Important Indus Valley Sites and Archaeological Discoveries

 The Indus Valley Civilization covered parts of Sind, Baluchistan, Afganistan, West Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Maharashtra.

Over 1000 Indus Valley Civilization sites have been discovered.

It’s not easy to connect the archaeological finds with their respective Harappan cities. But in exams questions are repeatedly asked from this topic.

This post is a humble attempt to compile the important Indus Valley Sites and the archaeological discoveries from there. Readers may note that a few of the major sites are already covered in our notes on the features of Indus Valley Civilization.

Harappa

1. Cemetery H & R37.
2. Coffin burial.
3. Granary outside the fort.
4. Phallus worship.
5. Graveyard.
6. Mother goddess.

Mohenjo-Daro

1. Prepared Garments.
2. Temple-like Palace.
3. Pashupati seal.
4. Statue of a dancing girl.
5. Ivory weight balance.
6. The Great Bath.
7. The Great Granary.
8. Priest-king statue.

Kalibangan

1. Lower fortified town.
2. Fire Altar.
3. Boustrophedon style.
4. Wooden drainage.
5. Copper Ox.
6. Evidence of earthquake.
7. Wooden plough.
8. Camel’s bone.

Lothal

1. Port Town.
2. Evidence of Rice.
3. Fire Altar.
4. Graveyard.
5. Ivory weight balance.
6. Copper dog.

Rangpur

1. Evidence of Rice.

Surkotada

1. Horse bone.
2. Stone covered grave.

Malavan

1. Canals.

Chanhudaro

1. Bangle factory.
2. Inkpot.
3. The only city without citadel.
4. Carts with a seated driver.

Balakot

1. Bangle factory.

Daimabad

1. Bronze Buffalo.

Amri

1. Actual remains of Rhinoceros.

Alamgirpur

1. Impression of cloth on a trough.

Ropar

1. Buildings made of stone and soil.
2. The dog buried with humans.
3. One inscribed steatite seal with typical Indus pictographs.
4. Oval pit burials.

Banawali

1. Oval shaped settlement.
2. The only city with radial streets.
3. Toy plough.
4. The largest number of barley grains.

Dholavira

1. Only site to be divided into three parts.
2. Giant water reservoir.
3. Unique water harnessing system.
4. Dams.
5. Embankments.
6. A stadium.
7. Rock – cut architecture.

Indus Valley Civilization

Features of Indus Valley Civilization

• BC. 2700- BC.1900 ie for 800 years.
• On the valleys of river Indus.
• Also known as Harappan Civilization.
• Beginning of city life.
• Harappan Sites discovered by – Dayaram Sahni (1921) – Montgomery district, Punjab, Pakistan.
• Mohanjodaro discovered by – R. D. Banerji – Larkana district, Sind, Pakistan.
• The city was divided into Citadel(west) and Lower Town(east).
• Red pottery painted with designs in black.
• Stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools, long stone blades etc.
• Copper, bronze, silver, gold present.
• Artificially produced – Faience.
• Specialists for handicrafts.
• Import of raw materials.
• Plough was used.
• Bodies were buried in wooden coffins, but during the later stages ‘H symmetry culture’ evolved where bodies were buried in painted burial urns.
• Sugar cane not cultivated, horse, iron not used.

Indus Valley Sites and Specialties

Harappa

• Seals out of stones
• Citadel outside on banks of river Ravi

Mohenjodaro

• Great Bath, Great Granary, Dancing Girl, Man with Beard, Cotton, Assembly hall
• The term means ” Mount of the dead”
• On the bank of river Indus
• Believed to have been destructed by flood or invasion(Destruction was not gradual).

Chanhudaro

• Bank of Indus river. – discovered by Gopal Majumdar and Mackey (1931)
• Pre-Harappan culture – Jhangar Culture and Jhukar Culture
• Only cite without citadel.

Kalibangan

• At Rajasthan on the banks of river Ghaggar, discovered by A.Ghosh (1953)
• Fire Altars
• Bones of camel
• Evidence of furrows
• Horse remains ( even though Indus valley people didn’t use horses).
• Known as third capital of the Indus Empire.

Lothal

• At Gujarat near Bhogava river, discovered by S.R. Rao (1957)
• Fire Altars
• Beside the tributary of Sabarmati
• Storehouse
• Dockyard and earliest port
• double burial
• Rice husk
• House had front entrance (exception).

Ropar

• Punjab, on the banks of river Sutlej. Discovered by Y.D Sharma (1955)
• Dog buried with humans.

Banawali

• Haryana
• On banks of lost river Saraswathi
• Barley Cultivation.

Dholavira

• Biggest site in India, until the discovery of Rakhigarhi.
• Located in Khadir Beyt, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Discovered by J.P Joshi/Rabindra Singh (1990)
• 3 parts + large open area for ceremonies
• Large letters of the Harappan script (signboards).

The religion of Indus Valley People

• Pashupathi Mahadev (Proto Siva)
• Mother goddess
• Nature/ Animal worship
• Unicorn, Dove, Peepal Tree, Fire
• Amulets
• Idol worship was practised ( not a feature of Aryans)
• Did not construct temples.
• The similarity to Hindu religious practises. (Hinduism in its present form originated later)
• No Caste system.

Indus Valley Society and Culture

• The systematic method of weights and measures ( 16 and its multiples).
• Pictographic Script, Boustrophedon script – Deciphering efforts by I. Mahadevan
• Equal status to men and women
• Economic Inequality, not an egalitarian society
• Textiles – Spinning and weaving
• 3 types – burial, cremation and post-cremation were there, though burial was common.
• Majority of people Proto-Australoids and Mediterranean (Dravidians), though Mongoloids, Nordics etc were present in the city culture.

Reasons for Decline of Indus Valley Civilization

Other theories:

• Aryan Invasion: Motimer Wheeler
• Tectonic Movements/ Flood – Robert Raikes
• Change of course of river Indus – Lambrick.

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 Timeline on the History of British East India Company

• 1600-East India Company was formed
• 1614-Factories are setup in Masulipatnam and Surat
• 1739-Delhi is sacked by Nadar Shah from Persia
• 1746-Siege of Madras by French.First time a fort besieged by an European nation
• 1751-Robert Clive captures Arcot. Turning point in Indian history where British got upper hand on French
• 1757-Battle of Plassey. Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula lost to British East India Company
• 1765-Mughal emperor gives rights to EIC for revenue collection in Bengal
• 1767-First Anglo Mysore War between Hyder Ali and EIC
• 1773-British EIC gets monopoly to sell opium in Bengal
• 1799-Tipu Sultan killed at Battle of Srirangapatnam
• 1803-Second Anglo Maratha war and fall of Delhi
• 1806-Vellore Sepoy Mutiny
• 1825-Massive migration of Indians to Reunion and Mauritius
• 1835-English made official court language
• 1843-Doctrine of lapse came into force to capture Sindh province
• 1853-First Railway line between Thane and Bombay
• 1857-Indian Sepoy Mutiny
• 1858-India comes under the crown ending East India Company rule

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