In the Earliest Cities

In the Earliest Cities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Aag244_d0w

The Architecture: Houses, Streets, and Drains

• Cities in the Indus Valley Civilisation cities were divided in two parts: the western part, known as the citadel, was smaller and higher, and it had important buildings, and the eastern part was known as the lower town. 

• These towns were surrounded by strong walls made of baked bricks placed in an interlocking pattern.

The Architecture: Houses, Streets, and Drains: Major Buildings:

• The Great Bath built in the citadel area of Mohenjo-daro had rooms on all sides. It was made of bricks and coated with plaster and natural tar to make it watertight.

• Fire altars in Kalibangan (present-day Rajasthan) and Lothal (Gujarat) were probably built to perform sacrifices.

• Big store houses used to store grains were also found in Harrapa, Lothal, and Mohenjo-daro.

The Architecture: Houses, Streets, and Drains

• Houses: The cities of Indus Valley Civilisation had houses with one or two storeys. Those houses had separate bathing areas and rooms built around a courtyard, and some also had wells.

• Drains and Streets: The drains were laid in straight lines, had gentle slopes for easy flow of water, were covered, and had inspection holes for cleaning.

• Major drain pipes were directly connected to each house and formed a network of smaller drains merging with the larger ones.

Life in the City
Power in the city was controlled by three types of people: 

• The rulers who planned the construction of new buildings and areas in the cities;

• The scribes who knew how to write, and they helped in preparing seals (a device used to make an impression in wax, clay, on paper, etc).  

• The craftspeople who travelled in search of raw materials and made different things out of them.

Arts and Crafts

• Many different things, such as tools, weapons, ornaments, and vessels, were made from stone, shells, and metals (mostly copper, bronze, gold, and silver).

• Seals for official documents were made from stone, and pots from clay.

• Spindle whorls (made of terracotta and faience) were used to spin fibres into thread.

• Things were made by specialists, people who were trained to do only one kind of work.

• Raw materials to make things came from either natural or human-made resources. Some of those were brought in from distant places, such as copper from present-day Rajasthan and Oman, tin from present-day Afghanistan and Iran, gold from present-day Karnataka, and precious stones from present-day Gujarat, Iran, and Afghanistan.

Agriculture

• Farmers lived on the outskirts of cities, and their only occupation was agriculture. They supplied food to all rulers, scribes and craftspeople.

• Harrapans mostly grew wheat, barley, pulses, peas, rice, sesame, linseed, and mustard. 

• In those times, the plough was a new device invented to till the soil and sow the seeds.

• Water was stored and used for irrigation in times of scarcity. People also reared cattle such as sheep, goat, and buffalo, gathered fruits like berries, and caught fish, antelopes, etc.

The End of the Harappan Civilisation

• The end of the Harappan Civilisation began about 3,900 years ago, when the locals move out of there. They stopped using their seals, weights, writings, and raw materials, their buildings fell out of repair, drainage systems broke down, and new houses were built by new people almost 1400 years later.

• One reason for the fall of the Harappan Civilisation might have been the loss of control by its rulers. There were also other reasons, such as deforestation (as wood was used up for fuel and smelting metal ores), excessive grazing, floods etc. 

Open Ended

Food for Thought:

Cities in the Indus Valley Civilisation are important to archaeologists, because..................................................................................

Bricks were laid in an interlocking pattern to make houses in the Indus Valley Civilisation, because................................................................................

The Great Bath was built in Mohenjo-daro to..............................................

According to an archaeological survey, ornaments in the Harappan Civilisation were made from...

Create your own comic strip using any five things that the Indus valley people used and create a story out of them linking it with each another.

Multiple Choice

The Great Bath in Monhenjo-daro is 11.88 metres by 7.01 metres across, and it's 2.43 metres deep. There are steps on both sides that lead to the bottom of the bath, and it also has rooms on all sides. What materials were used to build the Great Bath?

• bricks, natural tar, and plaster for coating

• iron, bricks, and natural tar

• cement, stone, and mud

• sand, stone, and wood

Multiple Choice

In the Harappan culture, copper and bronze were used to make tools, weapons, ornaments, and vessels. Gold and silver were also used to make ornaments and vessels. Those raw materials that were unavailable locally, were imported. Do you know where the Harappans import their raw materials from?

• copper from Bengal, gold from Dubai, and precious stones from Gujarat

• copper from Madhya Pradesh, gold from Assam, and precious stones from Egypt

• copper from Punjab and Hariyana, gold from Dubai, and precious stones from Gujarat

• copper from Rajasthan and Oman, gold from Karnataka, and precious stones from Gujarat, Iran, and Afghanistan

Multiple Choice

Sahitya is an archaeologist, and she wants to visit Harappa. It was a city in the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and only its ruins remain today. What is the modern day location of this archaeological site?

• in Gujarat, near Lothal

• in Bihar

• in Punjab, eastern Pakistan

• near Iran

Multiple Choice

Sahitya just got her visa to visit Pakistan. Upon reaching the archaeological site of the Indus Valley Civilisation, she found that the cities there were divided into two parts. The part to the west was smaller but higher, and the part to the east was larger but lower. What is the higher part of the city known as?

• the Great Bath

• bitadel

• citadel

• gigadel

Multiple Choice

Aditya wants to pursue a career in Construction Engineering. So he visited some ancient cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation, and found that special buildings were constructed in the citadel, the higher part of the city. He was surprised to know that even back then, thousands of years ago, people used bricks to make buildings. What was special about the bricks used in the cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation?

• They were baked and made waterproof.

• They were made of iron and steel.

• They were colourful and small in size.

• They were baked and laid in an interlocking pattern.

Multiple Choice

Most people today have water running from taps in their homes, but it was not so in the ancient times. In fact, most people used to get together in public baths to wash. However, the Great Bath in a city of the Indus Valley Civilisation was used only by important people, and it is a famous structure because one it is of the first public baths in the world. Where would you find it?

• Lothal

• Mohenjo-daro

• Dholavira

• Kalibangan