MOHEN -JO- DARO:
Mohenjo-Daro, archaeological site of the Indus Valley, or Harappan, civilization (2500?-1700 bc),south of Larkana,
Sindh Pakistan. Excavated in the 1920s by the British archaeologist Sir John Marshall (1876-1958), Mohenjo-Daro covers more than 80 hectares (200 acres) and consists of two mounds separated by an unoccupied area. A major city and commercial center during the Bronze Age, it is the largest Indus Valley settlement.
The small western mound, or “citadel,” has several public buildings, which may have been surrounded by a wall. Early excavators took these buildings for a granary, assembly hall, college, and public bath, but later studies have cast doubt on that conclusion. The larger eastern mound consists of large blocks of brick buildings, separated by streets and housing the inhabitants' residences and workshops. Both mounds yielded an abundance of Harappan artifacts.
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PRESENT SINDH - AT A GLANCE:
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| BASIC FACTS: |
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| Geographical Area (Sq kms) |
140,940 |
| Districts |
16 |
| Talukas |
87 |
| Dehs |
5956 |
| Villages/Settlements |
66293 |
| Metropolitian/Municipal Corpns |
3 |
| Municipal Committees |
33 |
| Town
Committees |
120 |
| LAND UTILIZATION (in million Hectres): |
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| Geographical Area |
140,09 |
| Cultivated Area |
5,69 |
| POPULATION (ooo persons) |
29,991 |
| (Urban)
>> |
14,662 |
| *
Male |
7,793 |
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Female |
6,869 |
| (Rural)
>> |
15,329 |
| *
Male: |
8,030 |
| *
Female: |
7,299 |
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Sindh
Sindh, province, southeastern Pakistan, bordered on the northeast by Punjab Province, on the west and north by Baluchistan Province, on the east by the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, and on the south by the Arabian Sea. Sindh was established as a province in its present form in
August 1947, and has an area of 140,914 sq km (54,407 sq
miles). The provincial capital is Karachi.
The center of Sindh consists of the valley and delta of the Indus River, which comprises about 40 percent of the province’s area; Sindh is named after the river, called the 'Sindhu' in Pakistan. The Kirthar Range of mountains runs north-south down the western side of the Indus Valley; a desert belt borders the eastern side, merging with the Thar Desert (or Great Indian Desert) in the south. The climate is subtropical with hot summers and cool winters. Rainfall is sparse, averaging about 180 mm (7 in) a year, and confined mainly to the Indus Valley area.
The population of Sindh is about 30 million (1998), concentrated in the cities and the Indus Valley. About 43 percent of the population lives in urban areas. Karachi is Pakistan’s commercial and industrial center, as well as its largest city. Its population was dramatically swollen by Muslim refugees from India at the time of partition from India and independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Heavy inward migration to Sindh has continued and the population is ethnically
mixed. The principal languages of the province are
Sindhi and Urdu. Islam is the predominant religion.
The Indus and its associated canal-based irrigation system is the foundation of Sindh’s economy; the majority of people are employed in agriculture. The major crops are wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize (corn), cotton, and oilseeds. Productivity has increased substantially since the 1960s because of greater fertilizer use and the development of better drainage, which has reduced waterlogging and salinity in the soil. Sindh has many orchards producing a wide variety of fruits. Livestock are important. Cattle, sheep, buffalo, and goats are the main animals kept. The concentration of large-scale manufacturing in Karachi has helped make Sindh one of Pakistan’s most industrialized areas. The province is a major focus of cotton processing and textile production. The production of cement, fertilizers, vegetable oils, sugar, cars, pharmaceuticals, and petroleum products is also important.
Sindh’s recorded history dates more than 4,000 years to the Indus Valley civilization (2500-1700
BC). Major archaeological sites are at Mohenjo-Daro, Amre, and Kot Diji. In the late 500s bc the region was annexed to the Persian Empire. In 325 bc it was conquered by Alexander the Great and subsequently incorporated into various empires, including those of the Parthians, Scythians, and Kushanas. In the 3rd century ad it was reincorporated into the Persian Empire, where it remained until the Arab conquest of 711. From 1526 to 1761 Sindh was part of the Mughal Empire. It was then ruled by a succession of independent Sindhi dynasties until the British annexed the area in 1843. In 1937 Sind was made a separate province within British India. As part of independent Pakistan, Sindh was incorporated into the province of West Pakistan from 1955 until 1970, when it was
re-established as a separate province.
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION:
A) INTRODUCTION:
Indus Valley Civilization (2500?-1700 BC), earliest known civilization of South Asia, corresponding to the Bronze Age cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete (Kríti). The remains of settlements belonging to this culture have been found throughout the Indus River valley in Pakistan, westward along the coast to the Iranian border, in India's northwestern states as far east as New Delhi, and on the Oxus River in northern Afghanistan. The Indus Valley civilization encompasses one of the largest geographical areas covered by a single Bronze Age culture.
B) CHARACTERISTICS:
Excavated settlements reveal blocks of mud-brick buildings separated by streets, and the cities, such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, are dominated by large public buildings. These buildings were at one time identified as colleges, temples, granaries, and palaces, but later research has not confirmed such interpretations. The cities are usually divided into two distinctive groups of buildings, one of which may be enclosed by a wall.
The work of Indus Valley artisans shows a high degree of craft specialization. Characteristic artifacts include a distinctive black-on-red pottery, ceramic toys and figurines, etched carnelian beads, metal (bronze, silver, and gold) ornaments and tools, and stamp seals with an undeciphered script. Unfortunately, the nature of the social organization in this complex culture still evades complete interpretation.
Sometime after 2000 bc, complex ecological changes occurred in the Indus Valley area, forcing abandonment of many settlements and altering the basic characteristics of the civilization. Late Indus Valley culture is known mainly from excavated small farming villages. Artifacts associated with these sites are stylistically similar to earlier types but show more regional variation.
C) HISTORY OF EXCAVATIONS:
The Indus Valley civilization was first defined by the British archaeologist Sir John Marshall's diggings at Mohenjo-Daro and M. S. Vat's excavations at Harappa (both in what is now Pakistan) in the 1920s, and it is sometimes called Harappan civilization after the latter site. In 1946 the British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler, excavating at Harappa, located stylistically different pottery in the earliest occupied areas. Subsequent discoveries at nearby Kot Diji established that this early pottery at Harappa belonged to the early Bronze Age Kot Diji culture. Since 1960 Indian, Pakistani, and Western scholars have defined several additional early Bronze Age cultures at Goth Amri, Sothi, Gumla, and other sites in Pakistan, each of which has some traits in common and contributed to the formation of the Indus Valley civilization.
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RIVER INDUS:
Indus, river of Asia, formed in western Tibet (an autonomous region of China) by the confluence of the glacial streams from the Himalayas. It flows from Tibet northwest across the Indian-controlled portion of Jammu and Kashmir, passing between the western extremity of the Himalayas and the northern extremity of the Hindu Kush mountain range; it then courses generally south through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea, covering a distance of 2,900 kms (1,800 miles). The major tributaries of the Indus are the Sutlej, Ravi, and Chenab.
The Indus enters the Pakistani province of Punjab 1304 kms (810 miles) from its source, and, at a point 77 kms (48 miles) farther, it becomes navigable as a result of its junction with the Kabul River from Afghanistan. Entering Sindh province of Pakistan, it flows under the Ayub and Lansdowne bridges at Sukkur and the Hyderabad-Kotri Bridge before branching into the generally infertile delta that covers an area of about 7770 sq kms (3000 sq miles) and extends for some 201 kms (125 miles) along the Arabian Sea. The Indus has some importance as an artery of traffic and in addition provides irrigation for many millions of acres of the naturally arid lands of Sindh Province. Historically, the Indus River valley is important as the cradle of the ancient Indus civilization, which, with Mesopotamia and Egypt, was one of the earliest civilizations.
(st15XI).
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