Indus Valley Civilisation

The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a <a href="/facts/Bronze_Age/c09qWcTt">Bronze Age</a> <a href="/facts/Civilisation/xvGpjDPj">civilisation</a> in the <a href="/facts/Northwestern_South_Asia/3qlad44y">northwestern regions</a> of <a href="/facts/South_Asia/7gTqe3hY">South Asia</a>, lasting from 3300 <a href="/facts/Common_Era/e5DpqUoe">BCE</a> to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Together with <a href="/facts/Ancient_Egypt/BDsEGK4g">ancient Egypt</a> and <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a>, it was one of three early civilisations of the <a href="/facts/Near_East/gD1vyGQI">Near East</a> and <a href="/facts/South_Asia/7gTqe3hY">South Asia</a>, and of the three, the most widespread, its sites spanning an area including much of <a href="/facts/Pakistan/cbIsvJy1">Pakistan</a>, <a href="/facts/Northwest_India/hGymWb3v">northwestern India</a> and northeast <a href="/facts/Afghanistan/v63Auu1C">Afghanistan</a>. The civilisation flourished both in the <a href="/facts/Alluvial_plain/YWX4BlV3">alluvial plain</a> of the <a href="/facts/Indus_River/7vTRHA4t">Indus River</a>, which flows through the length of Pakistan, and along a system of perennial <a href="/facts/Monsoon/0a2o484v">monsoon</a>-fed rivers that once coursed in the vicinity of the <a href="/facts/Ghaggar-Hakra_River/pAzdMMcI">Ghaggar-Hakra</a>, a seasonal river in northwest India and eastern Pakistan.
The term Harappan is sometimes applied to the Indus Civilisation after its <a href="/facts/Type_site/GmpVEq2Q">type site</a> <a href="/facts/Harappa/bKWEUjH0">Harappa</a>, the first to be excavated early in the 20th century in what was then the <a href="/facts/Punjab_Province_(British_India)/wWz41Ad1">Punjab province</a> of <a href="/facts/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India/qdbjMfvI">British India</a> and is now <a href="/facts/Punjab%2c_Pakistan/ppTkKUTS">Punjab, Pakistan</a>. The discovery of Harappa and soon afterwards <a href="/facts/Mohenjo-daro/aC8lQMa4">Mohenjo-daro</a> was the culmination of work that had begun after the founding of the <a href="/facts/Archaeological_Survey_of_India/aVeou2RT">Archaeological Survey of India</a> in the <a href="/facts/British_Raj/hBe6wvPS">British Raj</a> in 1861. There were earlier and later cultures called Early Harappan and Late Harappan in the same area. The early Harappan cultures were populated from <a href="/facts/Neolithic/wRS0Bnh4">Neolithic</a> cultures, the earliest and best-known of which is named after <a href="/facts/Mehrgarh/7JfFIqW5">Mehrgarh</a>, in <a href="/facts/Balochistan/gwrWvcJE">Balochistan</a>, Pakistan. Harappan civilisation is sometimes called Mature Harappan to distinguish it from the earlier cultures.
The cities of the ancient Indus were noted for their <a href="/facts/Urban_planning/dcuv8eTp">urban planning</a>, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, <a href="/facts/Water_supply/1UuexMtl">water supply</a> systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and techniques of handicraft and <a href="/facts/Metallurgy/1SANyxX4">metallurgy</a>. <a href="/facts/Mohenjo-daro/aC8lQMa4">Mohenjo-daro</a> and <a href="/facts/Harappa/bKWEUjH0">Harappa</a> very likely grew to contain between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals, and the civilisation may have contained between one and five million individuals during its florescence. A gradual <a href="/facts/Aridification/uXaRTedW">drying</a> of the region during the 3rd millennium BCE may have been the initial stimulus for its urbanisation. Eventually it also reduced the water supply enough to cause the civilisation's demise and to disperse its population to the east.
Although over a thousand Mature Harappan sites have been reported and nearly a hundred excavated, there are only five major urban centres: <a href="/facts/Mohenjo-daro/aC8lQMa4">Mohenjo-daro</a> in the lower Indus Valley (declared a <a href="/facts/UNESCO_World_Heritage_Site/6AbWWKV4">UNESCO World Heritage Site</a> in 1980 as "Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro"), Harappa in the western <a href="/facts/Punjab_region/gyyuKVSp">Punjab region</a>, <a href="/facts/Ganeriwala/3v0RSR7E">Ganeriwala</a> in the <a href="/facts/Cholistan_Desert/2kbgdUeK">Cholistan Desert</a>, <a href="/facts/Dholavira/APzMFAPQ">Dholavira</a> in western <a href="/facts/Gujarat/HwmVfMwr">Gujarat</a> (declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021 as "Dholavira: A Harappan City"), and <a href="/facts/Rakhigarhi/jnNPKYol">Rakhigarhi</a> in <a href="/facts/Haryana/bo4Qo3c8">Haryana</a>. The <a href="/facts/Harappan_language/slRECrmL">Harappan language</a> is not directly attested, and its affiliations are uncertain, as the <a href="/facts/Indus_script/HTwS3ruS">Indus script</a> has remained undeciphered. A relationship with the <a href="/facts/Dravidian_languages/s8pMU64e">Dravidian</a> or <a href="/facts/Elamo-Dravidian_languages/wlCv3qoT">Elamo-Dravidian</a> language family is favoured by a section of scholars.

Indus Valley Civilisation open-in-new

Indus Valley Civilisation