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.
- (OF.009)
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