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Cities and Daily Life

Daily life

In 1922 Archaeologists found the remains of two cities, Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro. These and other cities found in this region have been labeled as the Indus Valley Civilization. This remarkable civilization's standards are shown in their houses. The houses were usually one or two stories high, and their style was quite homogeneous. They had no windows but they had their own bathrooms and the sewage system was very sophistocated.

Their life style was quite advanced. Men and women wore beautiful robes and women also wore intricate jewelery and bracelets. For entertainment, evidence suggests they enjoyed baths and dancing. Even small pools have been found. The larger pools could also have been used for religious purposes. Regarding art, findings have suggested that people at that time were quite good at making pottery, weaving, and doing metal working. Small statues have been found which could have been toys or art. However, no wall carvings or paintings have been found to enable us to learn more about their civilization.

It is strange, but the materials used in making some bowls was imported. These materials were gold and silver. It is assumed that people of that era had contacts with other ancient cities such as the ones of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. A stable food supply, and rivers made barter easy. The farmers grew various crops and were excellent farmers. Evidence explains that they grew barley, peas, melons, wheat and dates. They also had large central storage buildings for grain.

It is believed that this civilization disappeared around 1500 B.C. Due to advanced research, sites have been found and evidence suggests that these people were very clever.

Student model of the great bath

Streets Of Harappa

Some cities were made of two sections which were surrounded by walls, the Citadel and the lower town. The lower town mostly had all the streets. The lower town was divided into a number of blocks, with streets running north-south and east-west, Each block divided further into small lanes. There is a very huge street which is 1 mile long, and it is called First Street.

More than 1,500 sites have been discovered, and about ten of them are cities. Each major city was linked with others by different highways. The doorways in ancient times in Harappa show that it was really dusty. The dirt and dust in the streets collected and slowly covered the doorways with dust and dirt.

Photos from Harappa.com

Harappan Houses

The Harrapan houses were solidly built of bricks. Many of the houses were huge. They even had bathrooms and lavatories. This architecture is a great example of how people could build such excellent houses before modern technology. The houses had many rooms connecting to a central open courtyard. Therefore, there were no windows looking toward the main street. This gave privacy to the people living inside. The only openings in the houses were small because this prevented the hot summer sun from heating the inside of the amazingly built house.

The rich lived in houses with many rooms and a central courtyard. The houses were purposely built on a high platform to protect them from floods. However, the poor lived in houses with single rooms.

They had advanced drainage systems. Drains started from the bathrooms of the houses and joined the main sewer in the street, which was covered by brick slabs. When the residents came back from work, they often stopped to take a shower, which was built on the first story. The kitchens and the other rooms were built on higher stories.

Evidence shows that the Indus Valley Civilization was highly organized.

Model of Harappan House

The Drainage Systems

Photo from Harrappa.com

The "great bath" is without doubt the earliest public water tank in the ancient world. The place alone measures almost 12 meters north-south and 7 meters wide, with a maximum depth of 2.4 meters. People thought that the great bath was used by the priests because they took such great care in building it. They also thought that the water was poured into it with pitchers. This place was very special for them.

Private wells were buiilt and rebuilt over many generations to serve the needs of a large household or neighborhood. A well in Mohenjo-daro stands like a chimney because all of the surrounding earth has been removed by digging. Almost every house in the Mohenjo-daro area was equipped with a private bathing area with drains so the dirty water would go out into a larger drain that emptied into a sewage drain.

The ''granary'' of Harappa is a structure that was built on massive rock. There are two rows that have six rooms. They were wide and partly built of brick. Each room is 15.2 by 6.1 meters. There was a small triangular opening that had air ducts to allow the flow of fresh air.

For every crop that a farmer grew, a large portion of it had to be paid as taxes and placed into public granaries. The farmers sent their wheat and barley to a nearby city and carts were unloaded at the granary. At Mohenjo-daro, there was a high platform where farmers would dump their grain. The carts that were used to carry this grain were small. Cows and bullock powered the carts much as they do today. These carts have changed very little over 4000 years.

The Indus granaries have been compared with the Roman buildings. Some experts think that there is little evidence for a granary at either Mohenjo-Daro or Harappa. Instead, it may have been where meetings and religious functions were held. This structure should be named ''great hall'' instead of grtannary, because it is a large building.