Harappan Culture: World Civilizations

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Body
Works Cited

Introduction

Long before organized human societies emerged on the European continent, an advanced sophisticated culture flourished in South Asia. This culture was called as the Harappan Culture or the Indus Valley Civilization and takes it name from the ruins of ancient city of Harappa discovered in 1921 and other ancient cities discovered in the Indus River plain. This great culture flourished between 2600 to 1900 B.C.E. This report aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the Harappan Culture, its mysteries and latest archaeological developments in progress.

The epicenter of this culture was located in the Indus River plain. In 1922, yet another city called Mohen-Jo-Daro was discovered in the Larkana district located in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Later discoveries revealed that the Harappan culture had a remarkable geographical spread extending west along the Makran coast of Pakistan up to the borders of present day Iran. To the East it extended over a thousand miles up to the Indian capital city of New Delhi and to the South into the Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The Indian National Oceanography Institute reports that the “Saurashtra coast has been the focal point of human activities since the 3rd millennium BC and the existence of Harappan settlements have been traced at Lothal, Padri, Prabhas Patana, Nageswar and Bet Dwarka.” At the height of its glory, the Harappan culture is said to have supported over 50,000 people which is considered remarkable for a for a Pre- Bronze Age civilization.

Body

The Harappan Culture was extremely refined and modern. According to Ahmad:

A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley Civilization. The quality of municipal town planning suggests knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene. The streets of major cities such as Mohenjo-daro or Harappa were laid out in perfect grid patterns. (8)

The cities had paved roads and streets and aqueducts for carrying water from the rivers to the cities as well as to the fields. The Citadel in the upper part of the town housed the priests and administrators while the lower town was inhabited by traders and craftsmen. The towns had granaries and a town hall. Standardization, a modern concept was also practiced by the Harappans which is evident from the fact that the sizes of bricks used in Harappan towns all through the enormous geographical extent were of the same dimension.

Trade with the outside world was well developed. The Harappan cities were built along the rivers to take advantage of river navigation and the connectivity afforded to the sea thereon. The discovery of a well preserved perfectly rectangular dry dock in the city of Lothal (Province of Gujarat, India) point to the evidence that the Indus Valley civilization was a seafaring culture. The discovery of a seal depicting a sail ship as well as Harappan artifacts being found as far away as Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) are a clear indication of existence of maritime activity during the Harappan period.

Alongside agriculture, the Harappans practiced trades such as pottery, animal husbandry, weaving stone cutting, toy making and trading. The society appeared to have worshipped a Mother Goddess figure; the seals of whom have been found in plenty. Social life revolved around three classes of people namely the priests, wealthy merchants and administrators, the petty merchants, traders and crafts men and the last were the laborers who toiled in the fields and the industries.

The entire culture however, vanished rather precipitously and the reasons why that happened are uncertain. Some experts theorize that natural disasters or Indo-Aryan invasions were responsible for the demise of the civilization. Expert opinion is divided over whether the Harappans spoke the Indo-Aryan or the Dravidian group of languages and the script is yet to be deciphered.

Such has been the quantum of mysteries associated with the Harappan culture that archaeologists and historians have persevered since the 19^th century to discover more about this great civilization. Since 1986, a Joint Pakistani and American Harappa Archeological Research Project (HARP) have been carrying out major excavation at the Harappa site. Discoveries during the period 1995-1998 point to an early Harappan culture dating back to 3330 B.C.E. in the Ravi region of West Pakistan. The discovery included remnants of Harappan script which carbon dated back to 3300 B.C.E. Indian archaeologists have been trawling the seabed next to the Gujarat coast where possibilities of finding yet another Harappan city exists.

Modern technology is lending a helping hand to unravel the secrets of the ancient Harappan culture. Satellite imagery is being put to use to help locate ancient dried up river beds and try and locate the mythical river Saraswati which has been mentioned in the ancient Vedic texts. Ongoing independent investigations by the HARP teams and the Indian Archaeological society which has teamed up with the Indian Navy to search the Gujarat coast may yield further answers to the tantalizing mysteries of the Harappan Culture.

Works Cited

Ahmad, Muzaffar. “Culture of Indus Valley Civilization”. 2008. Web.

Gaur A.S & Tripati Sila. “Recent Marine Archaeological Investigations Along the Saurashtra Coast”. Website of Indian National Oceanography Institute. 2008. Web.

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Harappan Culture: World Civilizations

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