|
The Indus Valley civilization was rediscovered
in
1920-21 when engraved seals were
unearthed in the Punjab province of Pakistan
at a site
called Harappa, a name which is
often used to describe the civilization as a
whole.
Subsequent excavations at Harappa
revealed the size and complexity of this
ancient city.
Other sites were unearthed as well
along the banks of the Indus River, including
the
equally large city of Mohenjodaro.
Through archaeological and historical
research, we
can now say for certain that a highly
developed urban civilization flourished in the
Indian
subcontinent over five thousand years
ago. Though the Indus Valley script remains
undeciphered, the numerous seals, statuary,
and pottery discovered during excavations,
not to
mention the urban ruins, have enabled
scholars to construct a reasonably plausible
account
of the Indus Valley civilization.
Some kind of centralized state, and certainly
fairly
extensive town planning, is suggested
by the layout of the great cities of Harappa
and
Mohenjodaro. The same kind of burnt brick
appears to have been used in the
construction of
buildings in cities that were several
hundred miles apart. The weights and
measures also
show a very considerable regularity,
suggesting that these disparate cities spread
out
across a vast desert shared a common
culture. The Indus Valley people
domesticated
animals, and harvested various crops, such
as cotton, sesame, peas, barley, and cotton.
Indus
Valley seals have been excavated in far
away cities such as Sumer, suggesting that a
wealthy
merchant class existed, engaged in
extensive trading throughout the
subcontinent and
the Near East.
Other than the archaeological ruins of
Harappa and
Mohenjodaro, these seals provide the
most detailed clues about the character of
the Indus
Valley people. Bulls and elephants
appear on these seals, but the horned bull,
most
scholars agree, should not be taken to be
congruent with Nandi, for the horned bull
appears in
numerous Central Asian figures as
well. The women portrayed on the seals are
shown
with elaborate coiffures, sporting heavy
jewelry, suggesting that the Indus Valley
people were
an urbane people with cultivated
tastes and a refined aesthetic sensibility. A
few
thousand seals have been discovered in
Indus Valley cities, showing some 400
pictographs:
too few in number for the language to
have been ideographic, and too many for the
language to have been phonetic.
LO.1265
- (LO.1265)
|
