Dholavira, Indus Valley Civilization

A sort of touristy overview from dnaindia.com:

Dholavira was the lake city of the great Indus Valley civilization
Published: Wednesday, Dec 1, 2010, 14:07 IST
By Hemang Desai | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

The Indus Valley civilization existed in India five thousand years ago. This great urban civilization, contemporaneous with those of Egypt and Mesopotamia, covered an expanse that stretched from Baluchistan in the west to the Upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the east. Harrapa, Mohen-jo-Daro, Channu Daro, Rakhigarhi, Lothal and Dholavira are among the famous towns of the Indus Valley civilisation that were dug out by archaeologists.

Dholavira, located near Khadir Bet in the Great Rann of Kachchh of Gujarat is an incredible example of this Indus Valley civilization town.

The area of the civilization was larger than that of today's Western Europe. Dholavira perched at one end of it on a small island, possibly surrounded then by the sea. Surrounded by a unique geographical location, Dholavira was literally a paradise in the desert.

Archaeologists believe that the five-thousand-year-old town must have been a lovely city of lakes during its heydays. In fact, the residents of Dholavira who had settled in the town between two water streams, Mansar and Manhar, collected their waters in the monsoon and used that water during the rest of the year. They used clever water storing and collecting techniques.

The New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Technology believes that the ancient Dholavira has a lot to teach the modern water -starved world about water collection, usage and storage.

After Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley civilization is one among the four oldest civilisations of mankind. This civilization is shrouded in mystery as very little is known about its social and cultural aspects even today. But the town remains and the qualities of objects found on its sites testify that this must have been a high civilization.

The first town of the Indus Valley to be discovered by archaeologists was Harrapa in 1921, followed by Mohenjo Daro in 1922.

Each town of this civilization, at times two thousand kilometres away from the other, had a similar plan: there was a palace in each town; the town area was divided on a grid pattern and wide streets that ran north to south and east to west.

The curator of the Pennsylvania University Museum, Gregory Posehal, says, "Dholavira is a planned city. Exactly like the planned modern cities, Dholavira was made based on a design. Mohenjo Daro too was built like this."

Like other towns of the Indus Valley civilization, Dholavira too is a parallelogram. The wall of the "citadel" is eighteen metres thick.

Buildings in Dholavira were made ofsun-dried mud bricks and stone and some of them stand in good condition even today.

The refinement of buildings and materials used reveals a high knowledge of civil engineering that must have been prevalent among the Dholavirans. Ornaments made in lapis lazuli, agate, carnelian, shells, silver and gold, as well as utensils and toys made from clay, also reveal a high artistic and technological sense.

The water wells and street remains of the town speak of the technological sophistication of the Indus Valley people. Unfortunately, the script of the Indus Valley civilisation remains yet to be deciphered. But this civilisation continues to fascinate and intrigue even after five thousand years of its existence.

More on that Indus Measuring System

Some spectacular headline claims are made in this article from the Telegraph.co.uk! It makes sense to me though, since we know there was sustained trade among the Indus Valley civilization, Sumer (Mesopotamia), parts of Iran (Elam) and even Egypt, too. The entire trade netword would have collapsed unless the producers, the transportation people, the traders, and the sellers at the other end had a method of converting relative values of goods and services. I applaud Dr. Wells for arriving at this brilliant and yet - when you think about it - utterly common sense conclusion! This man deserves a Nobel Prize in Archaeology (is there such an award???) Indus Valley's Bronze Age civilisation 'had first sophisticated financial exchange system' The Indus Valley's Bronze Age civilisation may have developed the world's first sophisticated system of wage labour, financial exchange and measurement, a Canadian mathematician has discovered. By Dean Nelson in New Delhi Published: 6:00AM GMT 17 Nov 2009 According to a new study of clay pots and ceramic tablets discovered almost 70 years ago in Harappa, now in Pakistan, the people of the Indus Valley had a detailed system of commodity value, weights and measures. Dr Bryan Wells, a researcher based at India's Institute of Mathematical Sciences, told The Daily Telegraph he had begun work on his thesis ten years ago when he first saw photographs of the clay pots with markings which appeared to be in proportion to their relative size. But he was not able to test his thesis until he visited New Delhi earlier this month where the original pots are stored in one of the city's Mughal era forts. The three pots each had different markings, the smallest with a 'V' to indicate 'measure' and three long strokes. The medium vessel had six strokes and the largest had seven. When he measured them he found they were in proportionate capacity: 3:6:7. The inscriptions on the pots matched those on bas relief ceramic tablets which he believes are tokens of exchange for fixed measures of grain or other commodities. The size of the pots – the largest is 2.7 metres in circumference, and contains 65 litres – indicates an organised system of exchange for large scale transactions, he said. The bas-relief tablets are "definitely some kind of exchange token. These pots are more than one metre wide. You're not going to be carrying them around. The chits or tablets have representative value and they are being used in an economic context," he said. In his paper Indus Weights and Measures, to be published in the archeological journal Antiquity next year, Dr Wells suggests the tablets may be the equivalent of 'wage slips' or credits for work representing fixed volumes of food. "It is possible that wages were paid with grains dispersed from a centralised storage facility or in the case of incised tablets material for construction projects and other short-term projects," he wrote. Although older coins and ingots have been discovered from the Mesopotamia, but Dr Wells' findings amount to a more detailed decoding of an ancient value system.

War Forces Archaeologists to Leave Indus Valley

...and leave it to the looters who don't give a flying fig about the historical significance of their "loot" -- all they care about is how much they can sell it for to a middle-man who, in turn, will sell it to an expediter who, in turn, will sell it to an expediter on the other side of the world who, in turn, will sell it to either a private collector or an unethical antiquities dealer who features "on the side" showings to wealthy individuals and less than ethical museum curators -- all off the books, of course. Indus Valley’s secrets to remain buried: Insecurity forces archaeologists to abandon excavations Daily Times.com.pk June 29, 2009 By Afnan Khan Archaeology Department official says embassies had been warning the experts to leave, Benazir’s assassination proved final straw LAHORE: Foreign archaeologists involved in excavation work to explore the Indus Valley Civilisation in Pakistan have left the country due to the war-like situation. The experts from the US, Europe and UK uncovered the mysteries of the Indus Valley Civilisation for the world during their research spanning decades. The teams, consisting of senior professors Dr Richard H Meadow, Professor JM Kenoyer, Dr Jean-Francois Jarrige and late Prof George F Dales, had conducted extensive research in different parts of Pakistan. A majority of the areas that were a part of the Indus Valley Civilisation became Pakistan after the partition of the sub-continent in 1947. Sources in the Federal Archaeology Department told Daily Times that the experts were working despite the tense security situation in the region after 9/11, but had to leave the country after the increase in the wave of violence and terrorism, which led to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Final departure: “Their embassies were already warning them to be careful while working in the areas like Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Taxila, Mehrgarh and other areas in Pakistan, all of them finally left the country after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” an Archaeology Department official told Daily Times. The Indus Valley Civilisation, dating back to 2,600BC, mainly covered the area that is now Pakistan, with its traces in neighbouring countries like India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. However, the sources said, the international experts were still keen on resuming the abandoned research work in the country, despite being worried about the security situation. They said the experts were wondering when, if ever, they would be able to resume their excavation. The sources said the researcher had now been compelled to focus only on the parts of the Indus Valley Civilisation in the Indian state of Gujarat, especially in the city of Lothal. This has deprived Pakistan of a chance to promote its soft image in the world. Prof Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, an internationally renowned authority on the Indus Valley, who had been researching in Harappa since 1986, told Daily Times that he spent a key part of his life working on the research work in Pakistan but was left with no other option but to leave the country after the assassination of Bhutto. Kenoyer said he was likely to visit Pakistan in 2010, in order to resume his high-profile research, but said the return totally depended on the law and order in the country. Federal Archaeology Department Northern Circle Director Salimul Haq told Daily Times that there was not a single foreigner working on any research or excavation project in the country. He said the department tried its best to facilitate the researchers, but their own embassies were sceptical about their stay in Pakistan. He said the local archaeologists were trying to take over the research work. Art historian Prof Dr Ajaz Anwar told Daily Times that local archaeologists lacked the expertise to continue the excavation work, as compared to experts from Harvard, Cambridge, Berkley and other globally acclaimed educational institutions. Anwar said the foreign explorers had been responsible for the excavations and explorations, and the locals had made almost no contribution. Anwar said the statue of the fasting Buddha, placed in the Lahore Museum, was damaged during its digging by the locals. He said the locals had stuck the broken arm of the statue with traditional cement, instead of using the appropriate material, despite the fact that it was damaging for the splendid piece of art. Famous historian Prof Dr Mubarak Ali said the departure of international archaeologists was a great loss for the country and the government should try to convince and facilitate these people to come back to Pakistan.

New Ruins Discovered in Pakistan

Not sure about this - it might just be politically motivated propaganda; you know, "we're better than you (India) because our ruins are older than your ruins, blah blah blah... What we DO know is that a very ancient civilization flourished for about 1,000 years in Baluchistan along the courses of the Indus River and its tributaries, roughly concurrent with the rise of the civilizations in Egypt and Sumer/Mesopotamia. When the climate changed/the rivers shifted (why do rivers shift? how does this happen? Do they just suddenly decide one day, hey, I'm going 20 miles to the south? Seems a very strange business to me...), the original area of settlement was abandoned. It has been a matter of controversy ever since whether any elements of that civilization survived by moving further south. Are the people who live in southern India today the descendants of that ancient Baluchistan civilization??? Anyway, here is the article: Site older than Moenjodaro found in Sukkur By Waseem Shamsi SUKKUR, Jan 22: An archaeological site, about 5,500 years old, has been found in Lakhian Jo Daro near Goth Nihal Khoso in the district of Sukkur. The find is said to be of the era of Kot Diji. A team of 22 archaeologists headed by the chairman of Shah Abdul Latif University’s archaeology department and Lakhian Jo Daro project director Ghulam Mustafa Shar found some semi-precious and precious stones and utensils made of clay, copper and other metals during excavation on Thursday. The remains are said to be older than those of Moenjodaro. Mr Shar told Dawn that remains of a ‘faience’ mirror factory had been found at the project’s second block. It was believed to be of the era of mirror factories of Italy which dates back to some 9,000 years. [I've never heard of any faience factories in Italy dating back to 7,000 BCE - hell, not even in Egypt dating back that far, so I'll be interested to learn more about what he's talking about - if any further information is published.] He said a painting had also been found and discovery of more such items could establish the site as 9,000 years old, like the remains found at Mehar Garh in Balochistan and Jericho in Palestine. [No photos - in this day and age, that always makes me suspicious]. “At present, we can say that it is older than Moenjodaro,” he said. Mr Shar said that archaeology professors and students from Punjab University, Peshawar University and Islamabad would join the team in a couple of days. He said the work on the second block would continue for a month and more items could be found. Sukkur District Nazim Syed Nasir Hussain visited the site on Thursday and asked the project director to prepare proposals for a museum.

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Well, after thinking about it and in light of the recent news about what has been going on in Pakistan and the never civilized "tribal regions," I can't say I blame any of the archaeological experts for playing their cards close to their vests. With the Taliban running rampant throughout Baluchistan and the Pakistani government either not able or not willing to rein them in, it's possible that publishing photos of the area would tip off the Nazi Islamists to the site which they would then destroy as "against Allah."

This just pisses me off so much! How is it possible that the forces of darkness and evil are gaining more and more control over more and more of the world?

Saving the Indus Valley

The Archaeology Channel has a new video presentation. I've no idea of the links embedded below will work. If not, please visit for the next few days until the next video presentation is posted. Link to an index of all Archaeology Channel videos. SAVING THE INDUS VALLEY: GUJARAT, INDIA Location: India Length: 5 min. 56k 300k 700k 56k 300k 700k The remarkable Indus Civilization of India and Pakistan was contemporaneous with other early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Iran and influenced later cultures, including modern India. Meeting a longstanding need, the Indus Heritage Centre is being established in partnership among Global Heritage Fund (USA), Maharaja Sayajirao University and the Indus Heritage Centre Board of Directors. Promoting education and tourism, the Centre will introduce to the people of India and the world the unique significance and value of India’s ancient heritage.