Harappa :: essays research papers

The Indus Valley civilization flourished around the year 2500B.C., in the western part of southern Asia, in what is now Pakistan and western India. In addition it is referred to as the Harappan Civilization after the first city that was discovered, Harappa. Eventually, the Harappan Civilization completely vanished around 1500B.C. Men and women used to wear colorful robes. Women wore lots of jewelry and even lipstick. In addition women would wear bracelets like the ones that are worn today in present day India. Harappans houses were made out of baked brick, they were mostly one or two stories high, flat roofs and all of them were almost identical. Each house had it’s own well, drinking water and sometimes their own bathroom. People had clay pipes, which led from their bathroom to a sewage pipe that eventually ran out into a lake or river. These people were very good farmers of their time so they would usually have something like wheat bread and barley for dinner. Harappans grew peas, melons, barley, dates and wheat. Farmers would raise cotton, and had zebus, pigs and sheep. In addition the Harappans were so advanced they caught fish in the river with hooks! Little kids also had toys to play with as children. Some of the things people have found are, whistles, shaped like birds, small carts and toy monkeys that could slide down a string. Harappan entertainment was dancing, which they loved and there was a big swimming pool that was used for the public. In addition around the pool there were private baths and changing and dressing rooms. Transportation was ox, camels and elephants to travel on the land. They also had carts with wooden wheels. There were also sailing ships with masts that were supposedly used for sailing around the Arabian Sea. It is true that in the Harappan Civilization they did not write any cave carvings or a written language, except a few sentences, which we don’t understand. Something incredible that happened was around 1500B.C. These people just all disappeared. Nobody knows why it happened, but they have clues, like maybe they ran out of wood to hold back the flooding and they would have died if they stayed. Scientists have found out that 1,400 Indus sites were discovered since 1996 which is big enough to make the Harappan Civilization an Empire. The only problem is that there is no sign that emperors governed these people.