Harappan civilisation.
In 1921–22, the Archaeological Survey of India revealed the existence of a vast unique civilisation in the north west of India, with its two urban centres at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Later archaeologist dug out many other cities, such as Kalibangan, Kot Diji, Chanhu-daro, Dholavira, Banwali, Sutkagendor, etc. Named after Harappa, the first site to be excavated, the entire civilisation is known as the Harappan civilisation.
Origin and evolution
The Harappan civilisation is dated between 2600 and 1900 BC. There were earlier and later cultures, known as Early Harappan and Later Harappan. The Harappan period characterised by seals, beads, weights, stone blades and baked bricks is called as the Mature Harappan culture. The Carbon-14 datings indicate the mature Harappan period to be from C. 2800/2900–1800 BC.
Geography
The Harappan civilisation was spread over Afghanistan, Sind, Beluchistan, Jammu, Punjab, northern Rajasthan, Kathiawar and Gujarat. The Kalibangan -Mohenjo-Daro represent the centre of the Harappan civilisation. Most of the Harappan settlements were located in this region.
Major centres
The most remarkable feature of Harappan civilisation was its urbanisation. The Harappan places which were small towns, show an advanced sense of town planning. The major centres are Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Kalibangan, Lothal, Sutkagen-Dor, Dholavira, etc.
Usually towns were laid out in a parallelogrammic form. Each towns was divided into a higher residential area where the essential institutions of civil and religious life were located and lower residential area where the urban population lived.
System town planning, drainage system, granary, dockyard, public bathing place, use of bricks, buildings, etc. are some of the most impressive achievements of the Harappan civilisation.