Expert: Jennifer - 6/24/2002

Question
Hi Jennifer,
My 10 year old son has just been given a project to do on the Indus Valley civilisation. Although I am interested in history I have to profess that I know nothing about this subject at all.

The brief for the project is very wide - basically just find out all you can about it! I am not asking you to do this project for my son - I certainly don't beleive in that! - but was wondering if you could give just a VERY brief overview of this civilisation and highlight the main things of interest which you think should be researched.

In addition are you aware of any good sources of information on the web on this subject?


Thanks for your help,


Gavin


Answer
Hello Gavin,

I understand your problem. I'll help you as much as I can.

One of the earliest civilizations in the ancient world was found in Indus Valley in India. About 3000B.C., a group of people lived in the Indus Valley. These people were known as the Dravidians. The Indus River provided the people with the fish. It also supplied water for farming and transportation. The yearly flood made the river valleys fertile. People began to grow crops and keep herds of cattle. Over a period of time, these people built more than 50 farming towns and villages, large seaports and two great cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

Indus Valley is in present day Pakistan.

The Indus Civilization prospered for 1000years, from 2500B.C. to 1500B.C., and then mysteriously disappeared.

What interests most people is the rise and fall of a civilization. Otherwise, you can research about the life in Indus Valley, i.e. houses, occupations, language, religion.
For language, some pictographs have been found, but no one can yet decipher their meaning.

Good sources of information can be found using the search engine Google.
http://www.google.com

Do try Microsoft Encarta. I think it should have
http://www.encarta.com

Regards,
Jennifer