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Indus Valley Civilization
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Extent of the Indus Valley Civilization imposed over modern borders
Bronze Age
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The Indus Valley Civilization ( IVC ) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–
1900 BCE) located in the western region
[1]
of South Asia ,
[2]
and spread over what are now Pakistan ,
northwest and western India , eastern Afghanistan, and southeastern Iran. [3] Flourishing in the Indus
River basin, the civilization
[n 1]
extended east into the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley
[7]
and the upper
reaches Ganges-Yamuna Doab ; [8] [9] it extended west to the Makran coast of Balochistan , north to
northeastern Afghanistan and south to Daimabad in Maharashtra . The civilization was spread over some
1,260,000 km², making it the largest ancient civilization.
The Indus Valley is one of the world's earliest urban civilizations, along with its
contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt . At its peak, the Indus Civilization may have had a
population of well over five million. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques
in handicraft ( carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The
civilization is noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multistoried houses.

The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the Harappan Civilization , as the first of its cities to be
unearthed was located at Harappa , excavated in the 1920s in what was at the time the Punjab
province of British India (now in Pakistan ).
[10]
Excavation of Harappan sites has been ongoing since 1920,
with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999. [11] There were earlier and later cultures, often
called Early Harappan and Late Harappan, in the same area of the Harappan Civilization. The Harappan
civilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from these cultures. Up to
1999, about 1,056 cities and settlements have been found, of which 96 sites have been
excavated
[12]
mainly in the general region of the Indus river and its tributaries. Among the settlements were
the major urban centres of Harappa , Mohenjo-daro ( UNESCO World Heritage
Site ), Ganweriwala , Dholavira , and Rakhigarhi . [13]
The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus script is still
undeciphered. A relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo-Dravidian language family is favored by most
accounts. [14] [ page needed ] [15]
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