The Indus River is the longest river in the South Asian subcontinent, with a total length of about 3,000 kilometers. It flows from north to southwest, mainly in today's Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and finally into the Arabian Sea. The Indus Valley is one of the cradles of human civilization, and there are several remains of ancient civilized cities on both sides. However, it was not until the 1970s that this important cultural treasure was discovered.
1922, scholars discovered the Mohenjo hero and another contemporary ancient city site in Halaba, the upper reaches of the Indus River. These two places are important centers of ancient Indus Valley culture. Subsequently, more than 200 sites belonging to this culture were discovered from the Himalayan foothills in the north, the Nabada River in the south, the coast of Moclan in the west and the Ganges River basin in the east. Because Halaba was first discovered and the ruins of the ancient city are the largest, scholars also call this culture Halaba culture. Its age is roughly 2500 BC-BC 1700 BC.
The main achievements of ancient Indus Valley culture;
1, urban buildings and sewers. From the ruins of the ancient city excavated in the Indus Valley and its vicinity, we can find a similar feature: neat streets, well-organized houses, wells, bathrooms, ditches, strict water supply and drainage systems and perfect equipment. Halaba and Mohenzo Law Hero are the two largest ancient cities, each covering an area of about 200-300 hectares, and they are representatives of ancient river basin cultural sites.
2. Weights and measures system and scientific and technological knowledge. The unified system of weights and measures is another important achievement of the ancient Indus Valley culture. At that time, there were two methods to measure the length: one was the shell ruler found in Mohenjo, and the other was the bronze rod ruler found in Halaba. Weight is measured by weight. There are many aspects of scientific and technological knowledge in the ancient Indian Valley. Among them, building technology is the most prominent. For example, they can use accurate geometric measurement and mathematical calculation when building urban and bottom sewer projects, showing high technical ability. Bronze is used to make metal utensils beautiful through melting and hot casting. At the same time, its manufacturing technology is also very high, with very exquisite eggshell pottery and perforated pottery. In order to fight against flood diseases, people have accumulated a lot of flood control and medical knowledge. For example, they raised the foundations of houses and built dams to prevent floods from destroying villages and crops. In medical treatment, it was known at that time that drugs were used to treat diseases. For example, cuttlefish bone can stimulate appetite, and can be used externally to treat diseases such as ears, eyes, throat and skin.
3. lettering and seal cutting. An important symbol of mankind's entry into civilization era is the invention of writing. There were characters in the Indus Valley in ancient times. Most of these characters are engraved on seals, so they are called seal script. But some are carved on pottery or metal products. More than 2000 seals were excavated in different parts of the Indus Valley. Most of these seals are made of soapstone, clay, ivory and copper. There are many vivid reliefs engraved on the seal, some depicting the hunting, navigation and entertainment activities of the people in the ancient Indian River valley, and some are engraved with religious deification.
4. Statue art and jewelry decoration. In the valley of ancient India, some beautiful statues were found, including pottery, stone and bronze. Although the number is small, it can be seen that the cultural and artistic level of the ancient Indian Valley is very high. Most of the pottery sculptures are animal statues, the most prominent of which is the little squirrel painted with colored glaze. Some stone statues take animals as the theme. The most famous figure statue is a bust of a man carved with limestone. The best bronze statue is the naked dancer. Artists in the ancient Indus Valley already knew how to use mosaics to enhance the realism of statues. The Indus Valley is an important producer of jewelry in the ancient world. The raw materials for making jewelry are precious metals, precious stones and sub-precious stones. And various figures carved on statues and seals, both men and women wear many ornaments. This shows that jewelry is very popular with people.
5. Entertainment toys and daily necessities. People in the Indus Valley in ancient times had their own characteristics in entertainment. The most popular is dice. Music and dancing were also a kind of entertainment at that time. In the valley of ancient India, people's daily necessities (such as tableware, furniture, etc. ) are relatively complete. Home inns have beds, tables, wicker stools, reed mats and so on. But none of these furniture has been preserved, and we can only see it from the seal pictures and ceramic toy models.
Around BC18th century, the heroes of this cultural center, such as Halaba and Mohenjo, began to decline, and there was no urban architecture planning. The yard is divided into several small rooms; The road was blocked by some simple huts. Almost impassable; Trade is not as active as before, and so on.
What caused the destruction of the Indus civilization city is a long-standing controversial issue. There are four main viewpoints:
1. Some human bones, including a broken skull, found in Yinghao settlement in Mohenjo were once considered as evidence of the invading Aryan massacre. However, it seems now. This view is untenable. First of all, not all bones found belong to the same living floor; Secondly, there is no evidence that there is foreign culture superimposed on the Indus culture in the site.
2. Due to the flood. But this may only be part of the truth. Because, although some evidence of being destroyed by floods has been found in Yinghao and Losa in Mohenjo, there is no such evidence in other sites (such as Kaliba Root). At this site, there were neither intruders nor floods to testify. It may be because the Gargar River dried up that this area was abandoned. Plague caused by excessive logging and erosion of surrounding terrain may also be the reasons for the disappearance of some settlements.
3. General scholars believe that it is mainly caused by the tension of internal class relations. Judging from the excavated cultural relics, the class differentiation at that time was very obvious, and the gap between the rich and the poor was very large. At that time, because people could not understand the laws of natural ecological balance, a large number of forests were cut down and the ecological environment was destroyed, which led to frequent natural disasters and aggravated the suffering of working people. Under the cruel exploitation and oppression of the ruling class, class contradictions become more intense, which creates opportunities for foreign invasion. In other words, the reasons for the cultural decline in the Indus Valley are sharp internal class contradictions, natural disasters and foreign invasions.
4. Some people think that the place not far from Mohenjo's heroes in ancient times was the earthquake center. An earthquake occurred about 1700 years ago, which triggered a flood, which led to the destruction of Mohenjo's heroes and the cultural decline of the entire Indus Valley. This view holds that the reason for its cultural decline is the flood caused by the earthquake. Similar to the second view, we can't infer everything from a single phenomenon.
5. Which inference is correct? What is the reason for the decline of ancient Indian valley culture? This requires further investigation from future archaeological excavations, and a correct conclusion can be drawn from the study of the translation degree of Indian characters.