Indus valley

The Indus civilisation started almost 5,000 years ago. Find out about different cities in the Indus Valley.

1.There were more than 1,400 towns and cities in the Indus Valley. The biggest were Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

2.The names Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were given to the cities in later times. We do not know what the Indus people called their cities, because nobody has been able to translate their ancient language. Around 80,000 people lived in these cities

3.The Indus river begins high up in the Himalayan mountains (the tallest mountain range in the world), and flows nearly 3,000 kilometres to the Arabian Sea. As the river moves downstream it carves out a valley. This is where the Indus people settled.

4.The first farmers liked living near the river because it kept the land green and fertile for growing crops. These farmers lived together in villages which grew over time into large ancient cities, like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

5.The Indus people needed river water to drink, wash and to irrigate their fields. They may also have used water in religious ceremonies. To the Indus people, their river was  ‘The King River’.

6.Often ancient writings can tell us about civilisations, but no one has been able to translate the Indus writings. We have to look for other clues.

7.Sometimes you are able to see changes in ruins that indicate wars or battles, but the Indus Valley seems to have stayed the same for hundreds of years.

8.However, archaeologists have recently found some skeletons that suggest that the Indus valley might not have been such a peaceful place after all. When they looked closely at the skeletons, they saw that they might have died in a pretty nasty way - being beaten with a heavy club.