian subcontinent, related to the rise of Hindu religion Khajurahao, Hindu temple

25. Megalithic tomb at Brahmagiri Early Iron Age Megalithic tombs (green line), 1000-300 BC

26. Early Historic Empires, 500 BC-AD 320 Reintegration (Integration Era) Bhir Mound, Taxila (425 BC – AD 50)

27. Greek kingdoms in Bactria, 2nd to 1st century BC

28. Mauryan dynasty (325-185 BC); historical period begins with third emperor, Asoka (reigned 272-235 BC); testimony of his rule in the form of edicts displayed on stone pillars and slabs, which are used to infer the extent of the Mauryan empire

29. Mauryan empire stone pillar

30. Kushans and Satavahanas were two large empires of early 1st millennium AD that re-unified large parts of South Asia Kushans, or Yuezhi, were a nomadic central Asian tribe that established a small kingdom in Bactria in 2nd century BC, which by 2nd century AD had developed into massive empire

31. Gupta empire, established by Chandragupta I (reigned AD 320-335) represented end of the Early Historic Period