Potted History (Aug 07) - The Indus Valley Civilisation

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As with our Current Topics pages, here we take a brief monthly look at Indian history. We will try not to cover the best known event or try to be too obscure and welcome suggestions (or corrections)

THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION

We have resisted covering the Indus Valley due to the vast amount of information available on the web. It is, however, a source of pride amongst Indians that an early civilisation developed in the region (although there is disappointment that at least two of the major settlements are in Pakistan!)

There are 4 or 5 early civilisations that had organised trade, urban living, basic industry and a written language. These are Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Ancient Greek (Early Cycladian & Early Minoan), Chinese and Indus Valley. These are civilisations that can be seen to have attained this level of development 5,000 or more years ago. The Indus valley civilisation was discovered by accident in the mid 1800's by the British whilst building a railway, although it was not until the 1920's that the area was re-visited and finds dated to 3,000BC or earlier. This period is distinct and predates the Mayan, Roman and Easter Islanders. Stonehenge dates back to 3,100BC but there is no firm evidence of a written language, even if organised labour and industry must have existed. There may be more such civilsations of this era as yet undiscovered in Africa, South America or elsewhere that might bw exposed by melting ice or permafrost. The latter may possibly appear, in our life time, in Siberia but any Antarctic civilistaion is likley to remain hidden.

The Indus Valley is in what is now Pakistan but the evidence of civilisation spreads East into Uttar Pradesh in India and as far south as Mumbai. Evidence suggests that the peoples started in the south of this region and spread north. The region covers a range of up to 1,000,000 square miles in a time period from 6,000BC to 2,000 BC.

Texts from Mesopotamia (now Syria & Iraq) describe trade with at least two other civilisations, the Magan and Meluhha, in South Asia. The Meluhha were a source of exotic items and trade was in the value of tons of copper.

The cities were laid out in a mathematical arrangement and contained up to 30,000 people in a city radius of 1.5 miles. Bricks were mass produced to a set size and can be dated to 3,000 BC or earlier. The cities appeared to have resevoirs, private wells and drainage. Evidence of industry includes a shell works, bronze works, a bead factory and some form of standardised weight measurement was employed.

Although the first sites found are around the Indus, other sites and cities appear to be on what were once other rivers. A dry river that ran parallel to the Indus but further West, the Saraswati-Ghaggar-Hakra, may well have been the Sawasrati from the Rig Veda. Sites in the Indus Valley are still being excavated although hindered by rising water table and the earliest levels may still not have been reached. Others such as Dholavira in the Rann of Kutch (Gujarat) have only been excavated since 1990. As large as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, in the Indus valley, it has some of the best preserved stone architecture and is the source of a signboard with Indus script.

The Indus script varies from Mesopotamian and Egyptian but was likely required to denote ownership and facilitate trade which happened in large volumes. The origins are not clear and whichever civilisation was first, symbolic script was developed along unique lines. The code has not been broken as yet and several theories or differing interpretations exist. A 'Rosetta Stone' would be useful!

There is lots of information available. This is our shortest article as we attempt to whet your appetite rather than paraphrase what is already available. For more information, a good place to start is www. harappa.com or the Ancient India pages from the British Museum (recommended for younger readers).

 

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