Indus Valley / Harappan Civilization

Bhirrana is located in the Fatehabad district of Haryana on the palaeochannel of the Saraswati river.

The Harappan script has approximately 375 to 400 distinct signs, representing a logo-syllabic writing system.

Gold was obtained from the riverbeds of the Himalayas and the southern mines in Kolar, Karnataka.

Dholavira features an advanced network of 16 interconnected rock-cut reservoirs that collected runoff water from seasonal streams.

The Mohenjo-daro Dancing Girl was cast using the 'lost-wax' (cire perdue) metallurgical process.

Cemetery R-37 (Mature Harappan) and Cemetery H (Late Harappan) were excavated on the southern outskirts of Harappa.

Dholavira contains a vast open stadium-like space between the Citadel and the Middle Town equipped with tiered seating for public gatherings.

Most Harappan inscriptions are very brief, averaging about 5 symbols; the longest single text found on three seal faces contains 26 signs.

The Northern Gate of the Dholavira citadel contained an inscription composed of 10 large glyphs made of gypsum inlay on a wooden board.

S.R. Rao conducted the extensive excavations at Lothal between 1955 and 1960 for the Archaeological Survey of India.

The Indus Valley Civilization belonged to the Bronze Age; iron smelting was introduced to the subcontinent much later during the 1st millennium BCE.

Daimabad is located on the Pravara river in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, representing the southernmost Harappan horizon.

The Great Bath is located on the Citadel mound of Mohenjo-daro and was likely used for special ritual bathing.

The seal portrays a tricephalic figure flanked by an elephant and tiger on his right, and a rhino and water buffalo on his left, with two deer beneath.

To maintain privacy and reduce dust and noise, residential entrances opened into secondary side alleys rather than the main thoroughfares.

Lothal yielded three instances of double burials where two individuals were buried together in one grave.

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay (R.D. Banerji) discovered Mohenjo-daro in the Larkana district of Sindh in 1922.

Maize is native to the Americas and was introduced to India only in the post-Columbian modern era.

Harappans imported copper locally from the Khetri mines of Rajasthan (Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture) and abroad from Magan (modern Oman).

The Harappans were pioneers in cotton production; the Greek term 'Sindon' was derived from 'Sindhu' (Indus).

Shortugai in Badakhshan, northern Afghanistan, was established by the Harappans primarily to control the trade of precious blue lapis lazuli.

The horned figure standing inside or kneeling before a pipal tree represents tree worship and forest deities.

The smaller, fortified Citadel was uniformly placed on the western side on an elevated mud-brick platform, while the larger Lower Town lay to the east.

Bath and kitchen water flowed through conduits in exterior walls into covered brick channels along the street fitted with inspection traps.

Terracotta replicas of ploughs have been excavated at Banawali (Haryana) and sites across the Cholistan desert.

Harappans placed daily ceramic bowls, copper mirrors, beads, and food vessels beside skeletons for use in the afterlife.

Skeletal remains of camels were found in the desert environment of Kalibangan in Rajasthan.

Over 60% of animal seals from the Indus Valley feature the unicorn figure (one-horned animal in profile).

Faience was an artificial paste of crushed sand/quartz mixed with a binder and pigment, then baked to give a vitreous glassy sheen.

Bhagatrav in Bharuch district of Gujarat is situated on the estuary of the Kim River.

Shortugai in northern Afghanistan has yielded clear archaeological evidence of Harappan irrigation canals.

The drying up and river diversion of the Ghaggar-Hakra river system caused severe environmental degradation leading to the desertion of sites like Kalibangan and Banawali.

According to standardized radiocarbon dating (D.P. Agrawal / NCERT), the Mature urban Harappan phase spans from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE.

Nani Gopal Majumdar discovered Chanhudaro in 1931, which was later extensively excavated by Ernest Mackay.

Mohenjo-daro yielded fine terracotta bulls with heavy dewlaps, prominent humps, and alert heads.

Sir Mortimer Wheeler hypothesized an Aryan massacre based on unburied skeletons found in Mohenjo-daro alleys and Vedic references to Indra as 'Purandara' (destroyer of forts).

A. Ghosh discovered Kalibangan during his Ghaggar valley exploration in 1953; it was later systematically excavated by B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar.

The vast majority of square and rectangular Harappan seals were carved out of steatite (soapstone) and then glazed.

Alamgirpur in Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, is situated on the banks of the Hindon River, a tributary of the Yamuna.

Sotka Koh, located on the Shadi Kaur river near Pasni on the Makran coast, was a Harappan coastal trading post.

Manda on the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir marks the northernmost boundary of the Mature Harappan civilization.

Chert (often sourced from the Rohri hills of Sindh) was precisely cut into cubical, non-marked balance weights.

In standard Harappan inhumation graves, the deceased were laid extended on their backs with the head towards the North.

Traces of rice husks and spikelets were identified at Lothal and Rangpur in Gujarat.

An ivory measuring scale with fine millimeter-scale graduations was excavated at Lothal.

Sutkagan Dor, located on the Makran coast near the Iran-Pakistan border on the Dasht River, is the westernmost known Harappan outpost.

A terracotta boat model with a socket for a mast and oars was unearthed at the port city of Lothal.

A rectangular seal recovered from Harappa depicts an upside-down nude woman with a plant sprouting from her womb.