1. Indus Valley Civilization
2500 B.C.E. – 1500 B.C.E.

2. Background Excavated in 1920s Lesser known ancient civilization
Sophisticated public works
A huge valley

3. Where: Between the Indus and the Sarwati Rivers

4. *Location in floodplain made for rich agricultural yield
*Flooded reliably 2 times a year

5. Alluvial Plain Discussion

6. Major Cities Mohenjo-Daro (lower) Agricultural city Granaries
Public baths

7. Major Cities Harappa (upper) Public works Domesticated animals
Cultivation of wheat and rice

8. Notable Indicators of an Advanced Society:
*Written language
*Evidence of trade
*Evidence of city planning
*(sewers!)
*Domesticated animals
*Made cotton cloth

9. Religious Element of Indus Valley Civilization
Little evidence
Polytheistic
Mother Goddess
Bathing as a means of purification (Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro)

10. E. Artistic/Intellectual Element of Indus Valley Civilization
Seals
Figurines, Jewelry, Pottery
Mathematics
Pictograph Writing

11. What was not found: Evidence Weapons or warfare
No accepted reason why they left, only theories
Horses
Still much to be uncovered
Much is literally blowing away due to salinization and lack of funding

12. V. Decline of Indus Valley Civilization
Changing Rivers/Environmental Disaster?
Invasion by the Aryans or people from the Caucasus
Earthquake? Something Else?
What we do know is that by the 1500s the society was in such a state of decline that it was relatively easy for nomadic cattle-herding peoples to settle in the region and eventually take up farming.
We can also be fairly sure that the vast majority of the IVC peoples did not remain in the region.

13. Images
Great Bath

14. Images
Drain System

15. Images
Toilets

16. Images
Houses

17. Further Questions? Why did the civilization not spread further?
What happened to them?
What was the importance of the baths?
What was their governmental structure such that it allowed for little-to-no violence?

18. Sources
(Illustration of Harappa)
harappan-myth.html (Sarwati River Map)