Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were expertly planned cities built with a grid pattern of wide, straight streets. Thick walls surrounded the cities. Many people lived in sturdy brick houses that had as many as three floors. Some houses had bathrooms and toilets that connected to the world’s first sewer system.

Harappan civilization forms an important landmark in the prehistory of the Indian subcontinent. The civilization offers an excellent example to the modern world in various ways. Their expertise in town planning, water management and harvesting systems as well as drainage mechanism is unparalleled.

The Indus River Valley Civilization, also known as Harappan civilization, developed the first accurate system of standardized weights and measures, some as accurate as to 1.6 mm. Harappans created sculpture, seals, pottery, and jewelry from materials, such as terracotta, metal, and stone.

The civilization of the Indus River at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa arose at about 2500 BCE and ended with apparent destruction about 1500 BCE. Apparently the Indus civillization was likely destroyed by the Indo-European migrants from Iran, the Aryans. The cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were built of fire-baked bricks.

Some scholars suggest that this happened due to the drying of rivers. Some others have explained it with deforestation. In some areas there were floods. The floods could have been a reason for the end.

In the Harappan context, a specialist is a person who was trained to do only one kind of work such as, cutting stones, polishing beads, carving seals, etc. Some women and men may have been specialists during the Harappan Civilisation.

It is a rectangular structure made of bricks and bitumen or tar has been used to water tighten it. A number of circular brick platforms were found near these granaries. These platforms were used for threshing the grains.

In the Harappan cities, there were men and women who made all kinds of things either in their own homes or in special workshop known as crafts persons. Copper and bronze were used to make tools, weapons, ornaments and vessels. Gold and silver were used to make ornaments and vessels.

the Mohenjo-Daro

With the excavations done so far, over 700 wells are present at Mohenjo-daro, alongside drainage and bathing systems. This number is unheard of when compared to other civilizations at the time, such as Egypt or Mesopotamia, and the quantity of wells transcribes as one well for every three houses.

The name Mohenjo-daro is reputed to signify “the mound of the dead.” The archaeological importance of the site was first recognized in 1922, one year after the discovery of Harappa. Subsequent excavations revealed that the mounds contain the remains of what was once the largest city of the Indus civilization.

1. The Egyptian civilization flourished around the Nile river whereas, the Indus valley civilization flourished around the river Indus. The artists of the Egyptian civilization built temples, pyramids and extensive statues of Gods and Kings.

Scientists from IIT-Kharagpur and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have uncovered evidence that the Indus Valley Civilization is at least 8,000 years old, and not 5,500 years old, taking root well before the Egyptian (7000BC to 3000BC) and Mesopotamian (6500BC to 3100BC) civilizations.

Many scholars believe that the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization was caused by climate change. Some experts believe the drying of the Saraswati River, which began around 1900 BCE, was the main cause for climate change, while others conclude that a great flood struck the area.

Economy. The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains – it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical since rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley.

The Indus River (also called the Sindhū) is one of the longest rivers in Asia. It flows through China (western Tibet), India (Ladakh) and Pakistan.