overview

The Indus Valley civilization was an ancient civilization located in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent.

The Indus Valley is contemporary with the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. The civilization is famous for its large and well-planned cities. Over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found. Most of these are small, but amongst them are some of the largest cities of their time, especially Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.

Geography

The Indus Valley civilization covered most of what is today Pakistan and the Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab. Settlements which were closely related to the core civilization - and may have been colonies of it - have been found in Afghanistan and central Asia.

The huge Indus river system waters a rich agricultural landscape. The Indus plain is surrounded by high mountains, desert and ocean, and at that time dense forest to the east.

Well-planned Cities

The early phase of the civilization lasted from circa 3300 BC until 2800 BC. This saw farming settlements grow into large and sophisticated urban centres.

The quality of municipal town planning indicates that these communities were controlled by efficient governments. These clearly placed a high priority on accessibility to water. Modern scholars tend to see in this the influence of a religion which places a string emphasis on ritual washing - much like modern Hinduism.

Hygiene was also important to the inhabitants. The urban planning included the world's first known urban sanitation systems. Within the city, people obtained water from wells. Within their homes, some rooms had facilities in which waste water was directed to covered drains. These lined the major streets. These ancient Indus sewerage and drainage systems were far in advance of anything found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East.

The advanced architecture and construction techniques of the Indus cities is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. Their massive walls were probably designed to protect them as much from floods as from attack.

Most city dwellers were traders or artisans. They lived with others of the same occupation in well-defined neighbourhoods. Although some houses were larger than others, Indus civilization cities do not show the kind of massive gulf between wealthy and poor dwellings that is found in those of other civilizations. Their society seems to have been egalitarian to a remarkable degree - but perhaps we should not make too much of this until the civilization in understood more, as this seems to contradict so much of what we know about other ancient societies. However, all the houses had access to water and drainage facilities, which gives the impression of a society where even the poor had a decent standard of living (though there may have been extensive "shanty towns" outside the walls, which have left scant archaeological remains).