MORTIMER WHEELER TV SHOW ON INDUS VALLEY

TLDR;

This video explores the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro, a major urban center of the Indus Valley Civilization. It covers the city's discovery, layout, architecture, and the daily life of its inhabitants. The video also discusses the mysteries surrounding the civilization's script and religion, and the possible reasons for its decline, including a violent invasion by the Aryans.

• Discovery and Significance: Mohenjo-daro was discovered in 1922, revealing a sophisticated urban civilization.
• Urban Planning: The city was well-planned with wide streets, brick houses, and advanced drainage systems.
• Daily Life: The people of Mohenjo-daro had a rich culture with jewelry, toys, and games.
• Decline: The civilization likely ended due to Aryan invasions around 1500 BC.

Introduction to Mohenjo-daro [0:00]

The video introduces Mohenjo-daro, an ancient city of the Indus Valley Civilization that existed around 4,000 years ago. The Indus River is described as the backbone of West Pakistan, and the civilization itself covered a larger area than Mesopotamia and Egypt. The script of this civilization remains undeciphered, adding to its mystery. The people of Mohenjo-daro venerated animals and worshipped a seated god.

Discovery and Extent of the Civilization [2:01]

Mohenjo-daro was discovered in 1922, bringing to light a new civilization with great cities and advanced civic organization. Research indicates that the Indus Valley Civilization lasted from before 2500 BC to around 1500 BC. Numerous sites, including the city of Harappa, have been discovered, revealing the vast extent of this ancient culture. The origins of this civilization remain a mystery.

City Layout and Architecture [3:18]

Mohenjo-daro is noted for its great size and well-planned layout. The wide, straight streets suggest the use of ox carts, similar to those used today. Guard rooms at road junctions indicate a sense of law and order. The symmetrical layout, with its checkerboard plan, contrasts sharply with the irregular streets of contemporary cities like Ur in Mesopotamia. The uniformity of the street architecture, with high blank walls and minimal decoration, is also highlighted.

Housing and Daily Life [5:53]

The video explores a typical house in Mohenjo-daro, featuring a small court, a porter's lodge, and a central courtyard. Bathrooms with wells were common, indicating a focus on cleanliness. The houses had rooms for sleeping, eating, and cooking, as well as a brick staircase leading to an upper story. Artifacts like portrait busts, razors, and jewelry provide insights into the daily lives and fashion of the people.

Personal Adornments and Pastimes [7:56]

Women in Mohenjo-daro wore elaborate jewelry and headdresses. Necklaces made of semi-precious stones, bangles of bronze and gold, and girdles of carnelian tubes were popular. Evidence of makeup includes pots of black eye shadow and bronze sticks for application. The people also had items like nail cutters, combs, feeding bottles, toys, marbles, gamesmen, and dice, indicating a rich and varied culture.

Sanitation and Trade [11:34]

Mohenjo-daro had advanced sanitation systems, including lavatories and covered brick drains that led to manholes. These drains were maintained by municipal sanitation squads. The video also visits a shop with resting places for pots, indicating a flourishing trade. Kilns outside the city were used to produce pottery, and weights of accurate workmanship suggest a sophisticated system of trade and measurement.

Religious Practices and Script [14:45]

A building with stairways and a sculptured figure is suggested to be a temple, possibly devoted to monkey worship. A figure of a priest with inlaid eyes and trefoil patterns on his cloak is also discussed. The Indus script, with 396 known signs, remains undeciphered. The script is pictographic and read boustrophedon (backwards and forwards). Seals with animal carvings and religious motifs were used for stamping goods.

Citadel and Public Structures [17:52]

The Citadel, an artificial hill dominating the city, features a ceremonial bath known as the Great Bath, used for ritual cleansing. The bath has steps, an outlet drain, and a floor made of closely laid bricks. Nearby, a block of rooms with staircases and waterproof floors may have been the dwelling places of priestly rulers. The granary, used for storing grain, had a loading platform and crisscross passages for air circulation.

Agriculture and Climate [20:47]

Relics of agriculture include querns for grinding grain and actual wheat grains. The country around Mohenjo-daro was once more fertile, as evidenced by seals depicting jungle animals like rhinoceroses and elephants. Towers and ramparts on the Citadel suggest a defensive system, although the civilization's weapons were not particularly strong or warlike.

Origins and External Contacts [22:21]

The origins of Mohenjo-daro seem to be derived from villages in the Baluchistan Hills. The city's location in the plains and the Indus River's annual floods played a crucial role in its development. Trade contacts with Mesopotamia are evidenced by Indus-type seals found in Ur and Mesopotamian stonework found in Mohenjo-daro, indicating that the civilization was well established by 2300 BC.

Decline and Fall [24:56]

Around 1500 BC, a sudden tragedy brought the Indus Valley Civilization to a violent end. The video describes a hypothetical invasion by swordsmen and charioteers, based on archaeological discoveries of massacres. This evidence aligns with the Rigveda, which tells of Aryan invaders led by the "fort destroyer" Indra. Climatic, economic, and political deterioration may have weakened the civilization, but its ultimate extinction appears to have been caused by the Aryan invasion.