Mohenjo Daro or "Mound of the Dead" is an ancient Indus Valley Civilization city that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. The site was discovered in the 1920s and lies in Pakistan's Sindh province. Only a handful of archaeologists have excavated here, described in the introduction and illustrated essay Mohenjo-Daro.
the Indus Valley Civilization of India, Afghanistan and Pakistan covered about 2 million square miles (5.2 million square km) at its height and was extant from about 4500 to 1800 BC. Archaeologists have found various structures and many different types of artifacts including, toys, tools, fish hooks, copper tools, bone hairpins, beads of minerals and ivory, pottery with various designs, chert weights for trade or taxation, and jewelry from outside the vicinity. They also found seals with tigers inscribed on them.
Mohenjo Daro, built around 2600, had been abandoned around 1700 B.C.E.. Sir John Marshall's archaeologists rediscovered it in the 1920s. His car, still in the Mohenjo-Daro museum, shows his presence, struggle, and dedication for Mohenjo-Daro. Ahmad Hasan Dani and Mortimer Wheeler carried out further excavations in 1945. Mohenjo-Daro in ancient times had been most likely the administrative center of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. The most developed and advanced city in South Asia during its peak, Mohenjo-daro's planning and engineering showed the importance of the city to the people of the Indus valley.
Mohenjo-Daro had been a remarkable construction, considering its antiquity. It has a planned layout based on a grid of streets, laid out in perfect patterns. At its height the city probably had around 35,000 residents. The buildings of the city, of particularly advanced designed, had structures constructed of same-sized sun dried bricks of baked mud and burned wood. The public buildings of those cities also suggest a high degree of social organization.
Mohenjo-Daro had been successively destroyed and rebuilt at least seven times. Each time, the new cities built directly on top of the old ones. Flooding by the Indus may have been the cause of destruction. The city divided into two parts, the Citadel and the Lower City. Most of the Lower City remains uncovered, but that the Citadel had the public bath, a large residential structure designed to house 5,000 citizens and two large assembly halls, has been determined. Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and their civilization, vanished without trace from history until discovered in the 1920s. Although extensively excavated in the 1920s, in-depth excavations suspended in the 1960s.
The historical city's original name is not Mohenjo Daro. Nobody knows what the real name is, as the Harrappan scripture has still not been deciphered
The words 'Mohenjo Daro' literally translate to 'the mound of the dead'. The city of Harappa and other important Indus Valley sites were found on a series of mounds over 250 acres of land, hence such a name
The urban planning and architecture have mesmerized thousands of architects and archaeologists. The 5,000-year-old city could host a population of 40,000. It had a meticulous road plan with rectilinear buildings, channeled sanitization, a huge well that served as a public pool to bathe, a 'Great Granary', and many more amazing designs on buildings
The well used for bath
It is also fascinating that multi-storeyed buildings were found at the site of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro
There are signs that prove that the Indus Valley Civilisation had no monarchy. It was probably governed by an elected committee
There are around 1,500 sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation and no sign of warfare or weapons have been found. This implies that the Indus natives were peaceful in nature, which might have made it vulnerable to foreign invaders
The cities of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa were built in around 2,500 BC. The civilisation itself would be another five hundred years old. Archaeologists first visited the Mohenjo Daro site in 1911. Several excavations occurred in the 1920s through 1931. Small probes took place in the 1930s, and subsequent digs occurred in 1950 and 1964
One of the earliest human civilizations, the Indus Valley site is situated at the Larkana district in the Sindh province in modern day Pakistan
The Indus Valley Civilisation was vast. It spanned from Iran to Gujarat and went North till Bactria
The lifestyle and faith of the people of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro are still under doubt. Some artifacts, such as the Pashupati Seal, suggest that the people would worship an 'animal deity', who would protect them from wild beasts
Iconic artifacts. From left: dancing girl, Pashupati seal and the priest
The discovery of the site was very dramatic. Bengali architect Rakhaldas Bandopadhyay, an officer at the Archaeological Survey of India, went to the site in 1919-20 to identify a Buddhist stupa. There, he found a flint scraper that was much older than the stupa itself. This discovery led to a large scale excavation led by Kashinath Narayan Dikshit in 1924-25 and John Marshall in 1925-26, and the rest is history
The reason behind the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation is still unknown. Many cite the Aryan invasion, drought and deluge as probable reasons but none of those have been proved.
Mohenjo-Daro was built in the 26th century BCE. It was one of the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, which developed around 3,000 BCE from the prehistoric Indus culture. At its height, the Indus Civilization spanned much of what is now Pakistan and North India, extending westwards to the Iranian border, south to Gujarat in India and northwards to an outpost in Bactria, with major urban centers at Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Lothal, Kalibangan, Dholavira and Rakhigarhi. Mohenjo-Daro was the most advanced city of its time, with remarkably sophisticated civil engineering and urban planning. When the Indus civilization went into sudden decline around 1900 BCE, Mohenjo-Daro was abandoned.
Mohenjo-Daro" (موئن جو دڙو) means "Mound of the Dead Men" in the Sindhi language.
Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Sindh province of Pakistan, where the historical site of the same name is located. The original name of the city is unknown.