1. Chapter 5
Eastern River Valleys

2. Eastern River Valley
Civilizations

3. River Valley civilizations were more isolated than Egypt & Mesopotamia
Mountains
Deserts
Large bodies of water
Did not trade with other parts of the world

4. Eastern River Valley civilizations became self sufficient:
Able to take care of nearly all their own needs

5. Section 1
The Indus River Valley

8. Indus River Valley civilization:
Present day Pakistan & India
Settled by Harappans in 2500 B.C.
Covered area of 1000 miles (from foothills of Himalayas to Indian Ocean
Twice as large as Mesopotamia or Egypt

9. Harappans
First civilization
Not first people to settle area

11. Harappans life revolved around Indus River:
Fertilized land / rich soil
Built dikes and dams to control flooding
Built irrigation system

12. Crops included: Barley, wheat, peas, melons, dates Fish from river
Cotton

13. Cotton First to grow cotton First to spin cotton
First to weave cotton into cloth
First to dye with bright colors

14. River also influenced city construction:
Built on raised mounds
Mud from river used to make bricks
Bricks were sometimes fired (baked) in kilns (ovens); this made bricks stronger

15. Mohenjo-Daro

16. Mohenjo-Daro Found by archeologist, R. D. Banerji in 1922
He found stone seals that led to excavation
Began digging in 1924

18. Archeological findings confirmed ancient civilization….
Mohenjo-Daro thrived around 2500 B.C.
Was southern center of widespread civilization

29. Harappa

30. Harappa
Northern center of civilization
400 miles from Mohenjo-Daro

31. 400 miles
between
Harappa &
Mohenjo-Daro

32. Lothal Ruins of dockyard
Suggest Indus Valley people used boats for transportation
Could sail through Persian Gulf to Mesopotamia

35. City Construction of Mohenjo-Daro & Harappa
Planned community: city built to a definite plan
Hundreds of small buildings: homes & small shops

37. Laid out in a grid: (uniform network)
Houses were two stories w/ courtyard
Had bathrooms, wells and drains: drains carried waste and were cleaned regularly; this protected health

40. Each city had its own citadel (fortress):
Mound 40 ft. high
Surrounded by thick wall
Inside was huge water tank called Great Bath
Next to Bath was huge granary

42. 70 other cities have been found covering an area more than three times the size of California

43. What happened to the Harappan civilization?

44. Decline of Harappa: Possibility #1 Maybe…
They used up natural resources…over farmed the land

45. Possibility #2 -city was rebuilt several
Maybe…
Cut down too many trees
to fuel oven (deforestation)
-without trees the floods swept away soil
-city was rebuilt several
times (each time it was
built weaker)

46. Possibility #3 Maybe… Invaders attacked and killed all Harappans
-skeletons of men, women,
& children have been
found unburied
-all skeletons had
evidence of some
type of injury

48. Evidence of Lost Civilizations
Have found writings of the Harappans but hasn’t been translated
No records of political history
No royal tombs

49. Found jewelry made of gold and lapis lazuli (blue stone)
Found weapons and
tools of stone,
bronze, copper
Found stone
seals

50. Stone Seals Pictures of animals (tigers, elephants,
rhinoceri, crocodiles –
suggest jungle)
Lines of writing
Small hole – necklace
Found in Sumer
May have been used to mark property

51. Found clay models of animals
Rattles
Dice
Toy carts
with movable
wheels

58. This civilization began to change around 1700 B.C.
1200 B.C. – Aryans
had taken over