Indus Valley civilisation

 The Indus valley civilisation, also known as the Harappan civilisation or Indus civilisation, was a Bronze Age in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE.  It covered an area of one million square kilometres. It had the largest population and territory of all the Bronze Age civilisations like Mesopotamia, Egypt and ancient China. 

Like almost all early civilisations the Indus Civilisation grew around dank river valleys. Their farmers were able to grow a massive food surplus along the banks of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers. But we have no evidence of  Kings or priests for the Harappans. No royal tombs or palaces. No evidence for a state religion. No temples, pyramids or ziggurats. No signs of an army, weapons, slaves or powerful political capitals. One of the defining features of Harappan culture is how planned their cities and towns were. They tended to focus on 3 main aspects like:

1. Water                                                                                                                                                         Water, drainage and bathing held an almost religious significance in Harappan city planning. Every Harappan home had a dedicated bathing room, used daily. Built with watertight brick floors. These floors sloped towards a small drain usually cut into the house wall. This drain brought dirty water out of the house and into a brick lined sewage system underneath the main streets and channelled water out of the city. We've found quite a few ceramic toys in Harappan drains. It seems that Harappan children may have been the first to bring toys into the bath with them. Amongst all the ruins of the Harappans, the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro stands out.

2.Standardisation                                                                                                                                          Harappan cities were usually hundreds of km apart compared to Mesopotamian cities which were on average 20 km apart. Standardisation extended to units of weights. Cubical stone weights across big Harappan cities down to small farming villages. The smallest weight was 0.586 g and the average was 13.7 g.

3.City Planning                                                                                                                                             The main streets of Harappan cities were usually oriented north-south and east-west. These generally divided Harappan settlements into blocks. In some Harappan cities we've found the remains of brick platforms and trees planted alongside streets to provide public seating and shade. And we've even found large jars half-sunk into the ground into which rubbish could be thrown, which would then be brought to a nearby dump. Every seal has an image usually of an animal and an inscription. We've found thousands of Harappan seals. They seem to have had about 450 signs and the script is logo-syllabic, like Chinese or Ancient Maya, which means each symbol stood for a word or syllable. Any Harappan writing on paper or papyrus has been destroyed by the passage of time.

The Harappan people were mostly farmers and herders. Barley and wheat were the main crops. Garlic, turmeric, ginger, cumin and cinnamon were grown. Cattle and Water buffalo were the most important domesticated animals. Chickens, camels and even elephants may have been domesticated too.