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India’s Early Civilizations. Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. 1. Benefits of the Indus River. Summer monsoons made the rivers rise and flood which left rich, fertile soil Farmers used the soil to grow crops to feed their families. 2. Results of having a lot of food.
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India’s Early Civilizations Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
1. Benefits of the Indus River • Summer monsoons made the rivers rise and flood which left rich, fertile soil • Farmers used the soil to grow crops to feed their families
2. Results of having a lot of food • Spend more time doing things like: • Making tools • Building houses • Trade extra food and goods with other people (which gained them wealth) • Build larger cities • Why would become more wealthy lead to building bigger cities?
3. How long did Civilization last? • Began about 3000 B.C.E. and lasted until 1500 B.C.E. • How many years is this? What does B.C.E. stand for? • More than a thousand villages and towns were part of this civilization. • Stretched from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.
4. Major cities of Indus River Valley • Study the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro • Called the Harappan or Indus civilization • Well-planned cities that had as many as 35,000 people.
5. Characteristics of the cities • Houses had flat roofs • Built with mud bricks that were baked in ovens • Some houses were larger than others but they had a similar layout • Courtyard in the middle and smaller rooms around it • Fortress on a brick platform to keep guard over residents • Wide main streets and smaller side streets • A wall surrounded each neighborhood • Narrow lanes separated the houses
The houses had flat roofs and many had staircases that allowed people to climb to the roof from the street
House Walls Water drains Mohenjo-Daro means “Mound of the Dead”. The cities ruins were discovered in the 1920s.
Immense Citadels would help people to scout for invading armies and general public well being.
6. Conveniences of the cities • Wells supplied water • Residents had indoor bathrooms • Wastewater flowed to drains under the streets, running through pipes to pits outside city walls • Houses had garbage chutes connected to a bin in the street • Residents built large granaries to store food for the entire city’s population
Bathrooms and indoor plumbing Water well
7. Harappan society • Special script to write on seals and stamps (not sure how to decipher the markings because there are no historical records and we can’t read their language). • Royal palace and temple may have been enclosed into a fortress revealing that religion and politics were closely connected • Many were farmers who grew rice, wheat, barley, peas, and cotton • City people made copper and bronze tools, clay pottery, and cotton cloth, jewelry from gold, shells, and ivory • Toys were found like small monkeys and dice.
People were literate and used Indus Script. The language was a short string of symbols that were associated with the Indus Valley culture. The language is still coded because we can’t understand it.
