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Excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro. History of South Asia Stone Age before 3300 BCE Mature Harappan 2600–1700 BCE Late Harappan 1700–1300 BCE Iron Age 1200–300 BCE Maurya Empire • 321–184 BCE Middle Kingdoms 230 BCE–1279 CE Gupta Empire •280–550 Islamic Sultanates 1206–1596 Mughal Empire 1526–1707 Maratha Empire 1674-1818 Sikh Confederacy 1716-1849 British India 1858–1947 Modern States 1947 onwards Timeline This box: view • talk • edit The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300–1700 BCE, flourished 2600–1900 BCE), abbreviated IVC, was an ancient civilization that flourished in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys primarily in what is now Pakistan and western India, extending westward into Balochistan. The mature phase of this civilization is known as the Harappan Civilization, after the first of its cities to be excavated, Harappa. Excavation of IVC sites has been ongoing since the 1920s. Image File history File links Mohenjodaro_Sindh. ... Image File history File links Mohenjodaro_Sindh. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... This article is about the History of South Asia. ... The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in South Asia. ... The Cemetery H culture developed out of the northern part of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1900 BC, in and around the Punjab region. ... The Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent succeeds the Late Harappan (Cemetery H) culture, also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition. ... A representation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, which was erected around 250 BCE. It is the emblem of India. ... Middle kingdoms of India refers to the political entities in India from the 6th century BCE through to the Islamic invasions and the related Decline of Buddhism from the 7th century CE. // Kingdoms and Empires The Aryans had invaded India from the Northwest, according to the Aryan Invasion Theory, and... The Gupta Empire under Chandragupta II (ruled 375-415) The Gupta Empire was one of the largest political and military empires in the world. ... During the middle ages, several Islamic regimes established empires in South Asia. ... Capital Delhi / Agra Language(s) Persian (initially also Chagatai, Turkish; later also Urdu) Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1526-1530 Babur  - 1530–1539 and after restoration 1555–1556 Humayun  - 1556–1605 Akbar  - 1605–1627 Jahangir  - 1628–1658 Shah Jahan  - 1659–1707 Aurangzeb History  - Established April 21, 1526  - Ended September 21, 1857 Area... Flag of the Maratha Empire Extent of the Maratha Empire ca. ... The Sikh Confederacy (from 1716-1799) was a collection of small to medium sized independent sovereign, punjabi Sikh states, which were governed by barons, in Punjab[1]. They were loosely politically linked but strongly bound in the cultural and religious spheres. ... Anthem God Save The Queen/King British India, circa 1860 Capital Calcutta (1858-1912), New Delhi (1912-1947) Language(s) Hindi, Urdu, English and many others Government Monarchy Emperor of India  - 1877-1901 Victoria  - 1901-1910 Edward VII  - 1910-1936 George V  - January-December 1936 Edward VIII  - 1936-1947 George... This article is under construction. ... This is a timeline of Indian history. ... Central New York City. ... The Indus River (Urdu: Sindh; Sindhi: Sindhu; Sanskrit and Hindi: सिन्धु ; Persian: حندو ; Pashto: ّآباسنFather of Rivers; Tibetan: Lion River; Chinese: Yìndù; Greek: Ινδός Indos) is the longest and most important river in Pakistan and one of the most important rivers on the Indian subcontinent and has given the country India its... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Balochistan or Baluchistan may refer to: Balochistan (region) is the name of a large region covering southwest Pakistan and southeast Iran Balochistan (Iran) is part of the Iranian Sistan and Baluchistan Province Balochistan (Pakistan) is the name of a province of Pakistan. ... Location of Harappa in the Indus Valley. ... The 1920s they were sexy referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... The civilization is sometimes referred to as the Indus Ghaggar-Hakra civilization[1] or the Indus-Saraswati civilization. The appellation Indus-Saraswati is based on the possible identification of the Ghaggar-Hakra River with the Sarasvati River mentioned in the Rig Veda,[2] but this usage is disputed.[3] The Sarasvati River is an ancient river that is mentioned in Hindu texts. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... Contents 1 Historical context 2 Discovery and excavation 3 Periodisation 4 Geography 5 Early Harappan 6 Mature Harappan 6.1 Cities 6.2 Science 6.3 Arts and culture 6.4 Trade and transportation 6.5 Agriculture 6.6 Writing or symbol system 6.7 Religion 7 Late Harappan 7.1 Legacy 8 See also 9 Notes 10 Bibliography 11 External links [edit] Historical context The mature (Harappan) phase of the IVC is contemporary to the Early to Middle Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East, in particular the Old Elamite period, Early Dynastic to Ur III Mesopotamia, Prepalatial Minoan Crete and Old Kingdom to First Intermediate Period Egypt. The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) consisted of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) consisted of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze. ... Overview map of the ancient Near East The terms ancient Near East or ancient Orient encompass the early civilizations predating classical antiquity in the region roughly corresponding to that described by the modern term Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria), during the time roughly spanning... For other uses, see Elam (disambiguation). ... The history of Sumer, taken to include the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, spans the 5th to 3rd millennia BC, ending with the downfall of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BC, followed by a transition period of Amorite states before the rise of Babylonia in the 18th century... The Third Dynasty of Ur refers simultaneously to a 21st to 20th century BC (short chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state that some historians regard as a nascent empire. ... Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. ... The Minoans were an ancient pre-Hellenic civilization on what is now Crete (in the Mediterranean), during the Bronze Age, prior to classical Greek culture. ... The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – this was the first of three so-called Kingdom periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile... The First Intermediate Period is the name conventionally given by Egyptologists to that period in Ancient Egyptian history between the end of the Old Kingdom and the advent of the Middle Kingdom. ... The IVC has been tentatively identified with the toponym Meluhha known from Sumerian records. It has been compared in particular with the civilizations of Elam (also in the context of the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis), and with Minoan Crete (because of cultural parallels such as goddess worship and depictions of bull-leaping)[4]. Meluhha refers to one of ancient Sumers prominent trading partners, but precisely which one remains an open question. ... Elam (Persian: تمدن ایلام) is one of the oldest recorded civilizations. ... The Elamo-Dravidian languages are a hypothesised language family which includes the living Dravidian languages of India and Pakistan, in addition to the extinct Elamite language of ancient Elam, in what is now southwestern Iran. ... The Minoans were an ancient pre-Hellenic civilization on what is now Crete (in the Mediterranean), during the Bronze Age, prior to classical Greek culture. ... Goddess worship is a general description for the veneration of a female Goddess or goddesses. ... Bull-leaping, fresco from the Great Palace at Knossos, Crete The Bull Leaper, an ivory figurine from the palace of knossos, crete. ... The IVC is a likely candidate for a Proto-Dravidian culture.[5] Alternatively, Proto-Munda, Proto-Indo-Iranian or a "lost phylum" are sometimes suggested for the language of the IVC (see Substratum in Vedic Sanskrit).[6] Proto-Dravidian is the proto-language of the Dravidian languages. ... Munda Languages are spoken in north east India. ... The term Indo-Iranian includes all speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, i. ... Nihali is a language isolate of India. ... The presence of non-Indo-European vocabulary and retroflex consonants in Vedic Sanskrit is generally taken by linguists to indicate the influence of a non-Indo-European speaking substratum population, variously identified as Proto-Dravidian[1] or Proto- or Para-Munda. ... [edit] Discovery and excavation The ruins of Harappa were first described in 1842 by Charles Masson in his Narrative of Various Journeys in Baluchistan, Afghanistan and the Panjab, where locals talked of an ancient city extending "thirteen cosses" (about 25 miles), but no archaeological interest would attach to this for nearly a century.[7] Location of Harappa in the Indus Valley. ... The kos is an ancient Indian unit of measurement which has been in use for over three thousand years; evidence exists from Vedic times to the Mughal period, and even now elderly people in rural areas refer to distances from nearby areas in kos. ... In 1856, British engineers John and William Brunton were laying the East Indian Railway Company line connecting Karachi and Lahore. John wrote: "I was much exercised in my mind how we were to get ballast for the line of the railway." They were told of an ancient ruined city near the lines, called Brahminabad. Visiting the city, he found it full of hard well-burnt bricks; and "convinced that there was a grand quarry for the ballast I wanted", the city of Brahminabad was reduced to ballast.[8]. A few months later, further north, John's brother William Brunton's "section of the line ran near another ruined city, bricks from which had already been used by villagers in the nearby village of Harappa at the same site. These bricks now provided ballast along 93 miles of the railroad track running from Karachi to Lahore." [8] 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Extent of Great Indian Peninsular Railway network in 1870 // A rail system in India was first proposed in 1832 in Madras but it never materialised. ...   (Sindhi: , Urdu: ) is the largest city in Pakistan and is the provincial capital of Sindh province. ...   (Urdu: لاہور, Punjabi: لہور, pronounced ) is the capital of the Punjab and is the second largest city in Pakistan after Karachi. ... It was more than half a century later, in 1912, that Harappan seals—with the then unknown symbols—were discovered by J. Fleet, prompting an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921/22, and resulting in the discovery of the hitherto unknown civilization at Harappa by Sir John Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats, and at Mohenjo-daro by Rakhal Das Banerjee, E. J. H. MacKay, and Sir John Marshall. By 1931, much of Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, but excavations continued, such as that led by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, director of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1944. Among other archaeologists who worked on IVC sites before the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 were Ahmad Hasan Dani, Brij Basi Lal, Nani Gopal Majumdar, and Aurel Stein. 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... John Hubert Marshall was an English archaeologist, excavator of the prehistoric city of Taxila in the Himalayas, in todays Pakistan, and of other sites throughout India. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Brigadier Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler Kt, CH, CIE, MC (10 September 1890–22 July 1976), was one of the best-known British archaeologists of the twentieth century. ... The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency in the Department of Culture that is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of cultural monuments. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ahmad Hassan Dani (born 1920) is a Pakistani archaeologist and linguist, and is considered to be one of the foremost authorities on South Asian archaeology and history. ... B.B. Lal (born in Jhansi, India in 1921) is a well-known Indian archaeologist. ... Sir M(arc) Aurel Stein (1862 - 1943), born in Budapest, was a Hungarian Jewish archaeologist who became a British citizen. ... Following the partition of British India, the area of the IVC was divided between Pakistan and India, and excavations from this time include those led by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1949, archaeological adviser to the Government of Pakistan. Outposts of the Indus Valley civilization were excavated as far west as Sutkagan Dor in Baluchistan, as far north as the Oxus river in current Afghanistan. Anthem God Save The King The British Indian Empire, 1909 Capital Calcutta (1858 - 1912) New Delhi (1912 - 1947) Language(s) Hindustani, English and many others Government Monarchy Emperor of India  - 1858-1901 Victoria¹  - 1901-1910 Edward VII  - 1910-1936 George V  - 1936 Edward VIII  - 1936-1947 George VI Viceroy²  - 1858... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The westernmost known site of Indus Valley Civilization was Sutkagan Dor (or Sutkagen Dor). ... Balochistan, or Ballsforchinstan, Balochi, Pashto, Urdu: بلوچستان) is a province in Pakistan, the largest in the country by geographical area. ... The Amu Darya (in Persian آمودریا; Darya means river in Persian) rises in the Pamirs and flows mainly north-west through the Hindu Kush, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to join the Aral Sea in a large river delta. ... [edit] Periodisation Main article: Periodization of the Indus Valley Civilization The mature phase of the Harappan civilization lasted from c. 2600 BC to 1900 BC. With the inclusion of the predecessor and successor cultures — Early Harappan and Late Harappan, respectively — the entire Indus Valley Civilization may be taken to have lasted from the 33rd to the 14th centuries BC. Two terms are employed for the periodization of the IVC: Phases and Eras.[9][10] The Early Harappan, Mature Harappan, and Late Harappan phases are also called the "Regionalisation," "Integration," and "Localisation" eras, respectively, with the Regionalization era reaching back to the Neolithic Mehrgarh II period. "Discoveries at Mehrgarh changed the entire concept of the Indus civilization," according to Ahmad Hasan Dani, professor emeritus at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, "There we have the whole sequence, right from the beginning of settled village life."[11] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Indus Valley Civilization. ... Mehrgarh was an ancient settlement in South Asia and is one of the most important sites in archaeology for the study of the earliest neolithic settlements in that region. ... Ahmad Hassan Dani (born 1920) is a Pakistani archaeologist and linguist, and is considered to be one of the foremost authorities on South Asian archaeology and history. ... The University was founded in 1965 as a national institution for higher learning and research and named University of Islamabad. ... For other places called Islamabad, see Islamabad (disambiguation). ... Date range Phase Era 5500-3300 Mehrgarh II-VI (Pottery Neolithic) Regionalisation Era 3300-2600 Early Harappan (Early Bronze Age) 3300-2800 Harappan 1 (Ravi Phase) 2800-2600 Harappan 2 (Kot Diji Phase, Nausharo I, Mehrgarh VII) 2600-1900 Mature Harappan (Middle Bronze Age) Integration Era 2600-2450 Harappan 3A (Nausharo II) 2450-2200 Harappan 3B 2200-1900 Harappan 3C 1900-1300 Late Harappan (Cemetery H, Late Bronze Age) Localisation Era 1900-1700 Harappan 4 1700-1300 Harappan 5 Mehrgarh was an ancient settlement in South Asia and is one of the most important sites in archaeology for the study of the earliest neolithic settlements in that region. ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae Scotland, Europes most complete Neolithic village. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) consisted of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) consisted of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze. ... The Cemetery H culture developed out of the northern part of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1900 BC, in and around the Punjab region. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) consisted of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze. ... [edit] Geography Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization. The shaded area does not include recent excavations such as Rupar, Balakot, Shortughai in Afghanistan, Manda in Jammu, etc. See [1] for a more detailed map. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach to Punjab from east of the river Jhelum to Rupar on the upper Sutlej; Recently, Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistan's NW Frontier Province as well. Coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor[12] in Western Baluchistan to Lothal[13] in Gujarat. The Indus Valley Civilization encompassed most of Pakistan as well as the western states of India. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus river at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan,[14] in the Gomal river valley in north-west Pakistan,[15] at Manda on the Beas River near Jammu,[16] India, and at Alamgirpur on the Hindon River, only 28 km from Delhi.[17] Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on the ancient sea-coast,[18] for example Balakot,[19] and on islands, for example, Dholavira.[20] Image File history File links by en:User:Dbachmann see also en:Image:Indus_Map. ... Image File history File links by en:User:Dbachmann see also en:Image:Indus_Map. ... Rupnagar is a town in Punjab, India. ... Balakot (Urdu: بالاکوٹ), is a town in Mansehra District in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... Jammu   (Hindi: जम्मू, Urdu: جموں) is one of the three regions comprising the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. ... Major ethnic groups in Pakistan and surrounding areas, in 1980. ... This article is for the Indian state. ... Jhelum or Jehlum may mean: Jhelum River in India and Pakistan Jhelum City in Punjab, Pakistan Jhelum District in Punjab, Pakistan This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Rupnagar is a town in Punjab, India. ... The Sutlej, also known as Satluj, is the longest of the five rivers of Punjab (five waters) that flows through Northern India, with its source in Tibet near Mount Kailash. ... The westernmost known site of Indus Valley Civilization was Sutkagan Dor (or Sutkagen Dor). ... Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India. ... This article is for the Indian state. ... The Amu Darya (in Persian آمودریا; Darya means river in Persian) rises in the Pamirs and flows mainly north-west through the Hindu Kush, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to join the Aral Sea in a large river delta. ... Gomal River (Urdu: دریائے گومل ) is a river in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with its headwaters in the south-east of Ghazni. ... The Beas River (Punjabi: ) runs through the Northwestern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. ... Jammu   (Hindi: जम्मू, Urdu: جموں) is one of the three regions comprising the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. ... For other uses, see Delhi (disambiguation). ... Dholavira, an ancient metropolitan city, and locally known as Kotada Timba Prachin Mahanagar Dholavira, is one of the largest and most prominent archaeological sites in India, belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization. ... There is evidence of dry river beds overlapping with the Hakra channel in Pakistan and the seasonal Ghaggar River in India. Many Indus Valley (or Harappan) sites have been discovered along the Ghaggar-Hakra beds.[21] Among them are: Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Sothi, Kalibangan, and Ganwariwala.[22] According to J. G. Shaffer and D. A. Lichtenstein[23] the Harappan Civilization "is a fusion of the Bagor, Hakra, and Koti Dij traditions or 'ethnic groups' in the Ghaggar-Hakra valley on the borders of India and Pakistan."[21] The Hakra is the dried-out channel of a river in Pakistan that until about 2000 BC - 1500 BC was the continuation of the Ghaggar River in India. ... The Ghaggar is a seasonal river in India, flowing when water is available from monsoon rains. ... Rakhigarhi, or Rakhi Garhi, is a village in Hissar district in the northwest Indian state of Haryana, around 150 kilometers from Delhi. ... Kalibangan (Hindi: काली बंगा) is a town on the banks of the Ghaggar river, Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, India 205 km. ... According to some archaeologists over 500 Harappan sites have been discovered along the dried up river beds of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries,[24] in contrast to only about 100 along the Indus and its tributaries,[25] consequently, in their opinion, the appellation Indus Ghaggar-Hakra civilisation or Indus-Saraswati civilisation is justified. However, these arguments are disputed by other archaeologists who state that the Ghaggar-Hakra desert area has been left untouched by settlements and agriculture since the end of the Indus period and hence shows more sites than found in the alluvium of the Indus valley; second, that the number of Harappan sites along the Ghaggar-Hakra river beds have been exaggerated and that the Ghaggar-Hakra, when it existed, was a tributary of the Indus, so the new nomenclature is redundant.[26] The Indus River (Urdu: Sindh; Sindhi: Sindhu; Sanskrit and Hindi: सिन्धु ; Persian: حندو ; Pashto: ّآباسنFather of Rivers; Tibetan: Lion River; Chinese: Yìndù; Greek: Ινδός Indos) is the longest and most important river in Pakistan and one of the most important rivers on the Indian subcontinent and has given the country India its... // When the Europeans had derived word India from the Indus River, no one at that time knew that one day the 2,900 km-long river, which rises in China and empties into the Arabian Sea, would be flowing out of that country, Pakistan. ... [edit] Early Harappan The Early Harappan Ravi Phase, named after the nearby Ravi River, lasted from circa 3300 BC until 2800 BC. It is related to the Hakra Phase, identified in the Ghaggar-Hakra River Valley to the west, and predates the Kot Diji Phase (2800-2600 BC, Harappan 2), named after a site in northern Sindh, Pakistan, near Mohenjo Daro. The earliest examples of the "Indus script" date from around 3000 BC.[6] The Ravi River (Punjabi: , Urdu: ) is a river in India and Pakistan. ... The ancient cite at Kot Diji was the forerunner of the Indus Civilization. ... Sindh (SindhÄ«: سنڌ, UrdÅ«: سندھ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhis. ... Mohenjo-daro (Urdu: , Sindhi: , English: ) was a city of the Indus Valley Civilization built around 2600 BCE and is located in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. ...   An Indus Valley seal with the seated figure termed pashupati. ... The mature phase of earlier village cultures is represented by Rehman Dheri and Amri in Pakistan.[27] Kot Diji (Harappan 2) represents the phase leading up to Mature Harappan, with the citadel representing centralised authority and an increasingly urban quality of life. Another town of this stage was found at Kalibangan in India on the Hakra River.[28] A Pre-Harappan Archaelogical Site situated near Dera Ismael Khan in North Westren Province of Pakistan. ... Amri is the site of a Pre-Harappa fortified town which flourished from 3600 to 3300 BC. The site is located south of Mohenjo Daro on Hyderabad-Dadu Road about 110 kilometres north of Hyderabad in Sind province of Pakistan. ... The ancient cite at Kot Diji was the forerunner of the Indus Civilization. ... Kalibangan (Hindi: काली बंगा) is a town on the banks of the Ghaggar river, Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, India 205 km. ... Trade networks linked this culture with related regional cultures and distant sources of raw materials, including lapis lazuli and other materials for bead-making. Villagers had, by this time, domesticated numerous crops, including peas, sesame seeds, dates and cotton, as well as various animals, including the water buffalo. A block of lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli is one of the oldest of all gems, with a history of use stretching back 7,000 years. ... Binomial name L. Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... Binomial name Sesamum indicum Sesame (Sesamum indicum) is a crop grown primarily for its oil-rich seeds. ... Binomial name Phoenix dactylifera L. The Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera is a palm, extensively cultivated for its edible fruit. ... For other uses, see Cotton (disambiguation). ... For the controversy at the University of Pennsylvania, see Water buffalo incident. ... [edit] Mature Harappan By 2600 BC, the Early Harappan communities had been turned into large urban centers. Such urban centers include Harappa and Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan and Lothal in India. In total, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar and Indus Rivers and their tributaries. Location of Harappa in the Indus Valley. ... Mohenjo-daro (Urdu: , Sindhi: , English: ) was a city of the Indus Valley Civilization built around 2600 BCE and is located in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. ... Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India. ... By 2500 BC, irrigation had transformed the region.[citation needed] (Redirected from 2500 BC) (26th century BC - 25th century BC - 24th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2900 - 2334 BC -- Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period 2494 BC -- End of Fourth Dynasty, start of Fifth Dynasty in Egypt. ... [edit] Cities A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley Civilization. The quality of municipal town planning suggests knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene. The streets of major cities such as Mohenjo-daro or Harappa were laid out in perfect grid patterns. The houses were protected from noise, odors, and thieves.[citation needed] A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ... Urban planning is concerned with the ordering and design of settlements, from the smallest towns to the worlds largest cities. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Local government of the United States. ... Hygiene refers to practices associated with ensuring good health and cleanliness. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... Location of Harappa in the Indus Valley. ... A simple grid plan road map (Windermere, Florida). ... As seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and the recently discovered Rakhigarhi, this urban plan included the world's first urban sanitation systems. Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. The house-building in some villages in the region still resembles in some respects the house-building of the Harappans.[29] Rakhigarhi, or Rakhi Garhi, is a village in Hissar district in the northwest Indian state of Haryana, around 150 kilometers from Delhi. ... E. Coli bacteria under magnification Sanitation is the hygienic disposal or recycling of waste, as well as the policy and practice of protecting health through hygienic measures. ... Village pump redirects here, for information on Wikipedia project-related discussions, see Wikipedia:Village pump. ... Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. ... A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. ... The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage that were developed and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East and even more efficient than those in some areas of Pakistan and India today. The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective walls. The massive citadels of Indus cities, which protected the Harappans from floods and attackers, were larger than most Mesopotamian ziggurats.[citation needed] The word sewerage means the provision of pipes etc to collect and dispose of sewage. ... Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Small shipyard in Klaksvík (Faroe Islands), reparing fishing vessels Dockyards and shipyards are places which repair and build ships. ... Granary at Thiruparaithurai, Kumbakonam (old temple town), built around 1600-1634 A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. ... Old warehouses in Amsterdam Inside Green Logistics Co. ... This article is about a type of fortification. ... This is an article about the ancient middle eastern region. ... Dur-Untash, or Choqa Zanbil, built in 13th century BC by Untash Napirisha and located near Susa, Iran is one of the worlds best-preserved ziggurats. ... The purpose of the citadel remains debated. In sharp contrast to this civilization's contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, no large monumental structures were built. There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples - or of kings, armies, or priests. Some structures are thought to have been granaries. Found at one city is an enormous well-built bath, which may have been a public bath. Although the citadels were walled, it is far from clear that these structures were defensive. They may have been built to divert flood waters. Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. ... Khafres Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Giza, built about 2550 BC during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom,[1] are enduring symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was a civilization in Northeastern Africa concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River... Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, who lived with others pursuing the same occupation in well-defined neighborhoods. Materials from distant regions were used in the cities for constructing seals, beads and other objects. Among the artifacts discovered were beautiful beads of glazed stone called faïence. The seals have images of animals, gods and other types of inscriptions. Some of the seals were used to stamp clay on trade goods and most probably had other uses. Traders was a Canadian television drama series, which aired on Global Television Network from 1995 to 2000. ... An artisan is a skilled manual worker. ... A bead is a small, decorative object that is pierced for threading or stringing. ... In archaeology, an artifact or artefact is any object made or modified by a human culture, and often one later recovered by some archaeological endeavor. ... Faience or faïence is the conventional name in English for fine tin-glazed earthenware on a delicate pale buff body. ... Although some houses were larger than others, Indus Civilization cities were remarkable for their apparent egalitarianism. All the houses had access to water and drainage facilities. This gives the impression of a society with low wealth concentration. Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal or level) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals from birth. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area. ... [edit] Science Further information: Harappan mathematics The people of the Indus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass and time. They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. Their measurements were extremely precise. Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal, was approximately 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age. Harappan engineers followed the decimal division of measurement for all practical purposes, including the measurement of mass as revealed by their hexahedron weights. This article is under construction. ... Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India. ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter), symbol mm is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... A hexahedron is a polyhedron with six faces. ... These brick weights were in a perfect ratio of 4:2:1 with weights of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 units, with each unit weighing approximately 28 grams, similar to the English Imperial ounce or Greek uncia, and smaller objects were weighed in similar ratios with the units of 0.871. However, actual weights were not uniform throughout the area. The weights and measures later used in Kautilya's Arthashastra (4th century BC) are the same as those used in Lothal.[30] The Imperial units are an irregularly standardized system of units that have been used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including the Commonwealth countries. ... Chanakya (c. ... The Arthashastra (more precisely Arthaśāstra) is a treatise on statecraft and economic policy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya[1] and Viṣṇugupta,[2] who are traditionally identified with the Mauryan minister Cāṇakya. ... Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India. ... Unique Harappan inventions include an instrument which was used to measure whole sections of the horizon and the tidal dock. In addition, Harappans evolved new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tin. The engineering skill of the Harappans was remarkable, especially in building docks after a careful study of tides, waves and currents. St Petersburg Docks in the early morning smog. ... Georg Agricola, author of De re metallica, an important early book on metal extraction Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their compounds, which are called alloys. ... For other uses, see Copper (disambiguation). ... This article is about the metal alloy. ... This article is about the metal. ... This article is about the metallic chemical element. ... In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh, Pakistan made the discovery that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation, from the early Harappan periods, had knowledge of proto-dentistry. Later, in April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence for the drilling of human teeth in vivo (i.e. in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh. Eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults were discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Mehrgarh that dates from 7,500-9,000 years ago. According to the authors, their discoveries point to a tradition of proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that region."[31] Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Mehrgarh was an ancient settlement in South Asia and is one of the most important sites in archaeology for the study of the earliest neolithic settlements in that region. ... This article is about the dental profession. ... Nature is a prominent scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. ... A touchstone bearing gold streaks was found in Banawali, which was probably used for testing the purity of gold (such a technique is still used in some parts of India).[32] A touchstone is a small tablet of dark stone such as fieldstone or slate, used for probing of precious metal alloys. ... Banawali (Devanagari: बन्वालि) is an Indus Valley site in Hissar, Haryana, about 120 km northeast of Kalibangan. ... [edit] Arts and culture The "dancing girl of Mohenjo Daro." Various sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze and steatite have been found at the excavation sites. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... Terra cotta is a hard semifired waterproof ceramic clay used in pottery and building construction. ... A number of gold, terra-cotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of some dance form. Also, these terra-cotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs.Sir John Marshall is known to have reacted with surprise when he saw the famous Indus bronze statuette of a slender-limbed "dancing girl" in Mohenjo-daro: For other uses, see Dance (disambiguation). ... John Hubert Marshall was an English archaeologist, excavator of the prehistoric city of Taxila in the Himalayas, in todays Pakistan, and of other sites throughout India. ... … When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric; they seemed to completely upset all established ideas about early art, and culture.. Modeling such as this was unknown in the ancient world up to the Hellenistic age of Greece, and I thought, therefore, that some mistake must surely have been made; that these figures had found their way into levels some 3000 years older than those to which they properly belonged. … Now, in these statuettes, it is just this anatomical truth which is so startling; that makes us wonder whether, in this all-important matter, Greek artistry could possibly have been anticipated by the sculptors of a far-off age on the banks of the Indus. Many crafts "such as shell working, ceramics, and agate and glazed steatite bead making" were used in the making of necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments from all phases of Harappan sites and some of these crafts are still practiced in the subcontinent today.[33] Some make-up and toiletry items (a special kind of combs (kakai), the use of collyrium and a special three-in-one toiletry gadget) that were found in Harappan contexts have similar counterparts in modern India.[34] Terracotta female figurines were found (ca. 2800-2600 BC) which had red color applied to the "manga" (line of partition of the hair), a tradition which is still seen in India.[34] In eye care, a collyrium is a lotion or liquid wash used as a cleanser for the eyes, particularly in diseases of the eye. ... Seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and another sitting cross-legged in a yoga-like pose (see image, Pashupati, below). Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... A harp-like instrument depicted on an Indus seal and two shell objects found at Lothal indicate the use of stringed musical instruments. The Harappans also made various toys and games, among them cubical dice (with one to six holes on the faces) which were found in sites like Mohenjo-Daro.[35] [edit] Trade and transportation An artistic conception of ancient Lothal (Archaeological Survey of India). [2] Computer-aided reconstruction of Harappan coastal settlement at Sokhta Koh near Pasni on the western-most outreaches of the civilization Further information: Lothal and Meluhha The Indus civilization's economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. These advances included bullock carts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today, as well as boats. Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail, similar to those one can see on the Indus River today; however, there is secondary evidence of sea-going craft. Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal and docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal. Image File history File links Lothal_conception. ... Image File history File links Lothal_conception. ... Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India. ... The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency in the Department of Culture that is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of cultural monuments. ... Image File history File links Sokhta_Koh. ... Image File history File links Sokhta_Koh. ... Computer-aided reconstruction of coastal Harappan settlement at Sokhta Koh near Pasni, Pakistan. ... Pasni is a fishing port and major town in Balochistan, Pakistan. ... Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India. ... Meluhha refers to one of ancient Sumers prominent trading partners, but precisely which one remains an open question. ... It has been suggested that Commerce be merged into this article or section. ... The Bullock cart is a common means of transportation used traditionally since ancient times in India, which then was what the Indian subcontinent is now. ... Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India. ... During 4300 - 3200 BC of the chalcolithic period (copper age), the Indus Valley Civilization area shows ceramic similarities with southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran which suggest considerable mobility and trade. During the Early Harappan period (about 3200–2600 BC), similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments etc. document intensive caravan trade with Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.[36] The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos copper stone) period, also known as the Eneolithic (Aeneolithic) or Copper Age period, is a phase in the development of human culture in which the use of early metal tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Judging from the dispersal of Indus civilisation artifacts, the trade networks, economically, integrated a huge area, including portions of Afghanistan, the coastal regions of Persia, northern and central India, and Mesopotamia. Anthem SorÅ«d-e MellÄ«-e Īrān Â² Capital (and largest city) Tehran Official languages Persian Demonym Iranian Government Islamic Republic  -  Supreme Leader  -  President Unification  -  Unified by Cyrus the Great 559 BCE   -  Parthian (Arsacid) dynastic empire (first reunification) 248 BCE-224 CE   -  Sassanid dynastic empire 224–651 CE   -  Safavid dynasty... Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. ... There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilisations as early as the middle Harappan Phase, with much commerce being handled by "middlemen merchants from Dilmun" (modern Bahrain and Failaka located in the Persian Gulf).[37] Such long-distance sea-trade became feasible with the innovative development of plank-built watercraft, equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth. Failaka Island is an island in Kuwait, 20 km off the coast of Kuwait City. ... Map of the Persian Gulf. ... Several coastal settlements like Sotkagen-dor (astride Dasht River, north of Jiwani), Sokhta Koh (astride Shadi River, north of Pasni) and Balakot (near Sonmiani) in Pakistan along with Lothal in India testify to their role as Harappan trading outposts. Shallow harbors located at the estuary of rivers opening into the sea allowed brisk maritime trade with Mesopotamian cities. Computer-aided reconstruction of coastal Harappan settlement at Sokhta Koh near Pasni, Pakistan. ... Pasni is a fishing port and major town in Balochistan, Pakistan. ... [edit] Agriculture Post 1980 studies indicate that food production was largely indigenous to the Indus Valley. It is known that the people of Mehrgarh used domesticated wheats and barley[38] and the major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from two-row barley (see Shaffer and Liechtenstein 1995, 1999). Archaeologist Jim G. Shaffer (1999: 245) writes that the Mehrgarh site "demonstrates that food production was an indigenous South Asian phenomenon" and that the data support interpretation of "the prehistoric urbanization and complex social organization in South Asia as based on indigenous, but not isolated, cultural developments." Mehrgarh was an ancient settlement in South Asia and is one of the most important sites in archaeology for the study of the earliest neolithic settlements in that region. ... Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum T. timopheevii References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat Wheat For the indie rock group, see Wheat (band). ... For other uses, see Barley (disambiguation). ... Jim G. Shaffer is an archaeologist who studied at the Arizona State University and University of Wisconsin. ... This article or section appears to contradict itself. Please help fix this problem. The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. Indus civilization agriculture must have been highly productive; after all, it was capable of generating surpluses sufficient to support tens of thousands of urban residents who were not primarily engaged in agriculture. It relied on the considerable technological achievements of the pre-Harappan culture, including the plough. Still, very little is known about the farmers who supported the cities or their agricultural methods. Some of them undoubtedly made use of the fertile alluvial soil left by rivers after the flood season, but this simple method of agriculture is not thought to be productive enough to support cities. There is no evidence of irrigation, but such evidence could have been obliterated by repeated, catastrophic floods.[citations needed] Image File history File links Emblem-contradict. ... Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOVD Articles that have been linked to this page are the subject of an NPOV dispute (NPOV stands for Neutral Point Of View; see below). ... The traditional way: a German farmer works the land with a horse and plough. ... Alluvium is soil land deposited by a river or other running water. ... The Indus civilization appears to contradict the hydraulic despotism hypothesis of the origin of urban civilization and the state. According to this hypothesis, all early, large-scale civilizations arose as a by-product of irrigation systems capable of generating massive agricultural surpluses.[citations needed] Hydraulic despotism is a term for despotic rule supported by control of a single, necessary resource. ... For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ... It is often assumed that intensive agricultural production requires dams and canals. This assumption is easily refuted. Throughout Asia, rice farmers produce significant agricultural surpluses from terraced, hillside rice paddies, which result not from slavery but rather the accumulated labor of many generations of people. Instead of building canals, Indus civilization people may have built water diversion schemes, which—like terrace agriculture—can be elaborated by generations of small-scale labor investments. It should be noted that only the easternmost section of the Indus Civilisation people could build their lives around the monsoon, a weather pattern in which the bulk of a year's rainfall occurs in a four-month period; others had to depend on the seasonal flooding of rivers caused by snow melt at high elevations.[citations needed] This article is about structures for water impoundment. ... For other uses, see Canal (disambiguation). ... A rice paddy in Japan A paddy field is a flooded parcel of farmland for growing rice (from the Malaysian word padi, a noun meaning growing rice). Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice-growing countries of East and Southeast Asia, such as China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia... In agriculture, a terrace is a levelled section of a hilly cultivated area, designed to slow or prevent the rapid run-off of irrigation water. ... For other uses, see Monsoon (disambiguation). ... [edit] Writing or symbol system Main article: Indus script An Indus Valley seal depicting Pashupati seated in a yoga-like posture and surrounded by animals. Well over 400 distinct Indus symbols have been found on seals or ceramic pots and over a dozen other materials, including a "signboard" that apparently once hung over the gate of the inner citadel of the Indus city of Dholavira. Typical Indus inscriptions are no more than four or five characters in length, most of which (aside from the Dholavira "signboard") are exquisitely tiny; the longest on a single surface, which is less than 1 inch (2.54 cm) square, is 17 signs long; the longest on any object (found on three different faces of a mass-produced object) has a length of 26 symbols.   An Indus Valley seal with the seated figure termed pashupati. ... Image File history File links This work is copyrighted. ... Image File history File links This work is copyrighted. ... Pashupati(Sanskrit: lord of animals) is a god associated with animals and nature. ... For other uses, see Yoga (disambiguation). ... This article is about the authentication means. ... Ancient River Valley Civilization writings. ... While the Indus Valley Civilization is often characterized as a "literate society" on the evidence of these inscriptions, this description has been challenged on linguistic and archaeological grounds: it has been pointed out that the brevity of the inscriptions is unparalleled in any known premodern literate society. Based partly on this evidence, a controversial paper by Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel (2004)[39] argues that the Indus system did not encode language, but was instead similar to a variety of non-linguistic sign systems used extensively in the Near East and other societies. It has also been claimed on occasion that the symbols were exclusively used for economic transactions, but this claim leaves unexplained the appearance of Indus symbols on many ritual objects, many of which were mass produced in molds. No parallels to these mass-produced inscriptions are known in any other early ancient civilizations.[40] One half of a bronze mold for casting a socketed spear head dated to the period 1400-1000 BC. There are no known parallels for this mold. ...