The scope, age and origin of the civilization of the Indus Valley

From about 2500 years ago, the Indus River Basin took the lead and entered the era of combined use of gold and stone, creating the first splendid civilization in Indian history-the Indus River City Civilization (also known as the Harappa Civilization). It is also one of the oldest civilizations in the history of the world to be proud of. The civilization of the Indus Valley was discovered after the Harappa and Mohenjodaro ruins of Fazha from 1921 to 1922. No one knew about it before.

In the 1930s, the third urban site Qiang Hudaluo (in present-day Sindh, Pakistan) was discovered. After independence, archaeological excavations in India and Pakistan found that the scope of this civilization is much larger than that of the Indus River Basin. So far, the known applications are: from Satka Kindur in the west, Alam Jipur in the east, Jammu in the north, and the mouth of the Nabada River in the south. The total area is nearly 1.3 million square kilometers, which is larger than that of the Mesopotamia civilization and the ancient Egyptian civilization. In this vast area, hundreds of large and small sites have been discovered, among which there are six or seven of the remains of E City.

The largest and most representative urban sites are still Mohenjodaro and Xalapa. Both sites are about 1 mile square. It is estimated that Mohenjodaro has a population of 35,000-40000, and Haripa has 20,000- -35,000 people. Smaller than these two cities are Qiang Hudaro, Kazuban Twenty (in Rajas State), Lothar (in Lugulat, which is the site of Port 1), Banavari (in Haryana) ) In the 1970s, another urban site was discovered in Dolavila Kotad, 350 kilometers south of Mohengio Daro, with a relatively large scale. The age of the civilization of the Indus Valley is not estimated.

The British M Wheeler's book "Indus River Civilization" proposes to be 1500 years before 2500, and it was accepted by most scholars for a period of time. In recent years, the time period determined by carbon measurement is 2300 years ago and 1750 years ago, slightly later than Zhao Quan's calculations. There have always been different opinions on the origin of this civilization. In the past, some scholars (mostly archaeologists in Western countries) claimed that it was transplanted from the Xiuya Sumerian, but this has been rejected. In recent years, the generally accepted view is that even if some external influence has played a role in the rise of the Indus civilization, the original culture of this region is still the direct precursor of this civilization.

In other words, the creator of this civilization is the local inhabitants of this area. Their race is still uncertain. However, many people think that they are similar to the current Dravidians in South India, and they are inferred to be the Dravidians. Some people disagree. In the past, some people thought that the creators of this civilization belonged to a good type of race, including the Mediterranean race, the Mongolian race, and the primitive Australian race. The examinations in recent years have found that his ethnicity is relatively pure, which denies this claim. At the bottom of many sites of the Xalapa culture, you can see the relics of the Xalapa culture earlier than the Xalapa culture.

For example, in Amli, there is a culture consistent with the culture of Balochistan villages under the Harappa cultural layer, and there are bronze wares. Kariban and Cote Diji have also discovered that there is a culture that predates the Harappa culture. The leaf-shaped stone arrowhead of Cote Digue is reminiscent of the stone arrowhead of the contemporary Baluchistan. Kalibangan's colored pottery is reminiscent of Balochistan colored pottery. From this, scholars put forward the following inferences about the rise of this civilization: Harappa culture developed directly and gradually from the original local culture. The original local culture is at the same level as that of the Balochistan village. Their creators are probably (or partly) residents from Baluchistan.

These residents initially established many agricultural settlements in the foothills and valleys of the Baluchistan Highlands. Later, as the population increased, they needed to seek more suitable areas for agricultural production and moved to the Indus Plain ( Around the beginning of the first three thousand epochs). Due to the flooding of the Indus River, there are vast alluvial plains with few forests and swamps, making it more suitable for farming. They established a new village here. After many years, some villages developed into small towns.

About the first 2300 years, new changes occurred: the pre-Halapa cultural stage ended and the urban civilization was formed. This process may be greatly influenced by the civilization of the Mesopotamia through trade, but it is mainly the result of new developments in its own production technology.