The Indus River Valley is one of the three early civilizations of the ancient world, it is the widest spreading from northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. The civilization existed from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE with its highest population size at one time being around 5 million. Excavation of the civilization didn’t happen until the 1920s but it had already been somewhat discovered in 1856 by railway workers who unknowingly used brick artifacts to build the road. The Indus valley civilization is known for having one of the earliest urban cultures of India and coming out with a lot of creations and developments not yet seen in the ancient world (Indus River Valley civilizations (article)). I’ve always been interested in excavation sites and the things we can learn from them so I decided to do research one a place I've never heard of before, the Indus Valley Civilization. Seeing what came out of this civilization and the advancements for its time was the main driving point for me to continue researching this topic. I think this information could benefit anyone who is interested in anthropology or aspects of it making my main goal to give anyone who's interested a piece of information they might not have known before.
Site Visit
My site visit consisted of a virtual tour of the Indus Valley Civilization teaching me all that I'm about to tell you. This was a highly developed culture spanning 1.5 million square kilometers whose population used their advanced knowledge of technology to further develop their towns. It was said that this was one of the most developed urban civilizations at the time with features not seen anywhere else in the ancient world, and the virtual tour went through some of the most prominent features including town planning, sewage systems, wells, granaries, the great bath, and many other artifacts. Towns included main streets and secondary streets into neighborhoods with architecturally advanced houses built to keep the rooms cool in warmer months. Most houses had their own bathrooms with flowing water in a sewage system that flushed out dirty water into a larger drain. Along with bath areas they had a watertight public tank called the great bath, the earliest structure of its kind in the ancient world that many believe to be used for religious practices. And unlike the other two ancient cities of its time, the Indus valley civilization showed their differences in structures by not having any structures to suggest evidence of large structures such as temples or palaces. The tour then ended with an array of images containing artifacts and figurines such as stamp seals, terracotta/pottery, beads, etc.
In house sewage system
Other Important Developments
Along with all of the advanced architectural structures the Indus valley civilization showed advanced knowledge with their agricultural and intellectual abilities. This civilization had a lot of animals as well as plants that they had domesticated including many plants that grew at certain times of the year. The population was able to learn complex watering regimes to successfully grow plants based on the season. Being so successful in farming crops and raising animals helped with trade, they were able to build what could potentially be the first wheeled transport as well as boats to widen their trade network.
Great Bath
The intellectual abilities were shown off in many different ways including that of what I have already talked about but something that really exemplifies this is how they created a very precise system of weights and measurements that conform to a successive scale. The smallest division it contained was 1.6 mm which was the smallest one ever recorded on a bronze age scale. They used their weights and measurement systems for lots of their architecture and the bricks they made their cities out of were all uniform in size. Writing and language was another example, the Indus people used Indus script which was an independently developed language with at least 600 symbols, to this day we have not been able to decipher the symbols but it appears on many different artifacts that have been recovered.
Symbols from the Indus Script
A few other things to come out of the Indus Valley Civilization includes many seals used for identification purposes, pottery, new techniques with metallurgy, jewelry, sculptures, etc. This civilization had many creations and technologies that were ahead of its time, from the outside it looked like it would continue to grow and prosper but unfortunately, around 1800 BCE the civilization started to decline and eventually disappear altogether. It's not known for sure what caused this but experts have given multiple potential theories, the most widely believed theory has to do with climate change. Some experts say the Saraswati river started to dry up while others say there was a flood, both of which would have caused agricultural damage leading to a destroyed economy. The less accepted theory suggests the Indus population was invaded by a large group of Aryans. Evidence shows elements of the Indus civilization in other cultures meaning they probably didn't go out fast like an invasion would do, instead scholars believed it was more likely they assimilated with the migrating Aryan group.
Seal With Indus Script
Diorama of the Indus Valley
Questions
1. If the Indus Valley did decline due to climate change reasons do you think they could've found a way to bounce back from the damage or would the decline happen faster than their ability to rebuild?
2. Why do you think that developing a standardized system of weights and measurement was an important thing for them?
Works Cited
Boundless. “Boundless World History.” Lumen, courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-indus-river-valley-civilizations/.
“Historical Beginnings: The Indus Valley Civilisation - National Council of Science Museums - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/historical-beginnings-the-indus-valley-civilisation-national-council-of-science-museums/QQLyzPzKbMlEKg?hl=en.
Indus River Valley Civilizations (Article). www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/ancient-india/a/the-indus-river-valley-civilizations.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Indus Civilization.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/Indus-civilization.
Violatti, Cristian. “Indus Valley Civilization.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 3 July 2020, www.ancient.eu/Indus_Valley_Civilization/.
Great blog! I loved the flow and the pictures really enhanced the information.
1. If the Indus Valley did decline due to climate change reasons do you think they could've found a way to bounce back from the damage or would the decline happen faster than their ability to rebuild? Answer: This has always been an interesting question. How do thriving civilizations fall, and never rebuild. I wonder where the people went. If it was climate change and the river dried up, did anyone make it out and rebuild somewhere else? If it was due to climate change then I doubt they could have rebuilt to the extent they did in the first place. Without water, it's hard to survive anywhere.
2. Why do you think that developing a standardized system of weights and measurement was an important thing for them? Answer: I wonder if they were alive or we could have a conversation with them, if they would agree that weights and measurements were as important as we believe they were. It makes me chuckle to think about because it seems to be something we've learned about every time their society comes up in history. I assume it was important due to their structures, although it's pretty important to us today too. Every building or structure has been measured to perfection. We have weights in the grocery story for produce, deli items, or the meat/seafood counter. All of our labels have weights on them. Pretty much everything in our society is measured so we can grasp the size of it. Maybe it was the same for them too?
Great blog! I enjoyed reading it. Best of luck in the future! - Shelly
Hey Shelly, Im glad you enjoyed my blog and found the pictures to be enhancing of the information! In my research I found that they measured out the building bricks used and they made them uniform in size, which if i remember correctly helped with waterproofing. Suprisingly enough I didnt see much else about what they used it for but based off all that we use weights and measurments for today I could come up with a list of things they used it for back then.
I wanna start by saying I really enjoyed your blog you get to the point which is great and you are also very informative! To answer your first question and this is just my opinion I don't believe this civilization would've bounced back but most likely relocated. It's hard to bounce back and with not as advanced technology I don't believe it would've been possible. I do strongly believe though that perhaps this civilization could've migrated and found similar land and rebuilt there. To answer your second question I believe it was important because it allowed for things to be done in a more efficient and precise way. It must've allowed the process of whatever the weights and measurements was used for to be done in a faster and easier way most likely I'm not sure it's hard to say. Great questions! Once again, I really enjoyed reading your blog!
Hey Lesley! Thanks for the comment, I agree with you about the civilization relocating as do some other reports. Its most likely that they did just relocate and its believed they did so with a migrating Aryan group and over time they assimilated. I think it would've been interesting if they tried to rebuild since they had been there for so long and grew there, but im also used to life today in a state where my home has never been destroyed.
Hey Hailey!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I loved the flow and the pictures really enhanced the information.
1. If the Indus Valley did decline due to climate change reasons do you think they could've found a way to bounce back from the damage or would the decline happen faster than their ability to rebuild?
Answer: This has always been an interesting question. How do thriving civilizations fall, and never rebuild. I wonder where the people went. If it was climate change and the river dried up, did anyone make it out and rebuild somewhere else? If it was due to climate change then I doubt they could have rebuilt to the extent they did in the first place. Without water, it's hard to survive anywhere.
2. Why do you think that developing a standardized system of weights and measurement was an important thing for them?
Answer: I wonder if they were alive or we could have a conversation with them, if they would agree that weights and measurements were as important as we believe they were. It makes me chuckle to think about because it seems to be something we've learned about every time their society comes up in history. I assume it was important due to their structures, although it's pretty important to us today too. Every building or structure has been measured to perfection. We have weights in the grocery story for produce, deli items, or the meat/seafood counter. All of our labels have weights on them. Pretty much everything in our society is measured so we can grasp the size of it. Maybe it was the same for them too?
Great blog! I enjoyed reading it. Best of luck in the future! - Shelly
Hey Shelly, Im glad you enjoyed my blog and found the pictures to be enhancing of the information! In my research I found that they measured out the building bricks used and they made them uniform in size, which if i remember correctly helped with waterproofing. Suprisingly enough I didnt see much else about what they used it for but based off all that we use weights and measurments for today I could come up with a list of things they used it for back then.
DeleteHi Hailey!
ReplyDeleteI wanna start by saying I really enjoyed your blog you get to the point which is great and you are also very informative! To answer your first question and this is just my opinion I don't believe this civilization would've bounced back but most likely relocated. It's hard to bounce back and with not as advanced technology I don't believe it would've been possible. I do strongly believe though that perhaps this civilization could've migrated and found similar land and rebuilt there. To answer your second question I believe it was important because it allowed for things to be done in a more efficient and precise way. It must've allowed the process of whatever the weights and measurements was used for to be done in a faster and easier way most likely I'm not sure it's hard to say. Great questions! Once again, I really enjoyed reading your blog!
Hey Lesley! Thanks for the comment, I agree with you about the civilization relocating as do some other reports. Its most likely that they did just relocate and its believed they did so with a migrating Aryan group and over time they assimilated. I think it would've been interesting if they tried to rebuild since they had been there for so long and grew there, but im also used to life today in a state where my home has never been destroyed.
Delete