Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjadaro

Ancient India

Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro

Poll

Which of these three options do you think is an accurate

description of this object?

• a ping pong paddle

• a mirror

• a serving plate

This artifact is a mirror similar to the ones people have been using in India since ancient times.

​Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro

In this lesson, you will explore artifacts

from Mohenjodaro, an ancient city in the Indus River valley.

Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro

Like the mirror, many of the objects and structures will be unfamiliar to you. You will use your skills to form hypotheses about how these artifacts may have been used and what that tells us about the daily life of the people in that civilization.

​​Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro

Read Introduction

​

Ancient India

​Use information from the Introduction and from this image to propose some

possible answers to the

Essential Question:

What can artifacts tell us about daily life in Mohenjodaro?

Ancient India

​The city of Mohenjodaro (moh-HEN-joh-dahr-oh) was one of the great centers of Indus valley civilization.

In this activity, you will role-play archaeologists excavating the ruins of Mohenjodaro.

You will examine artifacts to form ideas about daily life in the Indus valley civilization.

Afterward, you will read the Student Text to learn the ideas that archaeologists have determined about these ancient objects and structures.

​Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro

Read Section 1

​

Ancient India

The Mystery of Mohenjodaro, Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro.

This section provides background information about the ruins found at Mohenjodaro.

​​Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro

Dropdown

By studying the ruins of ​

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, we see that the city was carefully planned. The ​

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was on a platform of mud and brick. Below the citadel were nine ​

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that divided the city into blocks, like those of a modern city.

Dropdown

Scientists are not sure what happened to the Indus valley

civilization. The civilization disappeared around ​

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B.C.E. Some

scientists believed that ​

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destroyed the cities, but this

theory has been rejected. Other scientists think that ​

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events, such as a flood or an ​

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, caused the decline.

Open Ended

What are your ideas about what these objects may

have been used for.

Ancient India: Read Section 2

Multiple Choice

These objects are ...

• weights and a scale

• A charm to keep away evil

• part of a sewer system

• Game pieces and a game board.

Dropdown

These artifacts suggest that ancient Indians used standard ​

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as they traded goods. Some weights were found in

​

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’ shops.

Open Ended

Discuss: What are your ideas about what this

structure may have been used for?

Ancient India: Read Section 3

Dropdown

It seems likely that people in Mohenjodaro used the Great ​ Bath as a pool to bathe in. One room had a ​

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that supplied the bath with water, and a drain removed ​

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water. Some scientists think that the Great Bath might have been used for ​

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rituals.

Open Ended

Discuss: What are your ideas about this

object?

Ancient India: Read Section 4

Dropdown

The statue shows a man. He has a short beard and wears a

patterned robe over his left shoulder. He might represent both a ​

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and a king. The beads show that people in this ancient city

wore ​

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. Women may have worn beads in necklaces, bracelets,earrings, and rings.

Open Ended

What are your ideas about this

object?

Ancient India: Read Section 5

Dropdown

People may have worn ​

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as ​

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to keep away ​

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, because small loops have been found on the backs of many seals. Seals may have also been pressed into wax to form tags, as a way to identify the ​

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of certain goods.

Open Ended

What are your ideas about what this

structure may have been used for?

Ancient India: Read Section 6

Dropdown

This structure was part of a ​

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system that carried dirty water

and waste out of homes and into the ​

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River. A network of clay

pipes connected the buildings and homes to the main sewer system,

making it possible for all residents to have had indoor ​

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.Deep wells allowed people to store water, including rainfall.

Open Ended

What are your ideas about what this

structures may have been used for?

Ancient India: Read Section 7

Dropdown

These structures are ruins of ​

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in Mohenjodaro. Such houses were made of ​

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bricks, stood two stories high, and faced narrow alleys. Homes had from one to a dozen rooms. Scientists believe that ​

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people may have lived in the smaller ​

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, while richer peoplelived in the larger homes.

Open Ended

What are your ideas about what these objects

may have been used for?

Ancient India: Read Section 8

Dropdown

These objects are ​

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pieces and a game ​

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. Archaeologists have also uncovered dice, stone balls, and grooved clay tracks. Historians believe that these game pieces may have been part of an

early version of ​

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, which may have originated in ​

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.

Open Ended

What are your ideas about what these objects

may have been used for?

Ancient India: Read Section 9

Dropdown

This object is one of many small clay models found in Mohenjodaro. The model might be a ​

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, but scientists believe that it also shows how people might have ​

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farm goods to ​

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.

Match

Vocabulary

• an early civilization with an advanced culture,

  located in the Indus River valley on the Indian

  subcontinent

• a place to store grain

• one of the first major settlements in ancient

  India that became a center of the Indus River

  valley civilization

• a fortress built to protect a city

Indus Valley Civilization

granary

Mohenjodaro

citadel

• Indus Valley Civilization

• granary

• Mohenjodaro

• citadel