Indus Valley Civilization

Along with Egypt and Sumer, the third major early Bronze Age civilization was the Indus Valley civilization, which flourished from 2600 B.C. to 900 B.C. In geographic size, the Indus Valley civilization was the largest ancient urban civilization, bigger than pharaonic Egypt. Centered on the Indus River and the now dry Ghaggar-Hakra civilization to be without parallel in history, displaying characteristics not elsewhere united in a single civilization.

The Indus Valley people, masters of urban planning, built brick cities on flood-proof terraces with grids of long, straight streets and the first urban sewer systems, made of masonry. No signs of dominant rulers have been found, and the cities’ living quarters show little sign of class distinction, suggesting that their system apparently thrived without armies—there is, for example, no evidence of weapon production.

The Indus Valley people were the first to cultivate rice and cotton, and they developed a carefully organized agricultural system to produce and distribute food. In addition, the Indus Valley civilization was one of the ancient world’s top traders. Examples of its standardized weights have been found in many harbors around the provide evidence that the Indus Valley people maintained trade with Mesopotamia.

The causes of the civilization’s decline, however, are not certain, and this has produced the most contention among scholars. A long-standing theory, one that today still inhabits history books, was proposed by British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler in the 1920s and points to a final massacre by marauding Indo-Aryan invaders. But, in addition the course of rivers and disrupted many cities, spurring a migration of refugees to the countryside.