Mohenjo Daro

The Indus Valley civilization (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) came to light in 1921
Mohenjo Daro means Mound of the Dead (The original name of this historical land is unknown)
Mohenjodaro is located near Karachi (province of Sindh, Pakistan)
The place was developed probably between 1900 and 2600 BCE and was one of the largest city of old Indus civilization
This civilization emerged nearly 4,500 years ago and thrived for a thousand years, profiting from the highly fertile lands of the Indus River floodplain and trade with the civilizations of nearby Mesopotamia
There are two of most important and interesting things found in the streets of Mohenjo Daro. A statue of dancing girl and statue of Priest king, which reflecting the beauty of Mohenjo Daro in form of a living place of multi religion people in the past. This place of Mohenjo Daro importantly talks about not only the history of architecture in mankind but also create a sense for the ancient people likings, way of livings, preferences, religious influences and many other factors which all together build up a society.

Harappan Civilisation

Harappan Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) spread over northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Other civilisations which might have coexisted with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Harappan Civilisation flourished in the basins of the Indus River, which flows through the length of Pakistan. reduced the water supply is considered/assumed as the cause of demise of this civilisation.
At its peak, the Indus Civilisation may have had a population of over five million. The civilization has developed new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin).The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings.
The Indus Valley Civilisation is also named the Harappan civilisation after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the 1920s
The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus script is still undeciphered. A relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo-Dravidian language family is favoured by a section of scholars

Geographical boundaries

The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) encompassed much of Pakistan, western India, and northeastern Afghanistan
extending from Pakistani Balochistan in the west to Uttar Pradesh in the east, northeastern Afghanistan to the north and Maharashtra to the south

periodisation of the Indus Valley Civilisation

The cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation had "social hierarchies, writing system, large planned cities and long-distance trades [which] mark them as a full-fledged 'civilisation to archaeologists.
The mature phase of the Harappan civilisation lasted from c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
as per estimates, the entire Indus Valley Civilisation may be taken to have lasted from the 33rd to the 14th centuries BCE

periodisation of the Indus Valley Civilisation
1> Indus Valley Civilisation into Early, Mature and Late Harappan Phase
2> the pre-Harappan ""Early Food Producing Era,"" and the Regionalisation, Integration, and Localisation eras, which correspond roughly with the Early Harappan, Mature Harappan, and Late Harappan phases

City Planning

A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley Civilisation making them the first urban centre in the region. The quality of municipal town planning suggests the knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene, or, alternatively, accessibility to the means of religious ritual

urban plan included the world's first known urban sanitation systems
individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from well.
From a room/layout it appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets.
All the houses had access to water and drainage facilities. This gives the impression of a society with relatively low wealth concentration, though clear social levelling is seen in personal adornments. Toilets that used water were used in the Indus Valley Civilisation. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a flush toilet in almost every house, attached to a sophisticated sewage system
The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage that were developed and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East
The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. The massive walls of Indus cities most likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have dissuaded military conflicts
Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, who lived with others pursuing the same occupation in well-defined neighbourhoods. Materials from distant regions were used in the cities for constructing seals, beads and other objects. Among the artefacts discovered were beautiful glazed faïence beads. Steatite seals have images of animals, people (perhaps gods), and other types of inscriptions, including the yet un-deciphered writing system of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Some of the seals were used to stamp clay on trade goods and most probably had other uses as well

Authority and governance

Archaeological records provide no immediate answers for a centre of power or for depictions of people in power in Harappan society. But, there are indications of complex decisions being taken and implemented. For instance, the majority of the cities were constructed in a highly uniform and well-planned grid pattern, suggesting they were planned by a central authority; extraordinary uniformity of Harappan artefacts as evident in pottery, seals, weights and bricks; presence of public facilities and monumental architecture

Technological advancements

The people of the Indus Civilisation achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time
Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal in Gujarat, was approximately 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age
Harappan engineers followed the decimal division of measurement for all practical purposes, including the measurement of mass as revealed by their hexahedron weights
These chert weights were in a ratio of 5:2:1 with weights of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 units, with each unit weighing approximately 28 grams
Harappans evolved some new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin. The engineering skill of the Harappans was remarkable, especially in building docks.
In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh, Pakistan, discovered that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation, from the early Harappan periods, had knowledge of proto-dentistry. Later, in April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence for the drilling of human teeth in vivo (i.e., in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh. Eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults were discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Mehrgarh that dates from 7,500–9,000 years ago
A touchstone bearing gold streaks was found in Banawali, which was probably used for testing the purity of gold (such a technique is still used in some parts of India)

Arts and crafts

Various sculptures, seals, bronze vessels pottery, gold jewellery, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite have been found at excavation sites
A number of gold, terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of some dance form.
These terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs
Some make-up and toiletry items (a special kind of combs (kakai), the use of collyrium and a special three-in-one toiletry gadget) that were found in Harappan contexts still have similar counterparts in modern India.
Terracotta female figurines were found (ca. 2800–2600 BCE) which had red colour applied to the ""manga"" (line of partition of the hair)Seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and another sitting cross-legged in what some call a yoga-like pose - "Pashupati"
A harp-like instrument depicted on an Indus seal and two shell objects found at Lothal indicate the use of stringed musical instruments. The Harappans also made various toys and games, among them cubical dice (with one to six holes on the faces), which were found in sites like Mohenjo-Daro.

Transportation

Land Transportation

The Indus civilisation's economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology
This may have been the first civilisation to use wheeled transport - Bullock carts example

Sea Transportation

Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail, similar to those one can see on the Indus River today
Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal and what they regard as a docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal in western India (Gujarat state). An extensive canal network, used for irrigation, has however also been discovered

Trade

During 4300–3200 BCE of the chalcolithic period (copper age), the Indus Valley Civilisation area shows ceramic similarities with southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran which suggest considerable mobility and trade. During the Early Harappan period (about 3200–2600 BCE), similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc. document intensive caravan trade with Central Asia and the Iranian plateau

Judging from the dispersal of Indus civilisation artefacts, the trade networks, economically, integrated a huge area, including portions of Afghanistan, the coastal regions of Persia, northern and western India, and Mesopotamia. Studies of tooth enamel from individuals buried at Harappa suggest that some residents had migrated to the city from beyond the Indus Valley. There is some evidence that trade contacts extended to Crete and possibly to Egypt.
There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilisations as early as the middle Harappan Phase, with much commerce being handled by ""middlemen merchants from Dilmun"" (modern Bahrain and Failaka located in the Persian Gulf)
Such long-distance sea trade became feasible with the development of plank-built watercraft, equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth
Several coastal settlements like Sotkagen-dor (astride Dasht River, north of Jiwani), Sokhta Koh (astride Shadi River, north of Pasni), and Balakot (near Sonmiani) in Pakistan along with Lothal in western India, testify to their role as Harappan trading outposts. Shallow harbours located at the estuaries of rivers opening into the sea allowed brisk maritime trade with Mesopotamian cities.

Agriculture

Some post-1980 studies indicate that food production was largely indigenous to the Indus Valley
t is known that the people of Mehrgarh used domesticated wheats and barley and the major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley a crop derived from two-row barley

Late Harappan /Indus Civilisation

Around 1800 BCE signs of a gradual decline began to emerge, and by around 1700 BCE most of the cities had been abandoned. Recent examination of human skeletons from the site of Harappa has demonstrated that the end of the Indus civilisation saw an increase in inter-personal violence and in infectious diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis

Following aspects are proposed as decline of the Indus Civilisation

Aryan invasion
Climate change and drought
Aridification reduced the water supply