Overview / Description

  • Civilization that is now modern day Pakistan. 
  • Largest of the Ancient Civilizations.
          -More than 1500 sites have been found by archaelogists.
  • Time Period of Indus River Valley Civilization: around 2600 B.C.E to 1900 B.C.E. (Kenoyer, 2009).
  • The valley of the Indus River is considered to be the birthplace of Indian civilization. 
  • Located on the Indian subcontinent in modern Pakistan, the Indus civilization was not discovered by archaeologists until 1924. 
  • It appears, that by 4000 B.C. primitive farmers were raising vegetables, grains, and animals along the riverbank. (Guisepi). 
  • By 2700 B.C., two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, and number smaller towns had emerged. (Guisepi).
          -Houses were one or two stories high made of dense baked brick, with flat roofs, and were just about identical. Each was built                           around a courtyard, with windows overlooking the courtyard. 
          -The outside walls had no windows. Each home had its own private drinking well and its own private bathroom. 
          -Clay pipes led from the bathrooms to sewers located under the streets creating a centralized drain system that used gravity to carry               waste and water out of the city (that ran under the main avenues). (Green, 2012). These sewers drained into nearly rivers and                         streams. This was a very advanced civilization. Developed cities on a grid system and had sophisticated plumbing and sewage                         systems. (Daily life in, 2014). 
  • Early cities declined due to a possible change in the course of the Indus River.
  • The Indus River is the most important water supply to the Punjab and Sindh plains. 
  • The River is the source for most of the agriculture and food produced in Pakistan. 
  • One of the earliest social classes to be classified as a "civilization due to 
          -Surplus Production - once one person creates enough to feed several people, it becomes possible to build a city 
          -Specialization of Labor - cause to trade due to needs in different types of materials/items
          -Social Stratification - society ranking of people in a hierarchy
          -Socialized Government - production and distribution controlled by government
          -Shared Values (Religion) - practices being identical to prevent conflict
          -Writing - accountable for inventory needs
  • Traded with Mesopotamian as early as 3500 B.C.E.
          -Evidence that seals existed, and were used in trade, were found in Mesopotamia and not the Indus Valley
          -Additionally, items such as bronze was found in the Indus Valley which was is not native to the region (Green, 2012)
  • Super peaceful of a civilization
          -No evidence of warfare 
  • Fall of the Indus Valley
          -Around 1750 B.C.E. the Indus Valley Civilization declined until it completely disappeared. (Green, 2012). 
                  -Theory 1: Conquest - could have been over run by those with weapons
                  -Theory 2: Environmental disaster - destroyed their own environment and thus themselves
                  -Theory 3: Earthquake - changed the course of the river so much, that the irrigation strategies couldn't sustain the civilization so                       they left