indus valley civilization - faughthistory.weebly.com · indus valley civilization 2500 b.c.- 1500...
TRANSCRIPT
Indus Valley Civilization
A List of NOs
• NO monumental paintings
• NO evidence of social status reflected in architecture
• NO solid information on government• City States?• Uniform Empire?• Egalitarian Society?
• NO way to read their language
• NO firm ideas on their religion
• NO idea what happened to them
What We Have
• Archaeological study began in the 1920s
• Some Seals
• Some Sculpture
• Some Pottery
• Some People
• Cultural Legacy and Connections to Other Civilizations
• You will see what I am talking about in a few minutes
Indus Valley Civilization2500 B.C.- 1500 B.C.
• 2 Major cities
• Harappa
• Mohenjo-Daro
• Carefully planned with uniform architecture
What could this tell you about their government?
Archaeological Finds
• What does the urban pattern tell you about the civilization?
• The Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro
• Probably used for ritual bathing
• Practice maintained in the region
• Remind you of anything we have looked at before?
Venus of Willendorf
Indus Valley Civilization Seals• Glyphic art and Seals
• Compare/contrast to Mesopotamian glyphic cylinder seals
What is this guy doing?
The Bearded Man
• Compare/contrast with Sumerian
Harappa Torso• Prana (“Force of Life”)
• Sense that the image is filled with breath
• Common in later Indian art and Hindu faith
The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro• Bronze
• c. 2500 BCE
• Why is this unique for the time period?
Remember Contrapposto
• Remember Contrapposto a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot
• shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs
This is from c. 450 BCEThis is from
c. 2500 BCE
Indus Valley Civilization
• Most people were peasant farmers
• Polytheistic, with sacred animals
• May have developed some form of monotheistic belief system
Indus Valley Civilization
• Why? (Around 1500 BC)
• Volcano?
• Earthquake?
• Climate change?
• Aryan Invasion?
We really don’t know
Aryan Society
• People are divided into 3 main groups
1. Brahmins (priests)
2. Warriors (Kshatriya)
3. Merchants, hearders (Vaisya)
• Sudras – Non-Aryan, mostly peasants, artisans, and laborers
• Pariahs (outcasts, untouchables) – not considered part of the class system, considered subhuman,
Aryan Society
• Caste System – social grouping – people are born into it, cannot change
• Varna
Aryan Society
• As The Aryan culture and the Indus River valley culture mixed, a new Indian culture emerged.