Indus Valley River Art of the Indus River Valley Civilization for Kids

What was the Indus Valley Civilization?

The largest of the Bronze Age civilisations, the Indus Valley or Harappa civilisation dates from around 3300 BCE to 1700 BCE.

There is still much to be learned about this culture.

Unlike the Egyptians or ancient Sumerians the people of the Indus Valley left behind no temples, palaces or statues. Nosotros cannot read their written script. Although they were clearly well governed, no evidence exists of kings or priests.

No one knows why the culture came to an end.

Superlative 10 facts

1. Archaeologists discovered the remains of the Indus Valley civilisation and began excavations during the 1920s.
2. The river Indus and its tributaries created a huge inundation plain. The state was very fertile, and this immune early peoples to abound several sets of crops a twelvemonth.
3. The area covered by this civilisation was huge; roughly one-half a million square miles. Most of this expanse falls betwixt modern India and Pakistan.
4. The remains of over 1,400 cities accept been discovered in this region. Some may have had as many as 80,000 inhabitants. Archaeologists have named the largest cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
5. Most people lived in minor villages and were farmers or craftsmen.
6. Crops grown by the people included grapes, dates and melons, wheat, peas, mustard, sesame and pulses.
7. The people used a standardised system of weights and measures. Fifty-fifty the bricks they used were manufactured to a standard ratio.
8. The cities were very advanced, with streets built on a grid blueprint and with an efficient system of wells, drains and sewers.
9. The people who lived in the Indus Valley were the commencement to grow cotton and weave material.
10. Indus Valley people traded with aboriginal Mesopotamia. They exported cotton cloth, exotic animals, copper and ivory. Imports included metal products and ores and shells.

Timeline

• c3300 BC

  Indus Valley Civilisation develops
  

• c3200 BC

  Spread of cities, ploughs used in fields, bear witness of early on writing

• c2600 BC

  Large cities flourish in Indus Valley

  

• c1700 BC

  End of Indus Valley Civilisation

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Did you know?

• Children in the Indus Valley played with toys made of terra cotta pottery. These toys included animals and carts with moving parts.
• The oldest dice in the earth were plant at Harappa. Archaeologists have also found grids which were used for board games and counters made of ivory.
• The people used boats, probably made of wooden planks, with a raised stern and prow and a single canvas fabricated of reeds or cotton material.
• Indus valley excavations have revealed the world'southward oldest dock and ploughed field.
• The written linguistic communication of the Indus Valley used around 400 picture signs.

Look through the gallery and see if you spot the post-obit:

• A map showing the extent of the Indus Valley Civilization
• Seals showing Indus Valley script
• A statue of a priest king plant at Mohenjo-Daro
• The drainage organisation
• View showing remains of Mohenjo-Daro
• The Great Bathroom at Mohenjo-Daro
• Indus Valley beads
• A toy cart made of clay
• Ruins of the Indus Valley metropolis of Dholavira in Gujarat

Gallery

Nearly

The fertile plains of the Indus Valley provided an ideal site for early settlers. Irrigation and the use of the plough enabled many crops to be grown throughout the twelvemonth and surpluses to be stored in communal granaries. Animals such every bit goats, cows, sheep and buffalo were domesticated and other animals were probably hunted. Dogs, cats, monkeys and peacocks may have been kept as pets.

The cities show articulate evidence of town planning with broad streets and efficient access to water, drainage and sewers in even the smallest houses. We can tell that the streets were laid out earlier the houses were built. Houses were generally prepare around central courtyards with windows facing into the yards rather than out onto the streets. Entry to the houses was through smaller lanes that led off from the principal streets. Rooms had clear purposes and included infinite for bathing and toilets that were flushed past pouring water into them. Kiln-baked bricks of regular size were used for construction. Cities were divided into different zones with a fortified citadel containing baths and other possibly communal buildings separate from the part of the city where people lived and worked. Many buildings were built on summit of earlier buildings.

Most people were occupied with farming the land but at that place were skilled craftsmen who worked with metals and dirt, hunters and fishermen, builders and scribes. Cute pots and figurines, polished stones and jewellery, seals and potent buildings provide evidence of their abilities. Traders used seals to identify their goods.

Although no prove has been found of kings or priests information technology is clear that the cities must have been well governed. Only a limited number of weapons have been recovered and in that location is piddling evidence of conflict, although the cities had stiff walls and gates and then could perhaps exist defended if necessary. It seems that for much of the period of its being the people of this civilization led peaceful, prosperous lives.

We do not know why this civilisation came to an end, but a number of possibilities have been suggested. I of the main candidates is climate change. The people were dependent on the heavy rains or monsoons to water their crops. Over time the monsoons seem to take gradually moved East and patterns of settlement seem to prove that people followed them. Another suggestion is that an earthquake caused ane of the major rivers in the area to divert its course and eventually to dry upwardly, again depriving the people of a vital water source. It is besides possible that invaders forced the people to motion on.

Related Videos

Just for fun...

• Take the Indus Challenge, working equally a immature archaeologist working at a site which was once an Indus Valley city
• A story prepare in the Indus Valley
• Take a quiz to find out how much do you know near the Indus Valley civilisation
• Be inspired past Indus Valley art and brand your own curl pot out of clay
• Uncover a mystery as a young epigrapher studying the Indus script

Best books near the Indus Valley for children

Find out more than

• BBC Bitesize guide to life in the Indus Valley
• Read the DKfindout! children's guide to the Indus Valley civilisation
• More data and images from the Indus Valley
• Wait through an archeologist'due south notepad to larn more well-nigh artefacts from the Indus Valley
• An overview of what we know about the Indus Valley Bronze Age culture
• Discover out about the use of seals in the Indus Valley civilisation
• What might your life have been like as a child in the ancient Indus Valley?
• Indus Valley civilisation facts for kids from the Kiddle Encyclopedia
• Read about how the Indus Valley sites were discovered
• The impact of climatic change on the collapse of the Indus Valley civilisation
• There is no accustomed Indus Valley script dictionary, but we can look through some of the almost common ancient Indus signs
• Meet 22 different Aboriginal Indus Culture slideshows, with 1000 slides by scholars
• A toy model of a cart found at Mohenjo-Daro shows how sophisticated the Indus Valley civilisation was

See for yourself

• The British Museum in London has seals and terracotta figures in its collections
• Encounter Indus Valley works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Fine art in New York
• Read virtually the ruins of the Indus Valley city of Dholavira in Gujarat
• The Indus Valley archaeological ruins at Mohenjo-Daro are a UNESCO World Heritage site

Also see

bunkerpliteruning.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/indus-valley

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