TNSPC INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION - 2
THE TOWN PLANNING
- The Elaborate Town Planning, it follows the Grid System and Roads were Well Cut Dividing the the town in to Large Rectangular Blocks.
- Burned Block of Good Quality Building Materials used
- The Drainage System shows developed Sense of Health and Sanitation.
- The Towns were divided into Two parts: 1. Upper Part or Citadel and 2. Lower Part
- A Great Path (Public Bath) founded in Mohenjodaro
- The recent studies indicate that Food Production was largely indigenous to the Indus Valley. It is known that the people of Mehrgarh used domesticated wheat and barley, and the major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from two-row barley.
- They used Wooden Ploughs and Produced sufficient to Feed themselves. The Food Grains were stored in Granaries.
THE CULTURE & ARTS
- The Harappan Culture belongs to Bronze Age, the Tool were mostly made by Copper and Bronze Materials and Cotton Fabrics always used, while winter Woolen Cloths were used
- Men and Women wore Gold, Silver, Ivory, Copper Ornaments were used to dressing up, Iron not available. They Played Dice Games and Potter Wheel were used and their Pottery was Red or Block Pottery
- Their Script was Pictograph (About 600 Undecipherable Pictographs) and the Writing was Boustrophedon. Bead Making Mactory existed in Chanhudaro and Lothel and Ink-Pot has been discovered at Chanhudaro
- Cemetery H and R-37 have been discovered at Harappa and Teracotta Plough has been discovered at Banwali
- Various Sculptures, Seals, Bronze Vessels Pottery, Gold Jewellery, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite have been found at excavation sites.
- A number of Gold, Terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of some dance form. These terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs.
- The Animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the mature period has not been clearly identified. Part Bull, Part Zebra, with a Majestic Horn, it has been a source of speculation.
- The Well-Knit Internal and External Trade and The Indus civilization's economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in Transport technology.
- The Indus civilization may have been the First Civilization to use wheeled transport. These advances may have included Bullock Carts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today, as well as boats.
- Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail, similar to those one can see on the Indus River today; however, there is secondary evidence of sea-going craft.
- Archaeologists have discovered a massive, Dredged Canal and what they regard as a docking facility at the Coastal City of Lothal, Gujarat. An Extensive Canal Network, used for irrigation, has however also been discovered by H.-P. Francfort.
- A Dockyard has been discovered in Lothel and the Barter System was there
THE RELIGIOUS LIFE
- They Worshiped Proto-Shiva, Mother Goddes, Bull and Pipal Tree, An early and influential work in the area that set the trend for Hindu interpretations of archaeological evidence from the Harrapan sites was that of John Marshall, who in 1931 identified the following as prominent features of the Indus religion, a Great Male God and a Mother Goddess.
- Phallus (Lingam) and Yoni worship also prevalent and Dead Bodies were placed in the North-South Orientation
THE END OF HARAPPAN CULTURE
- The Harappan Culture lasted for around 1,000 years. Invasion of the Aryans, recurrent Floods, Social Breakup of Harappans, Earth Quakes, Major Ecological changes etc. are listed as possible causes.
Today, many scholars believe that the collapse of the Indus Civilization was caused by drought and a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. Recent examination of human skeletons from the site of Harappa has demonstrated that the end of the Indus civilization was associated with an increase in Inter-Personal Violence and Infectious Diseases like Leprosy and Tuberculosis. It has also been suggested that Immigration by New Peoples, Deforestation, Floods, or Changes in the course of the river may have contributed to the collapse of the Indus Civilization. The Cemetery H culture was the manifestation of the Late Harappan over a large area in the South, and the Ocher Colored Pottery Culture its successor.