The Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization located in what is [as of 1948] Pakistan and northwest India
today, on the fertile flood plain of the Indus River and its vicinity.
Evidence of religious practices in this area date back approximately to
5500 BCE. Farming settlements began around 4000 BCE and around 3000 BCE
there appeared the first signs of urbanization. By 2600 BCE, dozens of towns and cities had been established, and between 2500 and 2000 BCE the Indus Valley Civilization was at its peak.
The Life of the Indus Valley Civilization
Two cities, in particular, have been excavated at the sites of
Mohenjo-Daro on the lower Indus, and at Harappa, further upstream.
The
evidence suggests they had a highly developed city
life; many houses had wells and bathrooms as well as an elaborate
underground drainage system.
The social conditions of the citizens were
comparable to those in Sumeria and superior to the contemporary Babylonians and Egyptians. These cities display a well-planned urbanization system.
The evidence suggests they had a highly developed
city life; many houses had wells and bathrooms as well as an elaborate
underground drainage system.
There is evidence of some level of contact between the Indus Valley Civilization and the Near East.
Commercial, religious, and artistic connections have been recorded in
Sumerian documents, where the Indus valley people are referred to as
Meluhhaites and the Indus valley is called Meluhha.
The following
account has been dated to about 2000 BCE: "The Meluhhaites, the men of
the black land, bring to Naram-Sin of Agade all kind of exotic wares" (Haywood, p. 76, The Curse of Agade).
The Indus Civilization had a writing
system which today still remains a mystery: all attempts to decipher it
have failed. This is one of the reasons why the Indus Valley
Civilization is one of the least known of the important early
civilizations of antiquity.
Examples of this writing system have been
found in pottery, amulets, carved stamp seals, and even in weights and copper tablets.
Another point of debate is the nature of the relationship between
these cities. Whether they were independent city-states or part of a
larger kingdom is not entirely clear.
Because the writing of the Indus
people remains undeciphered and neither sculptures of rulers nor
depictions of battles and military campaigns have been found, evidence
pointing in either direction is not conclusive. More
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