UNIT 1 THE HARRAPPAN CULTURE

UNIT 1 (8 MARKS)   THE HARRAPPAN CULTURE:
GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT:

The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC)  or Harrapan Culture (2500BC-1700 BC), was a Bronze Age civilization.  The Indus Valley Civilization encompassed most of Pakistan, extending from Balochistan to Sindh, and extending into modern day Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, with an upward reach to Rupar on the upper Sutlej.  Primarily centered along the Indus and the Punjab region, the civilization extended into the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley and the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, encompassing most of what is now Pakistan, as well as extending into the westernmost states of modern-day India, southeastern Afghanistan and the easternmost part of Balochistan, Iran.
The mature phase of this civilization is known as the Harappan Civilization as the first of its cities to be unearthed was the one at Harappa, excavated in the 1920s in what was at the time the Punjab province of British India (now in Pakistan)
 In the Indus valley area now known as Pakistan, an advanced Bronze Age culture rose up about 2500 BC and lasted for nearly 1000 years. Scholars do not know how it began or whether its people were related to those who now occupy Southwest Asia. Nomadic tribes called Aryans invaded the Indus River valley, probably from the region north of the Caspian Sea, in 1500 BC. The Aryan culture became dominant in the area, eclipsing that of its predecessors.
 Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, are dominated by large public buildings. These buildings were at one time identified as colleges, temples, granaries, and palaces, but later research has not confirmed such interpretations. The cities are usually divided into two distinctive groups of buildings, one of which may be enclosed by a wall.
Sometime after 2000 BC, complex ecological changes occurred in the Indus Valley area, forcing abandonment of many settlements and altering the basic characteristics of the civilization. Late Indus Valley culture is known mainly from excavated small farming villages. Artifacts associated with these sites are stylistically similar to earlier types but show more regional variation.
 The Indus Valley civilization was first defined by the British archaeologist Sir John Marshall's diggings at Mohenjo-Daro and M. S. Vat's excavations at Harappa (both in  Pakistan).


MAIN FEATURES:
A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley Civilization making them the first urban centers in the region. The quality of municipal town planning suggests the knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene, or, alternately, accessibility to the means of religious ritual. The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage that were developed and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East and even more efficient than those in many areas of Pakistan and India today. Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, who lived with others pursuing the same occupation in well-defined neighborhoods. The people of the Indus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time. The work of Indus Valley artisans shows a high degree of craft specialization. Characteristic artifacts include a distinctive black-on-red pottery, ceramic toys and figurines, etched carnelian beads, metal (bronze, silver, and gold) ornaments and tools, and stamp seals with an undeciphered script.
They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. Various sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze and steatite have been found at excavation sites. The Indus civilization's economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations. over 400 distinct Indus symbols (some say 600  have been found on seals, small tablets, or ceramic pots and over a dozen other materials, including a "signboard".In view of the large number of figurines  found in the Indus valley, it has been widely suggested that the Harappan people worshipped a Mother goddess symbolizing fertility. In the earlier phases of their culture, the Harappans buried their dead; however, later, especially in the Cemetery H culture of the late Harrapan period, they also cremated their dead.