The Harappan (Sindhu–Sarasvati) civilisation
One of the world's first urban civilisations, with planned cities, drains, standard weights and a script that has not yet been read.
How it was ruled
How the cities were governed is not known: no palaces or royal tombs have been found. Uniform bricks, weights and seals suggest strong shared rules, perhaps by merchants or councils.
How people lived
Towns had grid streets, covered drains, wells and houses built around courtyards. People wore cotton, used beads and bangles, and played games with dice.
What people did
Farming wheat, barley and cotton; herding; and crafts such as bead-making, pottery, metalwork, shell-cutting and seal-carving.
What people ate
Wheat and barley breads, pulses, sesame, dates, milk, fish and meat; millets in Gujarat.
Trade
Trade with Mesopotamia (which called this land Meluhha), Oman and Afghanistan by sea and land; carnelian beads, cotton and timber went out, and metals and lapis lazuli came in.
Region by region
- Gujarat: Dholavira (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) had large reservoirs; Lothal had a dockyard.
- Haryana: Rakhigarhi is the largest Harappan site in India.
- Rajasthan: Kalibangan has one of the oldest ploughed fields found.
- Punjab: Ropar on the Satluj was a Harappan settlement.
- Sindh and Punjab (today's Pakistan): Mohenjo-daro, with its Great Bath, and Harappa, where the civilisation was first identified in the 1920s.
Key events
- c. 2600 BCE: Mature cities with planned streets and drains
- c. 2300 BCE: Trade with Mesopotamia is recorded there
- c. 1900 BCE: Cities shrink as rivers shift and the climate changes; people move east and south
Legacy
Weights, bangles, the bullock cart and many farming methods continue in India today.