INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION.
The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) refers to a Bronze Age civilization in the northwestern regions of South Asia, that lasted from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. In the mature form, this period lasted from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Together with the Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, it was one among the three early civilizations of West and South of Asia. Of the three, it was the most widespread, with its sites stretching from northeast Afghanistan, through most of Pakistan, and into western and northwestern India. This civilization flourished in the Indus River’s basin, which flows through Pakistan’s length, and along a perennial’s system, that is mostly monsoon-fed.
The Indus Valley civilization is located in the South of Asia. It occurred during the period of the Bronze Age in South Asia. This was the period between 3300 and 1300 BCE. It was immediately preceded by Mehrgarh. This period was immediately followed by the Painted Grey Ware culture and the Cemetery H culture.
The cities of the civilization were noted for their urban planning, elaborate drainage systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, new handicraft techniques (seal carving, carnelian products), metallurgy (copper, lead, tin and bronze), baked brick houses and water supply systems. The large cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro probably grew to a level of containing between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals. The civilization itself is believed to have contained between one million and five million individuals.
Gradual drying of the soil in the region during the third millennium BCE may have been the first spur for the urbanization that was associated with the civilization, but eventually led to the reduction of enough water supply to cause the demise of a civilization, and to scatter its population eastward.
The Indus Civilization is also referred to as the Harappan Civilization. This name comes after its type site Harappa, the first site to be excavated of its kind in the early 20th century, in what was then referred to Punjab province of British India. Now it is referred to as Pakistan. There were other earlier as well as later cultures often referred to as Late Harappan and Early Harappan in the same area. For this reason, the Harappan civilization is sometimes referred to as the Mature Harappan in order to differentiate it from these other cultures. By the year 2002, more than a thousand Mature Harappan cities as well as settlements had been reported. Of this, only less than 100 had been excavated. However, only five of the cities are considered urban sites. They are: Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro (the UNESCO World Heritage Site), Ganeriwala in Cholistan, Dholavira and Rakhigarhi. The early Harappan cultures came immediately after the local Neolithic Agricultural villages, where the plains of the river were populated.
The Harappan language is not attested directly, and its affiliation is uncertain due to the fact that the Indus script is still not deciphered. A Elamo-Dravidian or Dravidian language relationship is favored by a number of scholars.
The name Indus Valley Civilization comes from the Indus river system where alluvial plains, the early civilization sites were identified and excavated.
