Mohenjo-Daro, "Hill of the Dead"

[Rehmatullah]

Mohenjo-Daro - the ruins of an ancient city, in no hurry to part with its secrets - one of the centers of the Indus civilization, either its capital, or an independent state, however, among the remains of its many buildings, built according to a single plan, no palaces or temples were found . His writing has not been deciphered and the secret of his death has not been revealed.

According to the most common point of view, Mohenjo-Daro is one of the two largest centers of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. The second capital was Harappa in what is now Punjab. The Indus, also known as Harappan, civilization developed in the Indus River valley in 3300-1300. BC e. The ruins of Mohenjo-Daro are located on the western (right) bank of the river, 643 km southwest of Harappa. This is the territory of the present Pakistani province of Sindh. The name of the city is translated from the local Sindhi language as “Hill of the Dead”.



Excavations give a general idea of how the city appeared and developed. Around 2500 BC e. The first wave of settlers from the west reached the fertile Indus River valley. These were agricultural peoples who were driven from their native land by crop failure, impoverished soil and constant raids by nomadic tribes. At first a settlement appeared. As the surrounding lands were developed and the initial stage of the Indus Valley Civilization developed, the village grew to the size of a substantial city. It flourished for a thousand years. Around 1700 BC e. Mohenjo-Daro died.

Judging by the state in which the ruins of the city were found, the destruction was rapid and incredibly catastrophic. One can only assume that it was an earthquake or flood. For its time it was a fairly large city with an area of more than 2 km2. Its borders were its walls, which had defensive towers and other fortifications made of baked and adobe bricks. The city had a regular layout, when all the streets were straight and ran parallel to each other, intersecting at right angles. Judging by the location of the houses in the Lower City, they formed large blocks, which in turn were split into even smaller ones, formed according to the social status and occupation of the residents. Currently, such an urban layout remains the oldest known in the world.

 

[Rehmatullah]

 

[Rizwan]

Great information keep it bro

 

[Rizwan]

Mohenjo-Daro is an ancient city located in the Sindh province of Pakistan, and it's one of the most significant archaeological sites in the world.

Mohenjo-Daro was built around 2500 BCE and was one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, which was a Bronze Age civilization.

The city was abandoned around 1900 BCE, and the reasons for this are still debated among historians and archaeologists.

Mohenjo-Daro was rediscovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Sir John Marshall, and excavations began in 1925.

The city was built with advanced urban planning, with a sophisticated drainage system, public baths, and a complex irrigation system.

The people of Mohenjo-Daro were known for their expertise in crafts, trade, and metallurgy.

The city was also home to a diverse population, with evidence of cultural and religious practices.

Mohenjo-Daro is also famous for its seals and script, which have not been fully deciphered yet.

They built a large public bath that was used for religious and cultural purposes, and a raised area that housed the city's most important buildings, the residential area of the city, a large building that was used to store grains and other food items.

Mohenjo-Daro is an incredible piece of human history, and its legacy continues to inspire wonder and curiosity in people around the world.

 

[Rizwan]

Finding the Priest King. A workman handing over the Priest King at the time of excavations in I, Block 2 of DK-B Area during the John Marshal led 1925-26 excavations at Mohenjo-daro.
Possehl writes "many classic Harappan style artifacts came to light at this time, including the so-called Priest King which emerged from Dikshit's excavations in DK-B Area, in a building that the excavators thought may have been a hammam or hot bath." (Gregory Possehl, Indus Age, p. 75)

 

[Rizwan]

 

[Rizwan]

An incredibly well-preserved unicorn seal and sealing from Mohenjo-daro. The second image [above] is the sealing made from this seal, as shown in Shah, S. G. M. and A. Parpola, Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions. 2. Collections in Pakistan (p. 16).

On unicorn seals in general, the authors write (p. XXX):

"The unicorn' motif is placed first [in their Corpus] because it is the most common one of the Indus seals. The style of representing this animal in profile, so that just one single horn is shown, has in all probability been borrowed from the art of the ancient Near East. Although this representation undoubtedly has had a mythological explanation and importance in the Harappan religion the 'unicorn' is likely to be a real animal (likely the uris or Bos primigenius) which actually had two horns. It is in fact sometimes depicted as having two horns, but for the sake of analysis and classification these two-homed representations have been separated from the unicorns' under the immediately following heading of 'urus'."

From our new photographic walk through the ancient Indus gallery at the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi: https://www.harappa.com/slide/unicorn-seal

 

[Rizwan]

Kushan period copper coins resurface at Mohenjo Daro after 93 years

A pot filled with ancient copper coins has been unearthed during conservation work at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan’s Sindh province. This marks the first remarkable discovery of artifacts in the 5,000-year-old city ruins in 93 years.

Mohenjo Daro, also known as the “Mound of the Dead,” stands as an ancient Indus Valley Civilization city that thrived between 2600 and 1900 BCE. The recent find, a pot filled with copper coins, was discovered at the stupa on the Western side of Mohenjo Daro during preservation work.

According to Sheikh Javed Sindhi, engaged in research at the site, the discovery echoes the previous excavation of 4,348 copper coins during 1922-1931, attributed to the Kushan Period spanning the 2nd to 5th Century CE...

More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2023/11/kushan-period-copper-coins-found-at-mohenjo-daro/
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Archaeology News
#archaeology #archeology #archaeologynews #MohenjoDaro #kushan #numismatics

 

[Rizwan]

'Priest King' from Mohenjodaro
In 1927, a seated male soapstone figure was found in a building with unusually ornamental brickwork and a wall-niche, in Mohenjodaro, Sindh (Now in Pakistan). He is the iconic representation of Indus Valley civilization. He dates to 2200-1900 BC. Though there is no evidence that priests or monarchs ruled Mohenjo-daro, archaeologists dubbed this dignified figure a "Priest-King."

The sculpture is 17.5 centimetres (6.9 in) tall, and shows a neatly bearded man with pierced earlobes and a fillet around his head, possibly all that is left of a once-elaborate hairstyle or head-dress; his hair is combed back. He wears an armband, and a cloak with drilled trefoil, single circle and double circle motifs, which show traces of red. His eyes might have originally been inlaid.

Two holes beneath the highly stylized ears suggest that a necklace or other head ornament was attached to the sculpture. The left shoulder is covered with a cloak decorated with trefoil, double circle and single circle designs that were originally filled with red pigment. Drill holes in the center of each circle indicate they were made with a specialized drill and then touched up with a chisel.

Priest King from Mohenjodaro is still one of the most iconic image of Indus Valley Civilization, even though there is no clear-cut idea on its political life. But if we take into account the culture homogeneity, it would not have been possible to achieve, without a central authority.

No temples have been found at any site of Indus Valley. We have no religious structures of any kind expect for the great Bath. Therefore, it cant be said with that priests ruled in Indus valley. The Harappa rulers were more concerned with commerce than conquests and Harappa was possibly ruled by a class of merchants.