Why the Ancient Indus Valley Civilization Fascinates Us Even Today

The antique excellence of Indus Valley Civilization that will make you gape at their advanced thinking centuries ahead of us.

On the banks of river Indus, the Harappa civilization with its riddles of the second millennium never fails to delight us. Built about 2500 BC ago, urban planning seems to match the ones we have today in 2020. From having baths adjacent to every house, freshwater wells to sophisticated drainage system here are everything, you need to comprehend about this antique evolution.

• The Town Planning-

The 4600-year-old city in the Bronze Age was built with identical baked bricks and ideologies on which modern cities are built. The remarkable urban construct was divided into two parts, the Citadel and the residential area.

The Citadel consisted of official and religious buildings, like the granary and the great bath. These were built in elevated topography to stay dry during the flood and were sheltered by walls. The residential area was constructed in grids. The citizens of higher economic status lived in buildings taller than two stories and used a kind of gypsum cement to build their house. The covered drainage system, wells and washroom in every home speaks of the evolved minds of the civilization.

• The Fascinating Script-

The Indus script had undergone a massive evolution. The early writing could be linked to the Sumerian language and was written from left to right. But with time it progressed as its own individual script in 1300 BC. It developed its own distinct elements and pictographic signs.

• Use of Pottery-

The earliest evidence of baked pottery have been marked to 6500 years and was located in Harappa. There were illustrative inscriptions on earthen tablets. Clay figures of their Deity of fertility have been found along with evidence of worshipping particular animals and trees.

• Agriculture and Animal Husbandry-

Irrigation depended on the flooding of the rivers. The main crops cultivated by the Harappa’s were wheat and barley. Besides these, peas, dates and mustard oil have also been found in the remains. The earliest growth of cotton has been found on this site.  Presence of wooden ploughs suggests they used manual labour to cultivate their crops.

Sheep, goats, humped cattle and even elephants were domesticated. Camels have rarely been mentioned in their art, and the use of horse has been absent in this civilization.

• Trade-

There were extensive trade networks with foreign lands. Both land and sea routes were used. The huge docks at Lothal and the terracotta boats prove that sea trade had been very popular at that time.

There has been no distinct use of coins, and people probably used the barter system to exchange goods. A perfect binary system inflicted weight system was used in the form of cubes to measure things.

• Use of Metals-

27 stamps made of metal have been found during excavations. They are mainly believed to be remains of tablets and the flat seal relics.