Civilization Of The Indus Valley
The civilization of the Indus valley ( 5000 BC. - 1900 BC. ), also called was a civilization of antiquity whose geographical spread mainly in the valley of the river Indus in the Indian subcontinent (around Pakistan modern). Although unlikely, the influence it had on the culture Hindu today is not clearly established.
The name of the Indus civilization, Sarasvati is sometimes used, especially in the Anglo-Saxon and she identifies and refers to the civilization described by the Vedas , which have flourished along the river Saraswati , which is currently unknown localization. This identification remains hypothetical.
Forgotten by history until its rediscovery in the 1920s , the Indus civilization is among his contemporaries, Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt , as one of the earliest civilizations , the latter being defined by the appearance of cities, agriculture, writing, etc..
If the Indus civilization is not the first ancient civilization of Mesopotamia and Egypt that developed shortly before the cities, it is nevertheless one that knows the greatest geographical extension. To date, about 1,052 sites that were discovered more than 140 are on the banks of the seasonal river Ghaggar - Hakra. According to some assumptions, this river system, once a permanent watering the main agricultural production zone of the Indus civilization.
Most other sites are located along the valley of the Indus and its tributaries, but they are also found in the west to the border of Iran , east to Delhi , south even in the Maharashtra and north to the Himalayas. Among these sites there are many cities like Dholavira , Ganweriwala , Harappa , Lothal , Mohenjo-daro and Rakhigarhi. At its peak, its population could have exceeded five million people.
Despite these accomplishments, this civilization is very poorly known. Its very existence was forgotten until the twentieth century. His writing remains undeciphered and we do not know if it has any connection with writing Brahmi , which seems unlikely in light of current knowledge. Among the mysteries it contains, at least two questions are fundamental:
The language spoken by its members and the names they gave are still unknown.
Summary |
History
Predecessors
The Indus civilization was preceded by the first crop of Southeast Asia that have emerged in the hills of Baluchistan , west of the Indus Valley. The best-known site of this culture is Mehrgarh , dating from 6500 years BC. AD. These early farmers mastered the wheat and a variety of domesticated animals, especially those constituting the cattle. The pottery was used there to 5500 BC. BC The Indus civilization grew out of this technology base, spreading in the alluvial plain of what are, today, the current Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab.
Around 4000 BC. AD , original regional culture, called pre- Harappan , appears in this area (she has that name because the sites of this culture are found in the first strata of the cities of the Indus civilization). Commercial networks linking it with regional cultures and relatives with sources of raw materials such as lapis lazuli and other precious stones used in the manufacture of beads necklace. Villagers domesticated at this time a large number of plant species both with peas , and chickpeas , beans sesame , the dates and cotton , and animal such as buffalo , an animal that remains essential to agricultural production in all of Asia today.
Emergence of civilization
Around 2600 BC. BC , some pre-Harappan sites are growing in cities, housing thousands of residents, mostly farmers. As a result, a unified culture appears throughout the area, smoothing out regional differences in remote sites over a thousand kilometers. This emergence is so sudden that early researchers may have thought it resulted from external conquest or migration. Since then, archaeologists have proved that it comes from pre-Harappan culture that preceded it. In fact, it seems that this suddenness is the result of a deliberate, planned. For example, some sites appear to have been reorganized to comply with thoughtful planning. That's why the Indus civilization is considered to have developed the first urban planning.
Decline and collapse
During 700 years, the Indus civilization flourished and its artisans produced goods of a quality sought by his neighbors. Then as suddenly as it had appeared, it went into decline and disappeared.
Around 1900 BC. AD , there are signs that problems arise. People started leaving the cities. Those who remain there seem to have difficulty feeding. Around 1800 BC. AD , most cities have been abandoned. The golden age of trade interiranien, marked by the presence of many "treasures" and rich cities (cut up and tapered bowl), seems to end around -1800 BC. -1700 AD to BC. AD, just as the Mesopotamian texts cease to speak of eastern trade. The major cities of Turkmenia East ( Altyn-depe and Namazga-depe ) are abandoned and the major cities of the Indus valley disappear. In the area corresponding to the civilization of the Indus, the regionalization process increases with the disappearance of the most characteristic elements of Harappan unit: writing, seals or weight. Yet many elements survive throughout the second millennium BC. AD in the eastern and southern parts of the area.
In the following centuries, and unlike his contemporaries, Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt , the Indus civilization disappeared from the memory of mankind. Unlike the old Egyptians and Mesopotamians , the Indusiens have not built the imposing stone monuments which perpetuate the memory remains.
In fact, the people indusien has not disappeared. Following the collapse of the Indus civilization, regional cultures emerged showing that its influence extends, in varying degrees. It is also probably had a migration of part of its population to the east, bound for the Gangetic plain. What has disappeared is not a nation but a civilization: its cities, its writing system, its sales network and - finally - the culture that was its intellectual foundation.
Causes of collapse
One cause of this collapse may have been a major climate change. In XXVI centuryBC. AD, the Indus Valley was verdant, Scots and teeming wildlife. Also much wetter. Floods were a constant problem and seem to more than one occasion, having submerged some sites. The inhabitants of the Indus certainly complemented their diet by hunting, which seems almost inconceivable today, when one considers the environment dry and barren area. Around 1800 BC. AD , the climate has changed, becoming noticeably cooler and drier. But this does not explain the collapse of the Indus civilization.
The major factor could be the disappearance of significant portions of the network Hydrographic Ghaggar - Hakra , identified by some theories to the river Sarasvati. A disaster tectonics may have diverted the waters of this system toward the network Gangetic. In fact, the river, hitherto mythical burst into reality when, at the end of the twentieth century , the satellite images to allow reconstruct the way in the Indus Valley Architecture and Urbanism The trend in urban planning of the Indus civilization is evident in the larger settlements and cities. Typically, the city is divided into two zones: one with a platform of land that raised the first archaeologists appoint the citadel and a second, called lower city, consisting of houses and shops tightly intertwined, separated by a network streets and alleys, well defined, following a specific plan, set width and used in almost all sites. The main buildings were built of bricks, cooked or raw, a rigorously standardized form. A decimal system of weights and measures was used throughout the range. The largest cities had up to 30 000. At Harappa , Mohenjo-daro and the recently discovered site Rakhigarhi , the best known and probably the most populated cities of this civilization, urban planning included the world's first system for processing wastewater. Within cities, water was drawn from wells. In homes, a room was for ablutions, the sewage was directed to drains covered that lined the main streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards or on narrow streets, standing well away from any unpleasant odors. The role of the citadel is still debatable. Unlike the contemporary civilizations of Mesopotamia and of Egypt , no large structure was built here, none seems to have been a temple or palace is no physical evidence proving the existence of a king, armies or priests. However, some structures are identified as granaries would mean the existence of surplus agricultural commodities, a result of this flourishing city. At Mohenjo-daro, the city's best preserved, was discovered in the citadel "big bath", a rectangular swimming pool surrounded by galleries that would have been a public bath. Two symmetrical staircases give access to a pool which is sealed with seals of bitumen between the bricks. Although the citadel was surrounded by walls, it does not appear to have had a defensive role but rather to protect against floods. The lower city is composed of regular streets running north-south and east-west. The houses are an area of 50 120 m 2. They have a floor which is accessed via an internal staircase. Some have a private well, others are supplied with water from public wells. The houses are equipped with bathrooms, sewage is discharged through a channel on an inclined plane that leads to the street gutter. The different parts of Mohenjo-Daro have been rebuilt several times following the same plan. Each time, the pipe system and sewage has been upgraded, which implies the existence of a public authority. However, none of the buildings of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa may be regarded as a temple or palace. No trace evidence with the predominance of a certain class of kings or priests. Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, living together in well defined areas defined according to their activity. Materials, from distant regions were used in the manufacture of seals, beads and other objects. The seals include representations of animals, and divine inscriptions. Some of them were used to make seals in clay but they probably had other jobs. The discovery of seals to Mesopotamia attest to the existence of a long-distance trade. Although some homes are larger than others, it is clear from the observation of these cities, a sense of egalitarianism and broad middle class society, all the houses with access to water and wastewater treatment. One characteristic of this civilization is its apparent non-violence. Unlike other ancient civilizations, archaeological research did not show here the presence of powerful leaders, vast armies of slaves, social conflict, prisons and other issues conventionally associated with the earliest civilizations. However, these deficiencies can also come from our very fragmentary knowledge of this civilization. As for religion, there are only traces fugitive statuettes often equated with mother goddesses, amulets, representations of killing a water buffalo. But as sacred trees and a "proto-Shiva", a man with many heads in yogic position. Some experts see it as the beginnings of Hindu religion . The economy of the Indus seems to have been largely dependent on trade , which had been facilitated by major advances in transportation technology: the chariot pulled by oxen , similar to that found today in whole of South Asia, and the boat. Most of these were probably small, flat bottom, perhaps sailing, quite similar to those found even today on the Indus. But there are signs of shipping. Archaeologists have discovered at Lothal a channel connected to the sea and an artificial docking. In light of the dispersion manufactured objects of the civilization of the Indus, its business network integrating a vast area, including parts of present Afghanistan , North and center of today's India and extending areas Coastal Persia to Mesopotamia. From the second half of the third millennium BC. BC , trade between the valley of the Indus and the Arabian Gulf are attested by the shelves Sumerian which refer to an important Eastern trade with the distant land of Meluhha - to bring the word Sanskrit mleccha , non-Aryan - which seems to refer to Indusiens, the only index that allows us to think that his people used this word to be named. Many objects of type Indus (jars, seals, stone weights) have been discovered at sites in the Gulf region identified with Dilmun which in Mesopotamian texts, mediates with Meluhha. Harappan sites occur at considerable distances from the Indus Valley, particularly Shortuga (on the Oxus in the north-east of Afghanistan ), to Sutkagan-dor (the border between Pakistan and Iran ) or Lothal (in Gujarat ). Large cities are also growing in Turkmenia Southern ( Altyn-depe , Namazga-depe ) where contact with the Balochistan are attested from the fifth millennium BC. AD The nature of the agricultural system of the Indus civilization is still largely subject to speculation because of the paucity of information that could be received. However, some speculations are possible. The Indus civilization had to be highly productive. Indeed, agriculture was to generate surpluses to feed tens of thousands of urban dwellers who were not involved in agricultural production, at least in a primary. It should be based on the significant technical advances in pre-Harappan culture whose plow. However, very little is known about these farmers and their methods. Some of them were likely to exploit the soil alluvial fertile left by rivers after seasonal flooding but this method is not considered productive enough to meet the needs of cities. There are, however no traces of systems of irrigation , although these have been destroyed by floods and frequent disasters. The hypothesis of hydraulic despotism on the emergence of urban civilization and the state , seems to be reversed in the case of this particular civilization. It says, in effect, that cities can only occur when irrigation systems can generate significant agricultural surpluses. The development of these systems involves the emergence of a centralized and despotic power can suppress any social status to thousands of people and use them as slaves by exploiting their labor. It seems difficult to square this hypothesis with what we know about the Indus civilization that does so far no evidence of royal power, presence of slaves , to mobilize the work force. Often seen as intensive agriculture requires dams , reservoirs and canals. This assumption is easily refuted. Throughout Asia, rice farmers produce significant surpluses through rice terraces on the hillside, emphasizing work accumulated over generations, without implying any form of slavery whatsoever. It is perhaps this type of strategy that was implemented here. Production ceramics has mainly a utilitarian character, style containers being stereotyped. However, the clay figures are more diverse: women in labor or domestic duties, bulls yoked to carts. Ells are kept at the National Museum in Delhi, the National Museum in Karachi, and the British Museum in London and the Muse Barbier-Mueller Geneva. About 80 human figures were found, mostly in fill deposits. The oldest traits Shemata are sometimes ocher. Then modeled the breasts appear more pronounced and types sitting. Some elements applied to female figurines evoke hair ornaments and belts, some with snake-like patterns on the body. A vein appears to be the most popular author of achievements sometimes quite sketchy, often female subjects, a senior quainzaine centimeters, wide hips, with jewelry (earrings, necklaces, belts), sometimes accompanied by a child (within or hip) or with a belly porminent, suggesting that representations of mother goddesses, or evocations of human reproduction and fertility. The pottery, dating to 6000 BC are a very gross invoice. The fifth and fourth millennia, cultures Balouchistant produce ceramics of outstanding quality, often decorated with a rich variety of painted decorations. The development of trade in ceramics between -3000 and -2500 showing regional variations in the manufacture of pottery, but their structure and ornamental vocabulary is almost identical. The metal is used for making weapons and razors, although some decorative elements such as statues (whose exact use has not been found), were discovered. The most famous bronze statuette of the civilization of the Indus Valley is a dancer. This statue, made around 2000 BC and preserved today at the National Museum in Delhi, is in the form of a young girl with slender body and tubular. Large bracelets around her left arm and his collar appear to be fashion accessories. The profusion of ornaments and unique styling make this a typically Indian representation. The facial features are reminiscent of the Dravidian peoples, reinforcing the idea that this nation could be one of the ethnic components of the Indus Valley. The nakedness of the character and the pubis very marked indeed disproportionate might indicate a phenomenon of sacred prostitution. The National Museum of New Delhi retains other elements of bronze civilization of the Indus Valley, including a chariot shaped stylized dating from 2500-2300 BC The latter, drawn by two horses fitted with harnesses, is occupied by a driver holding a long whip. The front part of the float is decorated with a small representation of a horse. The most common representation of a state authority in the civilization of the Indus Valley is that of a bearded figure, wearing a headband and wearing a garment decorated with shamrocks, often considered without reasons true, like the priest-king of Mohenjo-Daro. Only head and shoulders of the characters have survived. The assumption of religious authority is mainly due to the character's eyes half open, which would indicate that man is absorbed in meditation, like the gods and ascetics of Indian art. However, physical features and consistency in the implementation details that resemble the work of Mesopotamian civilization. His regalia, seeded trefoil Designs (symbolic?), Has no comparison in India, but appears in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. The jewelry adorning the head and arms of the character reinforces the hypothesis of an important figure in society harrapenne, perhaps a "king-priest". Many seals soapstone have been discovered (about 4200 more than 2000 at Mohenjo-Daro ). They bear inscriptions in pictographic writing of more than 400 signs. The stamps are often decorated with a horned animal but also zebu , buffalo , tigers , elephants , crocodiles and others. Other stamps represent mythological motifs where a man wearing a horned headdress plays a central role. It appears in a tree before which another individual bows. Sometimes he is shown seated in the way of yogis and surrounded by animals, which explains that in fact a representation of a proto- Shiva in Pashupati, a form of the god known as "master of animals". Another area of the Indus civilization that has remained mysterious writing. Despite numerous attempts, researchers were not able, for the moment to decipher that which it was used and some think she transcribed a Proto- Dravidian. The available material is also problematic, mostly it's inscriptions on seals or ceramic pots and they do not exceed four to five characters, the longest containing twenty-six. As a result, we do not know either fragments of literature. Because of the brevity of inscriptions, some researchers have suggested that the inscriptions were known perhaps but not a true writing system for the identification of economic transactions, signatures. It is possible that longer texts have existed but do not be achieved if the medium used was perishable. On the other hand, a large inscription was discovered which appears to have been installed on a panel above a door of the City of Dholavira. It was speculated that this was a sign informing passengers of the name of the city, quite similar to those that welcome visitors in our cities today. The relationship between the Indus civilization and the first crop of Sanskrit , which produced the texts Vedic of Hinduism , are not clear. The oldest Vedic texts mention a river named unidentified Sarasvati and describe a world closer to the utopia that lived on its banks. Later writings make reference to them about her disappearance. However, as noted by many archaeologists, there is something ineffably "Indian" in the Indus civilization. If it is based on the large amount of female fertility figurines that we have inherited, it seems that the people of this civilization have venerated a form of mother goddess that exists in the Hindu today ( Shakti , Kali etc.). Their seals depict animals in a manner that suggests the veneration, foreshadowing the future sanctity attributed to the Hindus the cow and other animals such as monkeys, for example. As Hindus today, they seem to have given much room for ablutions and considerable importance to personal cleanliness. 
Society and Religion
Economy
Agriculture
Arts and Crafts
The ceramic and terracotta
Metals and bronzes
religious statue
Glyptics
Writing
Inheritance
Notes
Related articles
Bibliography
References
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