Phases of Indus Valley Civilization

 Indus Valley Civilization has three Phases

o the Early Harappan Phase from 3300 to 2600 BCE.
o the Mature Harappan Phase from 2600 to 1900 BCE
o the Late Harappan Phase from 1900 to 1300 BCE.

Mehrgarh
Pre-Harappan Phase - Mehrgarh

 Mehrgarh is a Neolithic mountain site in Pakistan's Balochistan

province that has revealed fresh information about the Indus
Valley Civilisation's beginnings.
 Mehrgarh is one of the oldest sites in South Asia with evidence of
cultivation and herding.
 The Near Eastern Neolithic affected Mehrgarh, as evidenced by
parallels in "domesticated wheat types, early phases of farming,
pottery, other archaeological artefacts, certain domesticated plants,
and herd animals."

Early Harappan Phase

Early Harappan Phase from 3300 to 2600 BCE

 The Early Harappan Phase lasted from 3300 BCE to 2800 BCE
and was called for the adjacent Ravi River.
 It began when farmers from the highlands progressively moved
between their mountain residences and the lowland river valleys,
and precedes the Kot Diji Phase (2800–2600 BCE), named after a
location in northern Sindh, Pakistan, near Mohenjo-daro.
 The Indus script's earliest specimens originate from the third
millennium BCE.
 Another village of this period was discovered on the Hakra River
in India at Kalibangan.
 Trade networks linked this civilization to similar regional cultures
and distant sources of raw materials, such as lapis lazuli and other
bead-making materials.
  Villagers had domesticated a variety of crops, including peas,
sesame seeds, dates, and cotton, as well as animals like the water
buffalo, by this period.
 By 2600 BCE, early Harappan villages had evolved into major
urban centres, from which the mature Harappan phase began.
 According to a new study, the Indus Valley inhabitants shifted
from villages to cities.

Mature Harappan Phase from 2600 to 1900 BCE

 Early Harappan civilizations had grown into huge urban centres by

2600 BCE.
 Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day
Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and
Lothal in modern-day India, are examples of such urban centres.
 The urban design and architecture, art and crafts, and the social,
religious, and economic conditions of the time are among the
most stunning features of the finds.
 The Harappan civilization's urban layout and architecture have
been studied extensively.
 The city had well-planned, broad and straight roadways, as well as
residences with effective drainage and ventilation.

Mature Harappan Phase - Features

 Harappa and Mohenjodaro each had its own citadel or acropolis,

which was presumably occupied by members of the governing
elite.
 Each city features a lower town with brick houses where the
common people lived beneath the citadel.
 The city's houses were organised using the grid pattern, which is
unique.
 Granaries were a common sight in Harappan cities.
 The employment of burnt bricks in Harappan settlements is
notable, given that dry bricks were commonly employed
in Egyptian construction at the period.
  The drainage system of Mohenjodaro was quite impressive.
 The Great Bath is Mohenjodaro's most important public facility,
measuring 39 feet long, 23 feet wide, and 8 feet deep.
 The decimal system was utilised by the Mohenjo-Daro culture on
the Indus River roughly 5000 years ago.
 Indus civilisation inscriptions have been found on stone and clay
pots, although they are unreadable.
 This civilization's language was obliterated. Harappans appear to
have never taught their language to anybody else.
 Wheat, barley, and milk products were the staples of the diet. In
addition, fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat were ingested.
 The major sources of amusement appear to be music and dancing.

Cities
Mature Harappan Phase - Cities

 The Indus Valley Civilisation had a complex and technologically

advanced urban civilization, making it the region's first urban
centre.
 The quality of town planning denotes an understanding of urban
planning and efficient municipal administrations that prioritised
sanitation or, conversely, access to religious ritual methods.
 The ancient Indus sewage and drainage systems created and used
in towns across the Indus region were significantly more advanced
than those found in modern Middle Eastern cities, and even more
efficient than those present in many parts of Pakistan and India
today.
 Dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and
defensive walls all demonstrate the Harappans' superior building.
 The huge walls of Indus towns certainly protected the Harappans
from floods and maybe deterred armed strife.
 The majority of city residents appear to have been dealers or
artisans who lived in well-defined neighbourhoods alongside
others who shared their trade.
  Seals, beads, and other things were made in the cities using
materials from other places.

ArtsandCrafts
Mature Harappan Phase - Arts and Crafts

 The excavations yielded a diverse collection of stone, bronze, and

terracotta artefacts.
 The 'dancing girl' (in bronze), naked except for a necklace and a
series of bangles almost covering one arm, her hair styled in a
complicated coiffure, standing in a provocative posture with one
arm on her hip and one lanky leg half bent, is perhaps one of the
most well-known figurines.
 This face has a vivid pertness that is unlike anything else in ancient
civilizations' art.
 Two male figures in stone have received a lot of attention: one is
a red sandstone torso, and the other is a bearded man's bust.
 The limbs in the former were produced separately and then put into
sockets.
 The Harappans also created crude terracotta statuettes of women,
generally naked but with intricate headdresses.
 These are unquestionably mother goddess symbols, and they
appear to have been maintained in practically every home.
 They are so crudely crafted, historians believe the Goddess was
not favoured by the aristocratic classes, who could afford the best
artisans, but that her effigies were mass made by poor potters to
suit public demand.

Seals
Mature Harappan Phase - Seals

 Thousands of seals with exquisite animal representations, such as a

unicorn bull, rhinoceros, tiger, elephant, bison, goat, buffalo, and
others, have been unearthed by archaeologists.
 Pashupati Seal is the most notable seal.
  According to the seals, the Indus valley civilization maintained
trading relations with Mesapatomia, and merchants from India
may have even visited and resided there.
 The standard Harappan seal was a 2-by-2-inch square plaque
composed of the soft river stone steatite.
 Every seal has a pictographic writing carved on it (yet to be
deciphered).
 The seals appear to have also been utilised as amulets, maybe as
modern-day identity cards, carried on the persons of their owners.
Gold, ivory, blue, and white seals have also been discovered.

Tools
Mature Harappan Phase - Tools

 Stone, copper, and bronze tools have been discovered, all of

which were technologically sound in many ways.
 The axe heads had to be tethered to their shafts since the blades
were flat and readily bent.
 The Harappans, on the other hand, had created a saw with
undulating teeth, which allowed dust to flow easily from the cut
and greatly simplified the carpenter's skill.

Late Harappan Phase

Late Harappan Phase from 1900 to 1300 BCE

 Around 1900 BCE, symptoms of a steady collapse appeared, and

by 1700 BCE, the majority of the cities had been abandoned.
 Human bones from the Harappa site have recently revealed that
near the end of the Indus Civilisation, interpersonal violence and
infectious illnesses increased.
 Kudwala in Cholistan, Dwarka in Gujarat, and Daimabad in
Maharashtra are the greatest Late Harappan sites, all of which
may be termed urban, but they are smaller and fewer in number
than Mature Harappan towns.
 Dwarka was strengthened and maintained ties with the Persian
Gulf region, although long-distance trade declined overall.
 "Showing some continuity with mature Harappan ceramic
traditions," but also notable changes, is how the pottery of the Late
Harappan period is defined.
 Many locations were populated for centuries, even as their urban
characteristics deteriorated and vanished.
 Previously common items like stone weights and female figurines
have become scarce.
 Some circular stamp seals with geometric motifs exist, but they
lack the Indus script that characterised the civilisation's mature
period.
 Script is uncommon and only found on potsherds.
 However, in sites in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar
Pradesh, primarily small rural communities, there is more
continuity and overlap between Late Harappan and later cultural
periods.