Special Sub-Topic: The Indus Valley Civilization Click Here To Play: The Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus valley civilization dates back to?

2500 BC. Although it has been fixed as the approximate age, still controversy rages round its exact beginning. According to Sir John Marshall(1931),the seven phases of building periods of Mohenjo-daro could be between 3250 and 2750 BC. But a thousand years must have taken place for the Indus Civilization to attain maturity by 3250 BC. But J.H Mackay assigns the period to 2800-2500 BC. Sir R.Mortimer Wheeler gave the time period 2500-1500 BC with a view that this end of the civilization came with the supposed Aryan invasion. This period from 2500-1500 BC also tallies with the Carbon 14 dating.

The first excavations of this civilization was carried out at which two places?

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Harappa was excavated in Montgomery District of Punjab and Mohenjo-daro in Lakrana District of Sind.

The credit for the discovery of the site (mentioned in last question) goes to?

D.R Sahni. Daya Ram Sahni of the Archaeological Survey of India discovered the sites in 1921 which was followed by several other excavations. At present more than eighty sites are known, which have yielded characteristic elements of this civilization.

What is the literal meaning of Mohenjo-daro?

Mound of the dead & Mound of dead. Mohenjo-daro was one of the principle cities of Indus Civilization apart from Harappa.It was marked by several giant structures like Palaces, Citadel, Factories etc.

The citadel was an oblong artificial platform some ____ feet high and _____ yards in area well fortified by walls.

{30-50;} 400 x 200. Generally it was situated in the west,on a high ground level safe from the floods. It was defended by crenellated walls,and on it were erected the public buildings.The Citadel was the seat of the Govt'. Here lived the ruler or administrator of the city in an impressive palace. Below on the east was the town proper.

The only Harappa script that survived consisted of ten to twenty symbols.It comprised of how many characters?

270 characters. These characters were pictographic in origin but had an ideographic or syllabic character.It may have been inspired by the earliest Sumerian script ie. Cuneiform.

The discovery of a few horse's teeth at a Baluchistan site indicates that the Harappa people may have known of the horse. At what Baluchistan site was it discovered?

Rana Ghundai. This would indicate that horse riding nomads found their way to N.W. India in small numbers long before the Aryan invasion. But it is very doubtful whether the Harappa people possessed domestic horses themselves, and if they did they must have been very rare animals.

The Harappa people consisted of a ___________ element?

Proto-Australoid.

The _________ was a unique structure in Mohenjo-daro.

Great Bath. The great bath was situated in the citadel area of Mohenjo-daro.This is an oblong bathing pool 39 x 23 feet in area and 8 feet deep, constructed of beautiful brickwork made watertight with bitumen.It could be drained by an opening in one corner and was surrounded by a cloister, on to which opened a number of small rooms.

Which theory got the most wide acceptance regarding the decline of the Indus Valley or Harappa Civilization?

Aryan invasion. Scholars and Historians like Sir R. Mortimer Wheeler, M.Taddei, H.G. Wells and Sir Wooley are of the view that it was the arrival of the Aryans which marked the end of this great civilization. However the Aryan invasion theory carries a big question mark.