- Published: September 12, 2022
- Updated: September 12, 2022
- University / College: University of Chicago
- Language: English
- Downloads: 13
The Indus Valley civilization has fascinated people for a long time. It is a mystery, with no written records to help us solve why the people disappeared, where they came from, and where they went to. We can, however, know certain things about their civilization through facts that the archeologists have unearthed from the ruins that these mysterious people left behind.
Whoever these people were who resided in the Indus Valley so very long ago, we can tell that they were civilized and highly advance people. This is evidenced by their large citadels which testify to a well-ordered and an urban society. Sculpted statues testify to the fact that these people were artisans. The people who populated the Indus Valley citadels were also musicians. One proof of this is a depiction, on one of the seals that have been discovered, of an instrument that resembles a harp.
The archeological record gives us another surprising revelation: these nysterious people were more “ advanced” than the English people who inhabited London during Shakespeare’s time. While London did not have a sewage system in the fifteen hundreds, and New York did not have a sewage system in the sixteen hundreds, the homes in the Indus Valley citadels had a sanitation system. In a room that appeared to be set aside for bathing there were channels that diverted the waste water to covered drains.
The Indus Valley civilization, just like the ancient Egyptian civilization, was founded near a water source, for water was life. We do not know why these people disappeared. However, historians and anthropologists suspect the people died out or moved because of climate change and a great reduction in the water supply.