Why is harappan culture considered a civilization

The Persians designated the land around the Indus River as Hindu, a mispronunciation of the Sanskrit sindhu. In archaeologists uncovered evidence of an ancient civilization along the Indus River, which today is dated to around BC and thought to represent one of the largest centers of human habitation in the ancient world. Scholars believe that the Indus Valley Civilization had begun to decline by BC, possibly due to climate change.

Because of its location between the Indian Subcontinent and the Iranian plateau, the area has seen many military invasions including Alexander the Great, the Persian empire, and the Kushan empire. To distinguish themselves, they called all non-Muslims Hindus; the name of the land became, by default, the name of the people and their religion Schoeps, , p.

Hindus hold that there is one supreme God--Brahman. Brahman is the impersonal ultimate reality or world soul. All beings are part of Brahman and Brahman is likewise part of all things. Humans cannot describe or comprehend Brahman. However, there are numerous gods and goddesses in Hinduism. These gods represent aspects of the One Supreme God. An important trio of these appearances of Brahman, sometimes called the Hindu trinity of Brahman, consists of the creator Brahma , the preserver Vishnu , and destroyer Shiva of the universe.

Though Brahma is the creator, he is the minor god of the three and is said to have gown in a lotus out of the navel of the sleeping Vishnu. He has four heads, but once had one, grew four more, and then lost one.

That suggests the Harappan civilization is nearly as old as sites from West Asia such as Jericho, where evidence of a neolithic city has been found to date from as early as BC. But it also means that Harappa, with new proof of hakra ware dating to BC, may have been more technologically advanced — bolstering India's claim to the title of the cradle of civilization. Those dates were also supported when Carbon dates started to come from other parts of the world.

More from GlobalPost: Mumbai on high alert with right-wing leader Bal Thackeray in critical condition. But with these dates [from Bhirrana] things have entirely changed. Both Dikshit and Mani downplayed competition between India and Pakistan for bragging rights over the Indus civilization — where the best archaeological site for tourists is in Mohenjadaro, in Pakistan's Sindh province. It was located in modern-day India and Pakistan, and covered an area as large as Western Europe.

The people of the Indus Valley, also known as Harappan Harappa was the first city in the region found by archaeologists , achieved many notable advances in technology, including great accuracy in their systems and tools for measuring length and mass.

Harappans were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures that conformed to a successive scale. The smallest division, approximately 1. It stands as the smallest division ever recorded on a Bronze Age scale. Another indication of an advanced measurement system is the fact that the bricks used to build Indus cities were uniform in size.

Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage developed and used in cities throughout the region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East, and even more efficient than those in many areas of Pakistan and India today.

Harappans were thought to have been proficient in seal carving, the cutting of patterns into the bottom face of a seal, and used distinctive seals for the identification of property and to stamp clay on trade goods. Seals have been one of the most commonly discovered artifacts in Indus Valley cities, decorated with animal figures, such as elephants, tigers, and water buffalos.

Harappans also developed new techniques in metallurgy—the science of working with copper, bronze, lead, and tin—and performed intricate handicraft using products made of the semi-precious gemstone, Carnelian. Terracotta works also included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs. In addition to figurines, the Indus River Valley people are believed to have created necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments. The Indus River Valley Civilization created figurines from terracotta, as well as bronze and steatite.

It is still unknown whether these figurines have religious significance. The Harappan Civilization may have been the first to use wheeled transport, in the form of bullock carts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today. It also appears they built boats and watercraft—a claim supported by archaeological discoveries of a massive, dredged canal, and what is regarded as a docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal.

The docks and canal in the ancient city of Lothal, located in modern India.