In the early 1800's, British scholars learned that people had found ancient artefacts buried in huge earthen mounds in the region. But it was not until the 1920's that archaeologists began excavating these sites and realized that they contained the remains of cities from a previously unknown civilization. Hundreds of Indus sites have been found.
Indus culture. The Indus people planned their cities carefully. They built many of their buildings on mud-brick platforms that protected the buildings from seasonal floods. Houses were made of baked or sun-dried brick. Many houses had two storeys. Most homes had a bathing area that was supplied with water from a nearby public well or from a well in the courtyard of the house. In larger communities, each house was connected to an elaborate city-wide drainage system. Other structures include large buildings that may have been used for storing grain and for other purposes.
The Indus people traded extensively with one another. City people traded with nearby agricultural communities and with distant mining and other areas. Goods traded probably included cotton, timber, grain, and livestock. For transport, people used pack animals, river boats, and ox carts. The Indus people also traded with other civilizations, including cultures in central Asia and Mesopotamia and along the Persian Gulf.
Indus artisans produced a variety of useful and decorative objects. They used copper and bronze to make tools, mirrors, pots, and pans. Bone, shell, and ivory were used to create ornaments, tools, game pieces, and inlay for furniture. Indus artisans also crafted silver and gold utensils and ornaments, as well as ornaments made of stoneware and earthenware. Indus sculptors made clay figurines of animals and people, probably for use in religious rituals. They also made small limestone figures that may represent gods or important people.
The most unusual objects found at Indus sites include square stone seals engraved with pictographs and drawings of animals. Pictographs have also been found on Indus pottery and other objects. However, scholars have been unable to decipher what the writings mean. The Indus people buried their dead, often in wooden coffins along with pottery vessels.
Decline of the Indus civilization. By 1700 B.C., the Indus civilization had gradually broken up into smaller cultures, called late Harappan cultures and post-Harappan cultures. The breakup was partly caused by changing river patterns. These changes included the drying up of the Hakra River and changes in the course of the Indus River. The river changes disrupted agricultural and economic systems, and many people left the cities of the Indus Valley region. However, some aspects of Indus art, agriculture, and possibly social organization continued in the smaller cultures. Some of these aspects became incorporated into a unified urban civilization that began developing throughout the region about 600 B.C.