【出展リンク】：　http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/インダス文明#.E6.8A.80.E8.A1.93
インダス文明 (インダスぶんめい、Indus Valley civilization) は、インド・パキスタンのインダス川及び並行して流れていたとされるガッガル・ハークラー川周辺に栄えた文明で、現在南インドを中心に暮らしているドラヴィダ人によりつくられたと推定されている。考古学上は、ハラッパー文化と呼ばれ、パキスタン、パンジャブ州のハラッパーを標式遺跡とする。

インダス文明が栄えたのは紀元前2600年から紀元前1800年の間である。滅亡については諸説あり、現在では、地殻変動によってインダス川河口付近の土地が隆起し、そのために洪水が頻発して耕地に塩害をもたらし、さらにインダス川の河道が移動したことによって、水上交通を前提とした貿易によって機能していた都市の機能を麻痺させたためという説と、後述するように砂漠化に伴って都市が放棄され住民が移住したという説がある。

また、ドラヴィダ人は、紀元前13世紀に起きたアーリア人の侵入によって、被支配民族となり一部が南インドに移住した。

技術 [編集]

鉄は知られず、青銅器を使った。都市計画で知られるように建築技術が発達し、縦：横：厚みの比4：2：1で統一された焼成レンガが広く使われている。服は染色された綿で作られていたようで、染色工房と推定される場所が見つかっている。高い加工技術を要する極小のマイクロビーズや紅玉髄の装飾品も作られていた。

都市 [編集]

インダス文明諸都市の分布

大小の都市が建設された。都市の規模は、メソポタミアのものよりも小さく、モヘンジョ＝ダロとハラッパーがメソポタミアの小都市にようやく匹敵する規模であった。主な都市遺跡を下記に掲げる。（このほかに小規模の遺跡が多数知られる）

ハラッパー（ラーヴィー川流域、分離型、76ヘクタール：周囲を含む全体推定値150ヘクタール）
カーリバンガン（パンジャブ地方、ガッガル・パークラー川流域、ラーキーガリー105ヘクタール：分離型、バナーワリー16ヘクタール：一体型、カーリバンガン12.1ヘクタール：分離型）
モヘンジョダロ（パキスタン南部、シンド地方、インダス川下流域、分離型、83ヘクタール：周囲を含む全体推定値125～200ヘクタール）
マクラーン地方（ソトカー・コー1.5ヘクタール：分離型、ソトカーゲン・ドール1.95ヘクタール:分離型）
グジャラート地方（北西インド、どの都市も一体型、ロータル7ヘクタール：穀物倉、沐浴室の列、基壇、ドーラビーラ52ヘクタール：居住地域部分のみ19ヘクタール、スールコータダー0.72ヘクタール、クンターシー1.56ヘクタール：穀物貯蔵室、土器・銅の工房、バーバルコート2.7ヘクタール、ロジュディ7ヘクタール：大型方形建物）

うち、モヘンジョ＝ダロ、ハラッパーは、1km 四方を超える規模をもつ。

都市には2種類あって、「城塞」と「市街地」が一体のタイプ（ロータル、ドーラビーラ）と、「城塞」と「市街地」を分けているタイプ（モヘンジョ＝ダロ、ハラッパー、カーリバンガン）とがある。

城塞とは周塞に囲まれている集落で、大沐浴場や火の祭壇、さらに「穀物倉」「列柱の間」「学問所」など大型で特殊な構造の建物が一般家屋とは別に建ち並んでいる。インダス文明では、他の文明のように王宮や神殿のような建物は存在しない。周塞の目的としては、何らかの防衛や洪水対策の他に、壁と門を設けて人・物資の出入りを管理する事も考えられる。モヘンジョ=ダロでは市街地の周塞が発見されていない。^[3]

行政 [編集]

インダス文明には、支配者・管理者・運営者の内のどれかが居たのではなかろうかと思われる節がある。それは、城塞をもつ都市が、インダス川流域の広大な地域のあちこちに置かれているということ。それはある考えの基に置かれたのではないだろうか。そのことは、城塞や市街都市内部の東西南北に真っ直ぐ延びる大通りにみられる計画性、文字や印章の使用、印章に記された動物などの図柄、煉瓦の寸法や分銅にみられる度量衡の統一や土器の形や文様などのも現れている。さらに、宗教では、印章などに表現される「角神」と呼ばれる水牛の角を付けた神または神官の像や菩提樹の葉のデザインにも現れている。都市とは、信仰・宗教世界の運営・統括する人たちの宗教的・政治的中枢ではなかったのではないかと考えられる。^[4]

排水溝設備の整った碁盤目状に街路が走る計画都市であって、ダストシュートや一種の水洗トイレなどが設けられた清潔な都市だったのではないかと推定されている。土器やビーズなどの主だった出土品に見られる均質性の一方で、信仰や儀礼のあり方が地方によって異なる面がある。これを次に説明する。

モヘンジョダロ、ドーラビーラやロータルの「城塞」には、しばしば、「大浴場」と呼ばれるプール状施設、水にかかわる施設があり、豊饒と再生を祈念する儀礼が行われた沐浴場と考えられている。一方で、北方のパンジャブ州に近いカーリバンガンやバナーワリーのように、「城塞」の南区や「市街地」の東側の遺丘の上で、独特な「火の祭祀」を行っていたと思われる遺跡もあり、シンド州の遺跡やモヘンジョダロで見られるような再生増殖の儀礼と関係すると考えられるテラコッタ女性像やリンガ石と呼ばれる石製品が出土しない。また、南方のロータルを含むグジャラートでは、「火の祭祀」とテラコッタ女性像に象徴される再生増殖儀礼の両方の要素が見られるなどの違いが見られるため、インダス文明の構造や性格を解明する上で大きな課題となっている。

文化 [編集]

様々なインダス式印章

都市遺跡からは、多くの「インダス式印章」が出土する。凍石製で、印面は、3～4cmの方形で、インダス文字とともに動物などが刻まれている。動物は、サイ、象、虎などの動物のほかに後のインドの文化にとって重要な動物である牛が刻まれているのが目立つ。一方で、一角獣など架空の動物が刻まれたり、「シヴァ神」の祖形と思われる神などが刻まれていることもある。商取引に使用されたと考えられ、メソポタミアの遺跡からもこのような印章の出土例がある。インダス文字は現在でも未解読の文字で、統計的分析などが出来る長文のものや、ロゼッタストーンのように多言語併記の物が出土しないことが研究の大きな障壁になっている。

農業 [編集]

インダス川の氾濫による肥沃な土壌を利用した氾濫農耕を行った。河川から離れた地域では、地形を利用した一種の「せき」を築き、そこへ雨期の増水を流し込み、沈澱させた土壌を用いて農耕をしていたと推察される。

また、牧畜を行った。

商業 [編集]

装身具、主として紅玉髄製ビーズの製造。腐食ビーズと呼ばれる「紅玉髄製ビーズ」に白色の文様を入れる技術を持っていた。支配者層の装身具だけでなく、主要な輸出品でもあった。インダス川を物資利用のハイウェイとして広く利用し、インダスで作られた装飾品などが遥かメソポタミアまで輸出されていた。

盛んな商業活動。石製、銅製の各種の分銅や秤がある。メソポタミアとの盛んな交易が知られ、主として紅玉髄製ビーズの輸出を行った。「メルッハ（国）」と呼ばれていたと推定されている。

埋葬 [編集]

埋葬は、地面に穴を掘って遺体を埋葬する土坑墓を用いた。長方形の土坑が多かったが、楕円形のものも造られた。遺体は、頭を北にして仰向けに身体を伸ばした、いわゆる仰臥伸展葬が主体であった。足を曲げた形で遺体が葬られているものもあるが、その場合も頭は北に置かれた。ひとつの土坑に一人が葬られるのが普通であるが、例外も見られる。副葬品は土器が一般的で、頭の上、すなわち墓坑の北側部分に10数個を集中して置くが、まれに足元、つまり南側に副葬した例がある。腕輪、足輪、首飾りなどの装身具をつけたまま埋葬された例もあり、その場合、銅製の柄鏡も出土している。重要なことは、被葬者間に際立った社会的格差が見られないという特徴があり、インダス文明の性格を示していると思われる。

他の古代文明とは異なり、戦の痕跡や王のような強い権力者のいた痕跡が見つかっていない。

滅亡の原因 [編集]

インダス文明滅亡の原因は、古くから論争があり、代表的なものとして、M.ウィーラーによる「アーリア人侵略説」をはじめとする外部からの侵略説がまず滅亡の原因として唱えられた。発掘調査によって埋葬もされないで折り重なるおびただしい人骨が確認されたために外部からの侵入による虐殺説が唱えられた。また、ヴェーダなどの戦争記事がその根拠のひとつとされた。しかし、当時の発掘調査は、層位関係を考えないで地表からの深さのみを記録して行われた調査であったために同時期の人骨ではないということで否定された。

一方、前述の通り、かつてインダス文明が存在した地域は現在砂漠となっている。インダス文明が消えたのはこの砂漠化によるのではないかと言われている。砂漠化の原因としては、紀元前2000年前後に起こった気候変動が挙げられている。大西洋に広がる低気圧帯は、一時北アフリカと同じ緯度まで南下し、さらにアラビア・ペルシア・インドにまで及んで、雨をもたらし、緑豊な土地になっていた。しかしやがてこの低気圧帯は北上し、インドに雨をもたらしていた南西の季節風も東へ移動して、インダス文明の栄えていた土地を現在のような乾燥地帯にしてしまった、というのである。衰退後の植物相や動物相には大きな変化が見受けられないことから気候の変動を重視する説は見直されている。また、インダス文明が森林を乱伐したために砂漠化が進行した、という説もある。しかし、乾燥化説については、ラクダの骨や乾地性のカタツムリが出土していること、綿の生産が行われていたことなどは、川さえあれば気温の高い乾燥ないし半乾燥地帯で文明が興りえたことを示し、「排水溝」も25ミリの雨がふっただけでももたない構造であり、煉瓦を焼くにも現在遺跡の周辺で茂っている成長の早いタマリスクなどの潅木でも充分間に合ったのではないかと反論する研究者もいて決定的なものとなってはいない。

そのため、最近では紀元前2000年頃に地殻変動が起こって、インダス川の流路が移動したために河川交通に決定的なダメージを与えたのではないかという説が有力になっている。実際のところインダス遺跡はインダス川旧河道のガッカル＝ハークラー涸河床沿いに分布している。

外部リンク [編集]

インダス文明への招待

カテゴリ: インダス文明 | 考古学

=＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

【出展リンク２】：　http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization

Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) which was centred mostly in the western part^[1] of the Indian Subcontinent^[2]^[3] and which flourished around the Indus River basin.^{[n 1]} Primarily centered along the Indus and the Punjab region, the civilization extended into the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley^[7] and the Ganges-Yamuna Doab,^[8]^[9]encompassing most of what is now Pakistan, as well as extending into the westernmost states of modern-day India, southeastern Afghanistan and the easternmost part of Balochistan, Iran.

The mature phase of this civilization is known as the Harappan Civilization, as the first of its cities to be unearthed was the one at Harappa, excavated in the 1920s in what was at the time the Punjab province ofBritish India (now in Pakistan).^[10] Excavation of IVC sites have been ongoing since 1920, with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999.^[11] Mohenjo-Daro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is another well-known IVC archeological site.

The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is unknown, though Proto-Dravidian, Elamo-Dravidian, or (Para-)Munda relations have been posited by scholars such as Iravatham Mahadevan, Asko Parpola, F.B.J. Kuiper and Michael Witzel.

Discovery and excavation

The ruins of Harrappa were first described in 1842 by Charles Masson in his Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and the Punjab, where locals talked of an ancient city extending "thirteencosses" (about 25 miles), but no archaeological interest would attach to this for nearly a century.^[12]

In 1856, British engineers John and William Brunton were laying the East Indian Railway Company line connecting the cities of 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.^[13] 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 (150 km) of the railroad track running from Karachi to Lahore."^[13]

Excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro, with the Great Bath in the front.

In 1872–75 Alexander Cunningham published the first Harappan seal (with an erroneous identification as Brahmi letters).^[14] It was half a century later, in 1912, that more Harappan seals were discovered by J. Fleet, prompting an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921–22 and resulting in the discovery of the 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 theArchaeological 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 Sir Marc Aurel Stein.

Following the Partition of India, the bulk of the archaeological finds were inherited byPakistan where most of the IVC was based, 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 at Shortugai on the Amudarya or Oxus River in current Afghanistan.

Chronology

Main article: Periodization of the Indus Valley Civilization

The mature phase of the Harappan civilization lasted from c. 2600 to 1900 BCE. 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 BCE. Two terms are employed for the periodization of the IVC: Phases and Eras.^[15]^[16] 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."^[17]

3300-2600	Early Harappan
Date range	Phase	Era
7000 - 5500 BC	Mehrgarh I (aceramic Neolithic)	Early Food Producing Era
5500-3300	Mehrgarh II-VI (ceramic Neolithic)	Regionalisation Era 5500-2600
3300-2800	Harappan 1 (Ravi Phase)
2800-2600	Harappan 2 (Kot Diji Phase, Nausharo I, Mehrgarh VII)
2600-1900	Mature Harappan (Indus Valley Civilization)	Integration Era
2600-2450	Harappan 3A (Nausharo II)
2450-2200	Harappan 3B
2200-1900	Harappan 3C
1900-1300	Late Harappan (Cemetery H); Ochre Coloured Pottery	Localisation Era
1900-1700	Harappan 4
1700-1300	Harappan 5
1300-300	Painted Gray Ware, Northern Black Polished Ware (Iron Age)	Indo-Gangetic Tradition

Geography

Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization. The shaded area does not include recent excavations such as Rupar, Balakot, Shortughai inAfghanistan, Manda in Jammu, etc. See [1] for a more detailed map.

The Indus Valley Civilization encompassed most of Pakistan, extending from Balochistan toSindh, and extending into modern day Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, with an upward reach to Rupar on the upper Sutlej. The geography of the Indus Valley put the civilizations that arose there in a highly similar situation to those in Egypt and Peru, with rich agricultural lands being surrounded by highlands, desert, and ocean. Recently, Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistan's northwestern Frontier Province as well. Other IVC colonies can be found in Afghanistan while smaller isolated colonies can be found as far away asTurkmenistan and in Gujarat. Coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor^[18] in Western Baluchistan to Lothal^[19] in Gujarat. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan,^[20] in the Gomal River valley in northwestern Pakistan,^[21]at Manda on the Beas River near Jammu,^[22] India, and at Alamgirpur on the Hindon River, only 28 km from Delhi.^[23] Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on the ancient seacoast,^[24] for example, Balakot,^[25] and on islands, for example, Dholavira.^[26]

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.^[7] Among them are: Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Sothi, Kalibangan, and Ganwariwala.^[27] According to J. G. Shaffer and D. A. Lichtenstein,^[28] 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."^[7]

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,^[29] in contrast to only about 100 along the Indus and its tributaries;^[30] consequently, in their opinion, the appellation Indus Ghaggar-Hakra civilisation or Indus-Saraswati civilisation is justified. However, these politically inspired 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.^[31] "Harappan Civilization" remains the correct one, according to the common archaeological usage of naming a civilization after its first findspot.

Early Harappan

The Early Harappan Ravi Phase, named after the nearby Ravi River, lasted from circa 3300 BCE until 2800 BCE. 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 BCE, Harappan 2), named after a site in northern Sindh, Pakistan, near Mohenjo Daro. The earliest examples of the Indus script date from around 3000 BCE.^[32]

The mature phase of earlier village cultures is represented by Rehman Dheri and Amri in Pakistan.^[33] 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.^[34]

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. Early Harappan communities turned to large urban centres by 2600 BCE, from where the mature Harappan phase started.

Mature Harappan

By 2600 BCE, the Early Harappan communities had been turned into large urban centers. Such urban centers include Harappa, Ganeriwala,Mohenjo-daro in modern day Pakistan and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, Lothal in modern day India. In total, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Indus Rivers and their tributaries.

Cities

So-called "Priest King" statue,Mohenjo-daro, late Mature Harappanperiod, National Museum, Karachi, Pakistan

A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley Civilization making them the first urban centers in the region. The quality of municipal town planning suggests the knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene, or, alternately, accessibility to the means of religious ritual.

As seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and the recently partially excavated Rakhigarhi, this urban plan included the world's first known 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 innercourtyards and smaller lanes. The house-building in some villages in the region still resembles in some respects the house-building of the Harappans.^[35]

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 Eastand even more efficient than those in many 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 walls of Indus cities most likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have dissuaded military conflicts.^{[citation needed]}

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 (the "Great 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.

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 glazed faïence beads. Steatite seals have images of animals, people (perhaps gods) and other types of inscriptions, including the yet un-deciphered writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization. Some of the seals were used to stamp clay on trade goods and most probably had other uses as well.

Although some houses were larger than others, Indus Civilization cities were remarkable for their apparent, if relative, egalitarianism. All the houses had access to water and drainage facilities. This gives the impression of a society with relatively low wealth concentration, though clear social leveling is seen in personal adornments.

Science

Further information: Indian mathematics - Prehistory

Indus Valley seals, British Museum.

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 are said to be extremely precise; however, a comparison of available objects indicates large scale variation across the Indus territories. 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.^{[citation needed]}

These chert 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 EnglishImperial ounce or Greek uncia, and smaller objects were weighed in similar ratios with the units of 0.871. However, as in other cultures, actual weights were not uniform throughout the area. The weights and measures later used in Kautilya's Arthashastra (4th century BCE) are the same as those used in Lothal.^[36]

Unique Harappan inventions include an instrument which was used to measure whole sections of the horizon and the tidal lock. In addition, Harappans evolved some 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. The function of the so-called "dock" at Lothal, however, is disputed.

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 journalNature 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.^[37]

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).^[38]

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 excavation sites.

A number of gold, terra-cotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of some danceform. 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:

… 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.^[39] 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 still have similar counterparts in modern India.^[40] Terracotta female figurines were found (ca. 2800-2600 BCE) which had red color applied to the "manga" (line of partition of the hair).^[40]

Seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and another sitting cross-legged in what some call a yoga-like pose (see image, the so-called Pashupati, below).

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.^[41]

Trade and transportation

Computer-aided reconstruction of Harappan coastal settlement at Sokhta Koh near Pasni on the westernmost 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 cartsthat 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 what they regard as a docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal in western India (Gujarat state). An extensive canal network, used for irrigation, has however also been discovered by H.-P. Francfort.

During 4300–3200 BCE 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 BCE), similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc., document intensive caravan trade withCentral Asia and the Iranian plateau.^[42]

Judging from the dispersal of Indus civilisation artifacts, the trade networks, economically, integrated a huge area, including portions ofAfghanistan, the coastal regions of Persia, northern and western India, and Mesopotamia.

There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations 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).^[43]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.

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.

Subsistance

Some 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,^[44] 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." Others, such as Dorian Fuller, however, indicate that it took some 2000 years before Middle Eastern wheat was acclimatised to South Asian conditions.

Writing or symbol system

Main article: Indus script

Ten Indus characters discovered near the northern gate of Dholavira, c. 2000 BCE

Well over 400 distinct Indus symbols (some say 600)^[45] have been found on seals, small tablets, 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.

While the Indus Valley Civilization is generally 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)^[46] 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. Others have 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.^[47]

In a 2009 study by P. N. Rao et al. published in Science, computer scientists, comparing the pattern of symbols to various linguistic scripts and non-linguistic systems, including DNA and a computer programming language, found that the Indus script's pattern is closer to that of spoken words, supporting the hypothesis that it codes for an as-yet-unknown language.^[48]^[49] Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel have disputed this finding, pointing out that Rao et al. did not actually compare the Indus signs with "real-world non-linguistic systems" but rather with "two wholly artificial systems invented by the authors, one consisting of 200,000 randomly ordered signs and another of 200,000 fully ordered signs, that they spuriously claim represent the structures of all real-world non-linguistic sign systems".^[50] Farmer et al. have also demonstrated that a comparison of a non-linguistic system like medieval heraldic signs with natural languages yields results similar to those that Rao et al. obtained with Indus signs. They conclude that the method used by Rao et al. cannot distinguish linguistic systems from non-linguistic ones.^[51]

Photos of many of the thousands of extant inscriptions are published in the Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions (1987, 1991), edited by A. Parpola and his colleagues. Publication of a final third volume, which will reportedly republish photos taken in the 1920s and 1930s of hundreds of lost or stolen inscriptions, along with many discovered in the last few decades, has been announced for several years. For now, researchers must supplement the materials in the Corpus by study of the tiny photos in the excavation reports of Marshall (1931), Mackay (1938, 1943), Wheeler (1947), or reproductions in more recent scattered sources.

Religion

Further information: Prehistoric religion and History of Hinduism

In view of the large number of figurines^[52] found in the Indus valley, it has been widely suggested that the Harappan people worshipped a Mother goddess symbolizing fertility. However, this view has been disputed by S. Clark.^[53] Some Indus valley seals show swastikas which are found in later religions and mythologies, especially in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The earliest evidence for elements ofHinduism are present before and during the early Harappan period^[54]^[55]. Phallic symbols resembling the Hindu Siva lingam have been found in the Harappan remains.^[56]^[57]

Many Indus valley seals show animals. One famous seal shows a figure seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position and surrounded by animals was named after Pashupati (lord of cattle), an epithet of Shiva and Rudra.^[58]^[59].^[60]

In the earlier phases of their culture, the Harappans buried their dead; however, later, especially in the Cemetery H culture of the late Harrapan period, they also cremated their dead and buried the ashes in burial urns, a transition notably also alluded to in the Rigveda, where the forefathers "both cremated (agnidagdhá-) and uncremated (ánagnidagdha-)" are invoked (RV 10.15.14).

Late Harappan

Main article: Late Harappan

Indus tablets. The first one shows aSwastika

Around 1800 BCE, signs of a gradual decline began to emerge, and by around 1700 BCE, most of the cities were abandoned. However, the Indus Valley Civilization did not disappear suddenly, and many elements of the Indus Civilization can be found in later cultures. Current archaeological data suggest that material culture classified as Late Harappan may have persisted until at least c. 1000-900 BCE and was partially contemporaneous with the Painted Grey Ware culture.^[61] Archaeologists have emphasised that, just as in most areas of the world, there was a continuous series of cultural developments. These link "the so-called two major phases of urbanisation in South Asia".^[61]

A possible natural reason for the IVC's decline is connected with climate change that is also signaled for the neighboring areas of the Middle East: The Indus valley climate grew significantly cooler and drier from about 1800 BCE, linked to a general weakening of the monsoon at that time. Alternatively, a crucial factor may have been the disappearance of substantial portions of the Ghaggar Hakra river system. Atectonic event may have diverted the system's sources toward the Ganges Plain, though there is complete uncertainty about the date of this event, as most settlements inside Ghaggar-Hakra river beds have not yet been dated. Although this particular factor is speculative, and not generally accepted, the decline of the IVC, as with any other civilization, will have been due to a combination of various reasons.^{[citation needed]} New geological research is now being conducted by a group led by Peter Clift, from the University of Aberdeen, to investigate how the courses of rivers have changed in this region since 8000 years ago, to test whether climate or river reorganizations are responsible for the decline of the Harappan. A 2004 paper indicated that the isotopes of the Ghaggar-Hakra system do not come from the Himalayan glaciers, and were rain-fed instead, contradicting a Harappan time mighty "Sarasvati' river.^[62]

Legacy

Main article: Iron Age India

In the aftermath of the Indus Civilization's collapse, regional cultures emerged, to varying degrees showing the influence of the Indus Civilization. In the formerly great city of Harappa, burials have been found that correspond to a regional culture called the Cemetery H culture. At the same time, the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture expanded from Rajasthan into the Gangetic Plain. The Cemetery H culture has the earliest evidence for cremation, a practice dominant in Hinduism until today.

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