Indus Valley

The Indus people were unique among early civilizations for several reasons. There is no evidence that they had kings or a state religion. There are no statues or wall carvings of rulers or gods, no royal tombs, and no obvious temples. Furthermore, there is no evidence of warfare; few weapons have been found, and there are no images of soldiers or of fighting.

All four early civilizations invented writing, but the Indus people’s script has never been deciphered. So everything known about this mysterious ancient civilization comes from archaeological evidence.

The Indus Plain

The Indus plain combined the best features of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Unlike the rivers of Mesopotamia, the Indus River flooded at just the right time for planting crops – between June and September. Whereas the Egyptian Nile flowed through a single long, narrow valley, the Indus flowed across a wide plain and several other rivers flowed into it. Thus, a much larger area was available for farming.

The rivers of the Indus plain provided excellent trade routes. Although the civilization is named after the Indus valley, it eventually spread over a much wider area, along the seacoast to the south and with outposts far to the north, one of which has been found at Shortugai in central Asia. In all, the Indus region covered more than 386,000 square miles (1,000,000 km²).

Beginnings

In the middle of the fourth millennium BCE, the first farming people settled along the Indus valley. They lived in small villages in houses made of mud brick and raised wheat and barley. They also kept cattle, sheep, and goats.

Each summer the rivers flooded, swollen by snow melting and flowing down from the Himalayas. As the waters retreated in the autumn, the farmers planted their crops, which were ready for harvest the following spring. The land was so productive that the people were able to grow extra food, which could be traded or used to support specialist craftspeople. By 3100 BCE the first towns had appeared. With the towns came the beginning of the so-called Early Harappan period, which lasted for about 500 years.

Around 2600 BCE regional differences disappeared, and all the Indus people began to use the same type of pottery and live in the same way. This period saw the building of the world’s first planned cities, at Harappa, Mohenjo Daro, Ganweriwala, Rakhigari, and Dholavira. The largest were Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, which may have housed between 40,000 and 50,000 people. There were also hundreds of smaller Indus towns.