Indus Valley Civilization – Old Year Questions and Answers

• People’s lives are largely determined by the economy.
• When the economy changes, society changes with it.

• Harappa is an archaeological site that is connected to the Indus Valley Civilization.
• The first proof of this civilization was found at Harappa, so the Indus Valley Civilization is also called the Harappa Civilization.
• It was one of three ancient civilizations in the world, along with Egypt and Mesopotamia.

• The historical period can be classified based on the available written literature.
• The period before which knowledge of writing was not available is named as Early Historical Age.
• The Indus Civilization is a Proto-historical civilization, as writing was known during this time but still remains undeciphered.

• The Indus Valley Civilization was the earliest known urban civilization in the Indian subcontinent, while the Aryan Civilization was a rural civilization.
• Both had a huge influence on the culture and development of the region, and their legacy still lives on today.

• Knowledge of script and urban town planning of Indus Valley.
• Civilization was much advanced from Pre-Aryans.
• Evidence from pottery found in Mehrgarh suggests that the Indus Valley Civilization was more advanced than Pre-Aryans.
• The red pottery pieces with black designs were a hallmark of the Harappan Civilization, while the Aryans used grey pottery.
• This proves that the Indus Valley Civilization existed before the Aryan Civilization.

• The Indus Valley Civilization and Vedic culture had many differences.
• The Indus Valley Civilization was a city-based culture, while the Vedic culture was in rural areas.
• The Indus Valley Civilization used pictographs for writing, while the Vedic Civilization had weapons made of iron.

• The first thing found in Harappa was a special stone seal that had a picture of a unicorn and some words on it.
• More of these seals with different animals and writing have been found in the area.
• Even though no one can read the writing yet, the things dug up from the first archaeological findings have given us lots of information about the Harappan culture.

• In archaeology, excavation is the process of uncovering, examining, and documenting ancient artifacts.
• A place where excavation is taking place is called a “dig”.

• In 1920, archaeologists did excavations in the area where the Indus Valley Civilization used to be and discovered things like tools, weapons, and decorations.
• However, the most important source of information about this civilization was the more than 3000 seals that were found.

• E.J.H. Mackay has considered that the origin of the Harappan civilization was due to the migration of people from Sumer (Southern Mesopotamia)
• D.H. Gordon and Mortimer Wheeler considered that the Harappan people migrated from Western Asia.
• Amalananda Ghosh thought that Pre-Harappan culture matured into Harappan civilization gradually.
• M.F. Rafique Mughal said it developed in the Ravi river region at Harappa, and not from Mesopotamia.

• The Harappans were familiar with silver and evidence of its correct use has been discovered from Mohan Jodaro and Harappa.
• They obtained silver from the mines of Zawar and Ajmer in Rajasthan, as well as from Afghanistan and Iran for Harrapa and Mohenjodaro.

• Mehrgarh is an ancient settlement located near the Bolan Pass in the Karachi Plain of Balochistan (Pakistan).
• It is believed to be the beginning of the Indus Valley civilization, due to its evidence of farming and herding practices.
• It is one of the oldest sites in South Asia that shows signs of agriculture.

• The Harappan pottery was either a bright red or dark red and was very strong and well-cooked. It was made on a wheel and either plain or painted. The plain pottery was usually red clay with or without a red layer on top.
• The painted pottery was in red and black and there were different ways used to decorate it.
• Multi-coloured pottery was not common and usually consisted of small vases with geometric patterns, usually in red, black, green, white and yellow.

• The pre-Aryan time is thought of as the start of worshipping idols. This kind of worship was common in the Indus Civilization, which is shown by seals found in Mohenjodaro that had the symbol of a God on them.
• It is believed that they also worshiped a Mother Goddess and many other male and female gods.

• The seals and terracotta art of the Harappan culture show pictures of animals like elephants, rhinos, tigers, deer, and sheep.
• However, cows are not shown in these artworks.

• The ruins of the Harappan port city of Lothal are situated next to the Bhogava River, a branch of the Sabarmati, in the Gulf of Cambay.
• Kalibangan is located on the bank of the Ghaggar River (known as the Saraswati River) in Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan.
• Here, the oldest evidence of ploughed farming was discovered during an excavation.
• An inscription of ten Harappan script symbols was found at Dholavira.
• Banawali is located in Hisar district, Haryana, where a terracotta model of a plough was discovered.

• Kalibangan is in Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan, and it is on the Ghaggar River (also known as the Saraswati River).
• Archaeologists found evidence of the earliest ploughed field from Kalibangan.

• Banawali is an ancient place from the Indus Valley civilization in Fatehabad district, Haryana, India.

• Kalibangan is in Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan, and it is on the Ghaggar River (also known as the Saraswati River).
• Archaeologists found evidence of the earliest ploughed field from Kalibangan.

• The correctly matched list is as follows :

   List-I                                                                                          List-II

• Dholavira in Gujarat is famous for its intricate system of capturing and handling water.
• This system includes creating a number of dams and directing the water into linked reservoirs.

• The correctly matched list is as follows :

   List-I                                                                                          List-II

• The correctly matched list is as follows :

   List-I                                                                                          List-II

• The Great Bath is a famous building among the old ruins of the Indus Valley Civilization in Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan.
• It is 55 metres long and 33 metres wide.
• The pond in the centre of the bath is 11.8 metres long and 7.04 metres wide and is 2.43 metres deep.

• Mohenjo-daro is an ancient city located in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
• It was constructed around the year 2500 BCE and was the biggest city of the Indus Valley Civilization.

• The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age society and they did not know about iron yet.
• They had a really developed drainage system and were quite good at trading.
• Evidence of worshipping the Mother Goddess from the Indus Valley.

• The Indus Valley Civilization was known for its unique town planning, with well-organized cities and towns.
• Harappa and Mohanjodaro were two of the most important cities of this civilization, and because Harappa was discovered first, it is often referred to as the Harrapan Civilization.
• Evidence of ploughed agricultural fields and business activities were found in Kalibangan, Rajasthan from 2800 B.C. and at the Lothal site.

• Kalibangan is situated in the Hanumangarh region of Rajasthan.
• In 1951, A. Ghosh conducted an excavation that showed the western mound was a fortified area with rectangular angles and a town.

• Rakhigarhi village is located in Hisar district, Haryana, near the Ghaggar-Hakra river.
• It was discovered by Surajbhan in 1969.

• The correctly matched Harappan sites and their relative locations are as follows :

• The correct match of List-I with List-II is as follows:-
          List–I                                                                                                                    List-II
  (Harappan Site)                                                                                          (UT/State of India)

• Harappa is in Punjab (Pakistan), Mohenjodaro and Chanhudaro are both in Sindh.
• Surkotada is in Gujarat.

• N.G. Majumdar discovered the discovered town of Chanhudaro in 1931, which is located 130 kilometers southeast of Mohenjodaro.
• E.J.H. Mackay then conducted a major excavation in 1935-36 and discovered a bead-making factory and furnace.
• He also found some clay bricks at Chanhudaro.

• Harappa is an archaeological site in Pakistan, near the Ravi River.
• Kalibangan is in India’s Rajasthan.
• Lothal is in Gujarat.
• Alamgirpur is in Uttar Pradesh.

• Rangpur is located in the western part of India in the state of Gujarat, along the Arabian Sea.
• Evidence of large plants suggests that the people of this area used to farm Rice, Bajra and Millet.

• Dadheri is an ancient archaeological site located in Govindgarh, Ludhiana (Punjab).
• Dadheri is well-known for its painted grey ware culture, which is thought to be connected to the invasion of the Aryans.

• Lothal is located near Saragwala village in the Ahmedabad district of Gujarat.
• It’s about 2 kilometers north of the village, close to the Bhogava river.
• It was found by S.R. Rao in 1954.
• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro are in Pakistan.

• Lothal is located on the banks of the Bhogava river.
• It was discovered by S.R. Rao in 1954.

• Lothal is located in the Dholka Taluka of Ahmedabad district in Gujarat.

• Evidence of ports from the Indus Valley Civilization has only been found at Lothal.
• Other port cities are – Surkotada, Kuntasi, Balakot and Allahdino.

• The Indus Valley Civilization was well-known for its use of burnt bricks in the construction of buildings.
• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro had lots of burnt brick structures, and in Lothal, burnt bricks were used in the drainage systems.
• However, stone buildings were found in Dholavira.

• Evidence of ports from the Indus Valley Civilization has only been found at Lothal.
• Other port cities are – Surkotada, Kuntasi, Balakot and Allahdino.

• Kalibangan, Ropar, and Lothal were all part of the Indus Valley Civilization.
• Pataliputra near present-day Patna was an important city during the Mahajanpada period.

• Sohgaura is a village near the Rapti river in the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh. An old copper plate from the Mauryan era was found there that tells us about the warehouses that were there.
• Chanhudaro and Kot Diji are now in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
• Desalpur is in the Kutchh region of Gujarat.

• Recently, two mounds were found, making Rakhigarhi in Haryana the biggest site in India, covering an area of 350 hectares.

• Recently, two large mounds were found in Rakhigarhi, which is 350 hectares in size and is the biggest site in Haryana.

• The Indus Valley Civilization was located between the Jhelum and Hindon rivers, which is a branch of the Yamuna River.
• It was made up of rivers like the Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Jhelum, but the Ganga river was not part of it.

• As per seals of the Indus civilization, people worship gods like the Mother Goddess and Lord Shiva (Pashupati).
• People also found fire pits and other signs that suggest they believed in the soul.
• There was also evidence of human sacrifice found in Mohenjodaro.

• Marshall found a figure from the excavation of Harappa that he identified as a primitive version of the Hindu God Shiva (or Rudra) or Pashupati (lord of animals).
• The seal depicting the three-faced male God in a yoga pose, surrounded by a rhino and a buffalo on the right, an elephant and a tiger on the left, made historians believe that people of that time worshipped Shiva.
• Additionally, cylindrical stones depicting Lingam, which is the symbol of Shiva, were found, further indicating Shiva worship.

• Sir John Marshall was the head of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928.
• He appointed R.B. Dayaram Sahni to look for excavations in the Larkana district of Sindh and Montgomery district of Punjab on the east side of the Ravi River.
• In 1921, Mr. Sahni found the remains of Harappa
• In 1922, Mr. Rakhal Das Banerjee discovered the ruins of Mohenjodaro.

• Sir John Marshall was the head of the Archaeological Survey of India appointed R.B. Dayaram Sahni and Rakhal Das Banerjee for excavations of Harappa and Mohenjodaro respectively.

• R.S. Bisht did excavations at Dholavira.

• Alexander Cunningham, the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, visited the site in 1853 and 1856.
• He did some small digs and reported finding ancient pottery, stone, tools and a stone seal, but he didn’t realize how important it was.
• John Marshall asked Rakhal Das Banerjee and Daya Ram Sahni to do further excavation of the Harappan site.

• In 1921, Daya Ram Sahni studied Harappa.
• In 1926, M.S. Vats was involved in looking into Harappa.
• Rakhal Das Banerjee did excavations at Mohenjodaro in 1922.
• Other scholars such as K.N. Dixit, Ernest Mackay, Aurel Stein, A. Ghosh, and J.P. Joshi played a part in the uncovering of this civilization.
• V.A. Smith was not involved in discovering the Harappan Civilization, he was a British Ideologist and Historian.

• The remains of wells were found in the city of Mohenjo-Daro.
• Mohenjo-Daro is located in the Indus River valley in the Larkana district of Sindh in Pakistan.
• It is considered the “city of wells”.
• Mohenjo-Daro has over 700 wells, which is one well for every three houses.

• The remains of wells were found in the city of Mohenjo-Daro.
• Mohenjo-Daro is located in the Indus River valley in the Larkana district of Sindh in Pakistan.
• It is considered the “city of wells”.
• Mohenjo-Daro has over 700 wells, which is one well for every three houses.

• Harappan Civilization, the most ancient civilization of India is famous for its town planning.
• It was a Bronze Age Civilization.
• The knowledge of iron was known much later after bronze during, the Vedic period around 1000 B.C.
• The first punch-marked coin came into existence in India in 6 B.C.
• Gold coins were introduced by Indo-Greek rulers during the second century B.C.

• Humans were the first to use copper, though the exact time it was used varied from place to place.

• An ivory scale was discovered at a site in Gujarat, called Lothal.

• The Harappan civilization is an ancient civilization from the Bronze Age.
• Archeologists have found artifacts made of gold, silver, copper, and brass, but not iron.
• The people of Harappa did not use iron, and the Iron Age in India is thought to have started around 1000 BC.

• Banawali is an ancient site from the Indus Valley Civilization that is located in Fatehabad district, Haryana.
• It is situated in the Ghaggar.

• The Indus Valley Civilization was mainly made up of five cities: Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Ropar, Lothal and Kalibangan.
• These cities were laid out in a grid pattern and had an advanced drainage system with large stones and bricks lining the roads.
• Artifacts like seals, pottery, gold jewelry and necklaces have been found from the sites of this civilization.

• Mohenjodaro is situated in the Larkana district of Pakistan’s Sindh province, and Harappa is situated in the Montgomery district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
• Rakhaldas Banerjee and Dayaram Sahni were the archaeologists who uncovered the two primary cities of the Indus Valley Civilization.
• These towns are no longer in existence.
• Because of this, statement (A) is correct, but the given explanation is not. Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

• Dholavira is the second largest site of the Harappan Civilization in India, after Rakhigarhi.
• It was excavated by R.S. Bisht and his team in 1992 and is located in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
• Dholavira is one of the most important archaeological sites of Harappa, with a great bath and a deep, 79 metres long rock-cut reservoir.

• Dholavira is the second largest site of the Harappan Civilization in India (after Rakhigarhi) located in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.

• Dholavira is a city from the Harappan civilization located in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
• It was designed with a rectangular shape, and was divided into three sections: a fort, a central town, and a lower town.

• Dholavira was constructed in a rectangular form and divided into three distinct sections.

• At Dholavira, archaeologists have discovered a massive reservoir that is carved out of rock.
• It is 80.4 m long, 12 m wide, and 7.5 m deep.
• It is capable of holding a lot of water.
• It appears that the inhabitants of Dholavira were knowledgeable about advanced water management systems, and used this reservoir to store water by building dams.

• Archaeologists have discovered evidence of triple burials at Lothal, a significant trading centre belonging to the Harrapan culture.
• Unlike the cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, it was divided into six areas, each built on a wide platform made of baked bricks, separated by a road of 12-20 feet.
• Additionally, evidence of double burials has been found at Kalibangan.
• Therefore, both options (c) and (d) are correct answers depending on whether the number of burials or evidence is taken into account.

• Sonauli is an ancient place found in Baraut Tehsil, Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, where 125 graves from the Indus Valley Civilization were discovered.
• These graves were positioned in a north-south direction and most of them are believed to be the burial sites of humans.
• Some of the graves contained animal bones and jewelry made of gold and copper.

• Rakhal Das Banerjee started digging at Mohenjo-Daro in 1922 and discovered evidence of cotton cultivation in India starting from 3000 B.C.
• This form of cultivation later spread to Greece, where it was known as “Hindon”.
• Cotton was also grown in Egypt from 2500 B.C.

• The Indus Valley Civilization did not seem to have any kind of religion or religious beliefs and there is no evidence of this.
• There are artifacts that show cotton fabrics were produced during the time of the Harappan people.

• No temples or other types of places of worship have been discovered so far from the Indus Valley Civilization.
• The only evidence of religious activities from this civilization are the statues and seals found here.
• These suggest that female deities, Shiva and Pashupati, and animals like snakes and elephants were worshipped.
• People also worshipped plants and trees, and objects such as stones and other items in the shape of Linga or Yoni symbols.

• In 1922, an archaeological dig in Mohenjodaro led by R.D. Banerjee uncovered a variety of artifacts like sculptures, seals, pottery, gold, and jewelry.
• The most famous discovery is the humped bull seal.

• The Harappa civilization was familiar with horses, however there is no physical evidence of this.
• Most seals found in the Indus Valley Civilization have short words written on them, along with pictures of the one-horned bull (most common), buffalo, tiger, rhinoceros, goat, and elephant.

• The evidence of cows and elephants has been found, but there is disagreement about horses.
• The most recent dig showed evidence of horses.
• There is no mention of lions from the Harrapan Civilization.

• The IIT Kharagpur report says that the Indus Valley Civilisation collapsed because it had little or no rain for 900 years.
• In other words, a 900 year drought caused the decline of the civilization.

• At Kalibangan, archaeologists found mud-brick platforms with fire altars on them.
• They also found a triangular terracotta cake with a picture of a horned deity on one side and a person pulling a goat with a rope on the other.
• This suggests that a sacrificial tradition was developing during this time.

• The Ancient Egyptian Civilization was lasted for almost 3,000 years along the Nile River.
• The Nile is a large river in northern Africa and is usually thought of as the longest river in the world.
• At the same time as the Egyptians, there were two other civilizations: the Indus Valley Civilization in India and the Mesopotamian Civilization in Egypt.

• The Aztecs were a group of people who began in Northern Mexico, while the Maya lived in Guatemala.
• The Muisca were in Colombia and the Inca were in Peru.
• Going from North to South, the order of these civilizations is Aztec, Maya, Muisca, and Inca.

• The Sumerian Civilization was the first to make a proper writing system.
• Their writing was basic and simple.
• The Sumerian cuneiform script is famous for being one of the earliest writing systems