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Indus

ghazi52

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..Indus . . . ..
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What Were Indus Cities Like?

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An Indus city was made of mud-brick buildings. It had walls and roads. Water was very important to Indus people, so the builders started by digging wells, and laying drains. Main streets were up to 10 metres wide, wide enough for carts to pass. Side streets were narrow, more like alleys.

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Some cities had a citadel high on a mound. In the citadel were bigger buildings. Perhaps the city's rulers lived there. Most people lived and worked in the lower part of town. Most Indus people did not live in cities at all. Perhaps 9 out of 10 people were farmers and traders who lived in small villages.
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Was There An Indus Empire?

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An empire is a large country or group of countries, with different peoples ruled by a king or emperor. The Indus Valley civilisation was very large, but we do not know if it had kings. It seems that nothing much changed there for hundreds of years. New houses were built on top of old ones, and city street plans stayed the same. Life went on in the same way for generations. This might mean the Indus rulers controlled everything. Or it might just mean they were happy the way things were. What look like crowns were found at a site called Kunal. Did they belong to an Indus king? Perhaps each city had its own ruler.

Did Indus cities have soldiers?

An Indus city had strong walls, and in history, walls usually mean people want to keep out enemies. Think of a medieval castle. Like a castle, an Indus city had towers and gateways, but we do not know if there were soldiers. At the city gates city officials could check traders coming in and out. There were probably guards too, in case of trouble.

Other ancient civilisations, such as Egypt, had large armies. Kings fought battles with enemies. But the Indus people seem to have lived in peace for most of their history. Other ancient writings tell us about wars. Since we can't yet read the Indus writing, we just don't know.

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Indus gods

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Pictures on seals and other artifacts show what look like figures of gods. One looks like a Mother Goddess. People probably believed this goddess gave health and fertility to people, animals and plants.

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Another seal picture shows a male god with horns and three faces. Around him are animals, including an elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo. Plants, trees and animals were probably important to Indus people.
 
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The Indus Valley civilization mainly used mudbricks to construct their structures, reason being mudbrick was the most available, abundant, and inexpensive material in the Indus Valley region and lends itself as a useful building material.


Mudbrick used to construct a water well, the well stands very tall in comparison to surrounding structures due to removal of past structures which surrounded it.

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Aerial view of a public bathhouse in Mohenjo-Daro.

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........Mohenjo-Daro's Great Bath

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This picture shows what the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro may have been like. The artist has cut through the roof and walls to show hidden detail.

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The Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro. You can see the stairs leading down into the bath, and a ledge for people to stand on.

The Great Bath in the city of Mohenjo-Daro looks like a swimming pool. It was over 14 metres long and seven metres wide. It had a brick-paved courtyard and columns on three sides.

Water (probably from a well) filled the Bath to about 2.4 metres deep (a tall man is about 1.8 metres). Two sets of steps led down to the bottom. Water drained out through one corner into a drain. Tar and gypsum mortar between the bricks made sure no water leaked out.

Water was very important to the Indus Valley people. The Great Bath may have been a temple, where priests and rulers bathed in religious ceremonies...........
 

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