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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.
IV 3666 IV 3667 IV 3668
- (LO.1365)
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