Harappan Civilization - History With Ms. Harding

DO NOW:
Examine these Harrapan
Seals carefully.
- What are two conclusions
you reach about the
culture, society or economy
of the Indus River people?
- Compare top & bottom
symbols. Similarities &
Differences?
Finish the top half of the
sheet – everything above
“Discussion Questions”
OCTOBER 21, 2014
AIM: How was the Indus River Civilization and geography
similar and different to the civilizations and geography of Egypt
and Mesopotamia?
DO NOW: Artifact Examination
AGENDA
1. Reading discussion
2. Independent Writing Assignment
HW:
1. Read and Annotate Sections 1 & 5 of “The Indus Valley &
The Genesis of South Asian Civilization”– due Thursday
2. Definitions due Friday
3. Outline pp. 189-192 “India’s First Empires” due Monday
4. “Monitoring the Situation” – week 3 due Monday
Great Bath- Mohenjo Daro
Conversation Rubric
5 = Lead discussion. Pose thoughtful questions and encourage
others to participate.
4 = Very involved in discussion. Ask good questions and
provide thoughtful responses.
3 = Participate some. Demonstrate that you are listening and
thinking but not speaking much. Make some comments about
documents other than your own.
2 = Little participation but are clearly listening and writing down
comments, thoughts. Only talk about your document.
1 = Not involved in activity.
PERIOD
1
A
B
C
Showba
Gabe
Florence
Cindy
Rasmus
Yong
Micky
Genesis
Jonathan
David
Michael
Arlinda
Lauren
Ken
G
Ysabelle
Xin
Carey
Henry
D
Semira
Zhi Dong
Felix
Stephanie
E
F
Can Yao
Jimmy
Marie
Gina
Sumaya
Amelan
Tony
Jennifer
Kenneth
PERIOD 2
A
Front by
Kayla
Ollie
Dennis
Nailiah
G
Andy
Can
Tasmia
Amy
B
Back door
Justin
Amer
Eric
Martha
C
Front middle
Ruth
Jason
Emily
Giovani
D
Front Back
E
Front window
F
Back window
Matthew
Gabriela
Bryan
Jonathan
Nicholas
Helen
Julia
Sebastian
Jori
Yu Wei
Alan
Paula
Ashley
PERIOD 6
A
Front by door
B
Back door
C
Front middle
D
Front Back
E
Front window
F
Back window
Genis
Amber
Riley
Josephine
Pamela
Toney
Kyle
Oumou
Andrew
Yu Tong
Natasha
Timothy
Camisse
Camille
Tyler
Kevin
Atiya
Jayliz
Miguel
Britney
Gabriella
Oscar
Ya Ying
Arianna
G
Leila
Zhen Ni
Elving
Begum
Lina
PERIOD 7
A
B
Judah
Henry L
Jacky
Kayla
Nikki
Evelyn
Serena
Andrew
F
G
Henry S
Erika
Akiysa
Krystal
Stanley
Yaa
Dahlia
Yang
C
Alex Chen
Nicolla
Israel
Silvia
D
Madeline
Henry G
Alex Cen
Corey
E
Tiffany
Raul
Emily
Kevin
Harappan Civilization
2500-1500 B.C.E.
Ancient Civilizations in
India
• India has had civilizations as far back as 200,000 years ago
• From 8000-5000 B.C.E. there were Neolithic villages west of the
Indus River valley in the Iranian Plateau
• Because water covers much of the oldest remains, archaeologists
and historians aren’t sure exactly how far back in time Harappan
civilization stretches. The earliest strata indicates that by 2500
B.C.E., Harappan civilization was well established.
Mysteries of
Harappa
• In addition to inconvenient water, Harappan
civilization remains mysterious because historians
can’t read Harappan script.
• Harappan script seems to have used 400
characters that were both phonetic and
logographic on thousands of clay seals and copper
tablets.
• Like the Nile and Tigris/Euphrates river
valleys, the Indus Valley deposited silt
across its flood plain, allowing early
farmers to establish agriculture. Indus
river people also domesticated poultry,
sheep, and goats and grew cotton.
• By ~3000 B.C.E. the Dravidian People
had built a complex society with large
urban centers.
• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the
major cities (pop. 35-40,000) and there
were about 300 smaller settlements
along the Indus River.
• Harappan civilization controlled an area
of roughly 500,000 sq. miles, twice as
big as either Egypt or Mesopotamia.
Trade & Economy
• It was mainly an urban culture
• Traded with Mesopotamia
• Mostly brick houses and
fortified administrative and
religious centers
• Seals were used to identify
property and shipment
• Wheel-made pottery
Image: chemistryland.com
Earliest Form of
Sanitary Engineering
• 1st known toilets and running
water in residential buildings in
the world.
• By 2500BC, highly developed
drainage system where
wastewater from each house
flowed into the main drain.
• The ancient Indus systems of sewage and drainage that
were developed and used in cities throughout the Indus
Empire 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 modern Pakistan and
India today.
Successive
Cities
• Harappan cities did not develop slowly, which
suggests that whoever built these cities learned to do
so in another place.
• As the Indus flooded, cities were rebuilt on top of each
other. Archaeologists have discovered several
different cities, one built over the other, each built a
little less skillfully. The most skillful was on bottom. It
would appear that builders grew less able or less
interested in perfection over time. Each city is a
marvel, and each greatly advanced for its time.
Mohenjo-Daro
Organization
• There is no overt evidence indicating royal authority or
the usual stress on military might, but there were city
walls, a large granary, and a fortified citadel in each of
the two major cities, indicating that Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro were organizational centers.
• The dwelling places in the cities indicate a large
degree of social stratification, but nearly all houses had
indoor plumbing with showers and toilets. There was
also a large public bath at Mohenjo-Daro. Was ritual
cleanliness an important part of Harappan religion?
• There are very few grave sites throughout the
Harappan lands; in other civilizations, grave burials
normally help historians understand the beliefs of
ancient cultures. This lack of evidence means that
there aren’t as many preserved luxury goods. It also
indicates that like later Indian peoples, the Harappans
may have cremated their dead.
Great Bath- Mohenjo Daro
Harappan
Culture
• Another striking feature of Harappan
civilization was that throughout the large
territory there was a remarkable degree of
standardization in not only in architectural
styles, but also weight and measures and
even brick sizes.
• The layout of the major cities indicates that
they were planned before they were built,
rather than rising up organically as the
population grew.
• Between 2300-1750 B.C.E. the Harappan
people traded pearls, gems, copper, and
ivory for Mesopotamian wool, leather, and
olive oil.
• Harappan artisans produced many beautiful
ornaments and statues.
• Their religion, like those of most early
agricultural societies, was concerned with
fertility and procreation.
Economy
• Trade networks linked this culture
with related regional cultures and
distant sources of raw materials
including lapis lazuli and other
materials for bead making.
• Mysteries of Mohenjo Daro
• Thirty unburied skeletons in
Mohenjo Daro indicated a
catastrophic earthquake or fire took
place there.
• Between 1700-1500 B.C. people
were abandoning the cities. They
had completely collapsed by 1500
B.C.
• The eternal question of historians
of India has been “how much
continuity was there between
Harappan and Classical Indian
civilizations?"
Continuity or
Change?
What caused the decline of
Harappa?
By 1900 B.C., Harappan civilization was already
on the decline. Possible explanations:
1.Earthquake or massive fires
2.Invasion of Aryans
3.Careless deforestation (degraded the integrity
of the Harappan landscape and ruined the farm
lands)
4.Monsoons shifted to the east
Climate Change Background
• In South Asia, the Himalayas create the monsoon
• The monsoon provides the water that supports
agriculture in this region
• As the monsoon declined over time it shifted east
• As precipitation in the region declined, river dried up
and the Indus Valley cities died.
Fall Of Harappan Civilization
Annual Precipitation
• The reduction of average rainfall over the Indus River
watershed restricted Harappan farming in the Indus Valley
and left large city populations unsustainable.
Indus Plains Today
Image from: Mohenjador.net
Monsoon
and
Population
Shift
• As the Monsoon shifted East to Ganges Plain many
Indus people followed monsoon and migrated to
Ganges Plain @ 1500BC
• Same time as Aryan invasion from the North.
• Aryan’s : “ Civilized Ones”.
The End
Image from: Mohenjador.net