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    History 7 Indus Valley1

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    The document provides an overview of the ancient Indus Valley civilization that developed along the Indus River from about 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. Key details include that the civilization established many towns and developed advanced sanitation systems and standard construction techniques. However, the writing system remains undeciphered and the reasons for the civilization's decline are uncertain.

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    History 7 Indus Valley1

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    smartnessprsnfd
    4 views2 pages
    The document provides an overview of the ancient Indus Valley civilization that developed along the Indus River from about 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. Key details include that the civilization established many towns and developed advanced sanitation systems and standard construction techniques. However, the writing system remains undeciphered and the reasons for the civilization's decline are uncertain.

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    The document provides an overview of the ancient Indus Valley civilization that developed along the Indus River from about 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. Key details include that the civilization established many towns and developed advanced sanitation systems and standard construction techniques. However, the writing system remains undeciphered and the reasons for the civilization's decline are uncertain.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    4 views2 pages

    History 7 Indus Valley1

    Uploaded by

    smartnessprsnfd
    The document provides an overview of the ancient Indus Valley civilization that developed along the Indus River from about 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. Key details include that the civilization established many towns and developed advanced sanitation systems and standard construction techniques. However, the writing system remains undeciphered and the reasons for the civilization's decline are uncertain.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 2

    Unit 7: Indus Valley

    rive

    Ancient Civilizations Options c.3300BCE – 1300BCE

    Period Overview
    The Indus is a river which runs through what is now known as Pakistan. The Valley is a fertile area around the
    river basin which spreads cross Pakistan, and into modern-day India and Afghanistan. The civilization which
    developed in the valley is considered to have been very advanced for its time, but less is known about it than
    other contemporary civilizations. This is partly because attempts to deciphering the writing system used in the
    region have been unsuccessful. Nevertheless, archaeological evidence shows that hundreds of towns became
    established in the area, with common features which indicate that they formed part of a common civilization. In
    the early 20th Century, two of the largest cities – Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro – have been uncovered.

    Life in the Indus Valley Changing Times


    The Indus Valley civilization is unusual in that By the turn of the 3rd millennium BCE communities had
    excavations have been unable to identify any certain begun to form into towns in the Greater Indus Valley
    palaces or leaders’ residences. Many of the residents along the rivers. These peoples (often called Harappan,
    of Indus Valley cities were tradesmen or craftsmen, after one of the main cities) were among the first
    with various pieces of pottery and other evidence known in the world to introduce sanitation systems to
    having been found. The cities themselves were often cities, with a network of drains taking waste water
    walled, although it isn’t certain that these walls were away from homes.
    intended for defence purposes; they may have been to The civilization is known to have traded both around
    prevent flooding. The culture was certainly the local area and with communities as far away as
    mathematically astute, being one of the first known to Mesopotamia.
    have a precise measuring system for weights. It also Relatively little is known about the changes in the
    used bricks for building work that were formed in society, and indeed it is not certain what led to its
    standard ratios, and had a drainage system which had decline in the second millennium BCE. It is now
    drains of a steady gradient allowing waste to be thought that climate may have had a part to play, with
    transported away from homes. flooding, rivers failing, or political troubles causing
    The civilization also used transport to trade goods, problems. Archaeological evidence suggests that
    including wheeled vehicles and using the river system quality of buildings and materials declined before the
    to travel across wide areas. broader decline of the civilization. Later the Indo-
    Because of the inability to decipher the writing system, European speaking peoples, known as Aryan, moved
    less is known about this civilization than some others, into the area and became more dominant, with much
    but clues are provided by the seals, figurines and of the previous culture becoming superseded.
    buildings uncovered.

    Possible Enquiry Questions Key Individuals


     What were the first civilizations?  It is hard to specify key individuals for this period,
     When was the wheel invented? since little is known about specific people. One of the
    most fascinating aspects of study of the civilization is
     How can we find out about history without the investigation to identify rulers.
    relying on written evidence?
     What do we know about the world’s oldest
    civilizations?
     Why do cities need sewers and water systems?

    w. www.primarycurriculum.me.uk
    Timeline of Key Events:
    All dates are approximate:
    5000 BCE First evidence of religious practice in
    the Indus Valley area
    3200 BCE Some precursors of Indus Script Signs
    date from this period.
    3000 BCE Settlements and small Towns begin
    to develop in the Indus Valley
    2600 BCE Start of ‘Mature Period’ of the Indus
    Civilization, with urbanization around
    the floodplain
    Mohenjo-daro excavated city7 2600 BCE Evidence of farmers using ploughs for
    fields
    What has the Indus Valley Civilization 2300 BCE Indus Valley traders with seals travel
    to Mesopotamia for trade
    ever done for us? 1800- Beginning of the decline of the
    It’s hard to be certain of the direct impact of the
    Harrapan societies on modern life, as it was lost and 1900 BCE civilization; abandonment of cities
    forgotten. However, it shows how a system of writing 1500 BCE Indus Valley cities are in ruins
    was important in an urban civilization.
    It is possible that the Indus Valley was the birthplace of 1920 CE Archaeological Survey begins large
    a game very much like modern Chess. Also cubical dice scale excavations after the realisation
    have been found in the area suggesting that perhaps that the ruined mounds of Mohenjo-
    this is where they were first used. It is also the location
    daro and Harappa belonged to the
    of the oldest discovered measuring ruler, and for the
    first known clothing buttons!
    same unknown urban civilisation

    Big Concepts Broader Context


     Stonehenge built in Britain c.3000 BCE
    The Indus Valley civilization raises fascinating questions
     Old Kingdom in Egpyt c.2700-2200 BCE
    about how societies are organised and methods of
    government. It is considered that the civilization was  First Egyptian pyramid built c. 2600 BCE
    perhaps more egalitarian than others such as Ancient  Cuneiform writing in Sumer c.2350 BCE
    Egypt of around the same time.
     Bronze Age in Britain in around 2300 BCE
    It can also been used as a case study of how historians  Completion of Stonehenge, c2200 BCE
    use evidence in forms other than written, especially  Emergence of Minoan civilization c.2000 BCE
    when little is fully understood about the form of
    writing.  Early Mayan civiliziation emerges, c.2000 BCE

    Places to Visit: Further Information:


    Inevitably there are relatively few places to visit in the www.harappa.com has a section especially for
    UK relating to the Indus Valley civilization. However, primary teachers at www.harappa.com/teach
    some museums do include interesting artefacts:
    BBC Indus Valley: http://bit.do/bbcindus
     Cambridge University Museum of Anthropology
    TimeMaps: http://bit.do/timemaps
    and Archaeology, Cambridge
    Ancient India website: http://bit.do/ancientindia
     British Museum, London
    Ancient.EU website: http://bit.do/ancienteu
     Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    7
    Mohenjo-Daro [http://bit.do/mohenjo] image by Saqib Qayyum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
    3.0 Unported License. The licence can be viewed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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