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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.
- (FF.016)
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