Ancient civilizations of the Indus River Valley. Mysterious cities of India

Ancient civilization in the Indus Valley Discovery ancient civilization India happened relatively recently, in the 20s of the 20th century. By that time, the study of Ancient India already had a long history, but the Aryans were considered the founders of ancient Indian civilization.

The thousand-year history of the culture of the peoples of Hindustan keeps many unsolved secrets. We talk about two of them - the mysterious civilization in the Indus River Valley and the origins and ancient connections of the Aryans, one of the largest groups of Indo-European peoples that replaced the Indus civilization.

Many books have already been written about the Indus Valley civilization, but archaeologists and historians are making new discoveries. A picture is gradually emerging of the broad cultural and trade ties that were maintained by the people who inhabited the cities in the north-west of the Hindu Peninsula (modern Pakistan) in the 3rd millennium BC.

First, a little about how they thought about this before 1921. The prehistoric inhabitants of India were considered short and dark-skinned barbarians with flat noses. If they had a civilization, it was very primitive. Around 1500 BC, conquerors - tall, fair-haired people with high culture - invaded Hindustan from the north.

They called themselves Aryas.

Without much effort the Aryans suppressed indigenous people and pushed him back to the southern part of the peninsula. They then began to build cities, thereby laying the foundation of a great civilization. There was no data that in any way cast doubt on the above, and therefore, when in 1922 the University of Cambridge began publishing the six-volume Cambridge History of India, it is quite understandable that the position that the Aryans were the first civilized settlers in Hindustan was accepted. first volume.

Oddly enough, the Aryans themselves denied this postulate. The Aryan literature - the Vedas - is a collection of hymns written in Sanskrit. The first collection of these hymns is known collectively as the Veda. They contain some information about the conquest of India by the Aryan tribes.

In the Vedas, the then inhabitants of Hindustan are called “Dasya”. They are described as a people who worshiped strange gods and spoke an unknown language. The Vedic hymns mention the forts and castles of the Dasians. One of the hymns says that the castles of the Dasians were made of stone. Another uses a word that possibly means brick. It also tells about the “solid defensive structures” of the Dasya, about their “golden treasures”.

Reading the Vedic poems, you understand that the Aryans met in Hindustan a civilization that was not at all insignificant.

But, scientists reasoned, the Vedas were compiled by the victors, and it is always flattering for the victors to exaggerate the power of the vanquished. The glory of victory over unarmed farmers is not great. But if you can boast that you have destroyed a great civilization, oh, there is something to celebrate!

So, the historians decided, the Vedic traditions are self-aggrandizing myths and cannot be taken seriously historically.

But in 1921 this situation was destined to change.

This opening began like this. In 1856, two Englishmen, brothers John and William Brighton, were building the East Indian Railway and laying a path between Karachi and Lahore. The Bruntons needed a stable foundation material for the track. Brick would suit them just fine. The builders turned to the local residents, and they suggested a way out of the situation - near the village of Harappa there is a huge hill, literally stuffed with some destroyed brick buildings. Thousands upon thousands of fine bricks were quarried and used to form the foundations of hundreds of miles of railroad track. It never occurred to anyone that these bricks were more than four thousand years old. There was no interest even when small antique objects were found in the ruins near Harappa. They were finely crafted engraved signets with images of animals and trees.

And only seventy years later, in 1921, the Indian archaeologist Rai Bahadur Daiya Ram Sahni returned to the Harappan village and began excavating the hill. He immediately discovered several more engraved signets and entire deposits of bricks. It became clear that this hill was a buried ancient city. Archaeologists immediately determined that the city near the village of Harappa was older than anything so far found in India. It was built in the 3rd millennium BC.

About four hundred miles from Harappa, near the town of Mohenjo-Daro on the Indus River, there was another mound, also huge. In 1922, an archaeological expedition led by R. D. Banerjee began excavations, and the world soon learned that another ancient city, which was almost a double of the first, existed on the site of Mohenjo-Daro.

Since then, excavations in these areas of India have been carried out almost continuously. And the results turned out to be phenomenal: a civilization was discovered that existed for more than a thousand years and was one of the most prosperous on Earth.

We call it the “Indus Valley Civilization,” although we have no idea what it was actually called. We may never know. Cities were found, but their names were also forgotten.

Archaeologists have stumbled upon the remains of dams that must have served to hold back large amounts of water. Five thousand years ago, the rains in the Indus Valley were much more abundant—so heavy that dams had to be built to protect cities from flooding.

Cities were built of bricks. But not the ordinary brick made of dried clay that the Sumerians used. No, it's made of baked brick. The Sumerians, for example, could safely build from dried clay, since rainfall is rare in southern Mesopotamia. But what else could have motivated the Harappans to use more expensive baked bricks other than the desire to prevent their city from falling apart in the pouring rain? And isn’t that what the dense network of sewers is talking about?

Heavy rains? In the Indus Valley? Now it’s even strange to think about it. A year that receives more than six inches of precipitation is already considered a rainy year.

The fact is, some researchers believe that it is the baked brick that explains why the Indus Valley is deserted today.

It took a lot of fuel to fire the millions of bricks that made up Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The cheapest is wood. 5,000 years ago, the Indus Valley was probably covered with mighty forests. Then city planners came and started cutting down trees, turning them into firewood. For thousands of years the coals burned and the forests thinned. So, the builders most likely themselves turned the valley into a desert. And slow changes in climate may have accelerated this process.

Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa are very similar. They were laid out according to the same plan and, probably, at the same time. Although this is just a guess, it seems to us that they are twin capitals of a united state. They are too similar in everything - even in size!

Cities were built in regular quadrangular blocks, with wide main streets

There is something fascinating about the proper organization of these cities. Everything here is so thought out and so carefully planned that it is difficult to even grasp any development of the culture of this civilization - it seems that throughout its thousand-year history (III-II millennium BC), the Indus civilization has not undergone any changes either in technology or in architecture. changes.

A truly extraordinary feature of the culture of Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and their neighboring cities was their concern for cleanliness.

Cities everywhere had running water and brick drains, intelligently designed and remarkably executed. Nowhere in ancient world- with the exception of the palace of the Cretan king Minos in Knossos - there is no such thing. At Mohenjo-daro, all drains converged into a central sewer system located under the streets, which in turn led to a sewer well. Through the hatches it was possible to clean the drains.

We can imagine quite accurately what these cities were like during their lifetime.

Various crafts had their centers in various parts cities. In granaries, grain was ground into flour. Potters made pink and red dishes with black ornaments for the needs of the townspeople. And somewhere they wove wool and cotton fabrics.

Jewelers bent over necklaces and bracelets made of gold, silver, copper and bronze, carved small jewelry from Ivory.

Brickmakers worked at their kilns: new buildings were erected, old ones were repaired - in a word, baked bricks were constantly needed. The smelters worked at the furnace. In other parts of the city, cooks in public canteens prepared the midday meal. Beyond the frozen stone buildings lay farms where wheat, watermelons, barley, cotton were grown, and date palms grew. Cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry were also raised there, and fish were caught with nets.

Cats and dogs ran through the streets of the city.

(By the way, it’s not a fantasy about cats and dogs. We not only know that cats and dogs lived in the cities of Harappa, but we can say with complete confidence that they chased each other!

Proof of this is a brick with traces of a cat and a dog, found by Ernest Mackay in Chanhu-Daro, a town located near Harappa. The scientist writes: "Both of these tracks were probably imprinted on fresh brick exposed to drying in the sun... The depth of the print and its contours indicate that both animals were running." Some brick maker in Chanhu-Daro must have cursed at the sight of a cat snorting as it ran away from a frisky dog ​​across the still damp bricks. But the master was too busy to cover up the traces, and thousands of years later they were discovered by Ernest Mackay.)

Beautiful carved signets found in a huge number in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, tell us about what animals lived in the Indus Valley 4000 years ago. It is reasonable to assume that the artists who carved the signets depicted animals that were well known to them. The realism of the image confirms this idea. We see monkeys, hares, pigeons, tigers, bears, rhinoceroses, parrots, deer, cattle. There are no monkeys or parrots in the deserted part of the Indus Valley today, hence the signets are further evidence that the valley was covered with jungle during the times of these cities.

(Of course, such reasoning can lead us too far. One signet from Harappa depicts a creature with the face of a man, the trunk and tusks of an elephant, the front of a ram, the back of a tiger, and to top it off with a tail armed with claws. And the signet from Mohenjo-Daro depicts a beast with three heads of an antelope and the body of a horse. For now, we can assume that the imagination of an ancient artist played a role here - at least until the excavator stumbles upon a three-headed skeleton.)

Harappa maintained contacts with other civilized peoples of the ancient world.

Three cylinder seals of the Sumerian type were found at Harappa, and gold beads of the same style were found in both Harappa and Mesopotamia. Similar beads were found in the legendary Troy. So there was probably mutual trade between the Indus, Sumer and Troy at that time.

Evidence of connections between Harappa and Sumer disappears around 2000 BC. Further, only traces of trade remained between the cities of the Indus civilization and Persia, which ended at the turn of 1500 BC.

After 1500 BC, all signs of trade links between the Indus cities and the outside world are lost. Since this period coincides in time with what is generally considered to be the time of the arrival of the Aryans in India, it seems very likely that the fall of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa dates back to this era.

The writing of the Indus Valley Civilization is found mainly on carved signets, pottery fragments and tablets, and sometimes found on walls.

More than 400 different Harappan signs have been identified, many of which are variations of the same designs. Most experts recognize 200 signs, and one expert believes that he has identified 900!

But 200 characters is also a lot. So, the Indian script cannot be alphabetic, since the human voice is not able to reproduce such a number of sounds. Most likely it is some combination of images and sounds, like the Egyptian one. One thing is certain: the writing system they used was complex and confusing. And this writing is still a mystery (Scientists from many countries have been deciphering the writing created in that era for over 40 years, but due to the lack of bilingual (that is, an inscription repeated in a language already known to science), the key to reading the Indus Valley texts has not yet been found. Since 1930 1980s, most decipherers of these texts began to proceed from the assumption that the Indus civilization was created by the people from whom the population of South India descended, speaking the languages ​​of the Dravidian family. Scientists are trying to find analogies between these languages ​​​​and the forgotten language of the ancient culture. The same starting positions were taken by Soviet researchers Modern technology has been brought in to help linguists - all possible combinations of writing signs are counted by electronic computers, and perhaps the day is not far off when this secret too ancient history humanity will be revealed.).

Despite its muteness, the Indian letter seems to narrate the immutability that reigned in the Harappan civilization. From start to finish - over the entire thousand-year period! — the style of writing remains unchanged. No shifts, no hint of evolution.

The fall of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa most likely happened slowly over several centuries.

There is ample evidence of this gradual decline. “At the entire level of the excavations of the later Mohenjo-Daro,” writes Mortimer Wheeler in his book “Early India and Pakistan,” “archaeologists discovered an increasingly noticeable deterioration in construction and lifestyle: walls and ceilings were completely flimsy, previously built buildings were hastily blocked off , even the courtyards - these peculiar centers of any house - were partitioned carelessly, far from being in keeping with the style of the buildings themselves.”

This period of deterioration is shown to be archaeological excavations, lasted several centuries. And, of course, widespread deforestation also played a role in urban decline. The Indus Valley was turning into a desert.

In addition, for another three hundred years, raids were constantly carried out. The first troops were apparently driven away by the inhabitants of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

But the Aryas appeared again, driven by who knows what unrest taking place in their own country in the north.

Harappa probably fell first. In addition, it must be assumed that communications between the cities had deteriorated so much that news from the northern capital to the southern one stopped flowing. Be that as it may, Mohenjo-Daro was taken by surprise.

The skeletons of thirteen men, women and one child were discovered in one room at Mohenjo-Daro. Some were wearing bracelets, rings, and beads. Their remains showed signs of sudden death,

Throughout the city, archaeologists came across similar groups.

Those nights the city was on fire and its thousand-year-old greatness came to an end. The next morning the winners moved on. And, of course, they gave praise to their gods - the red-bearded god of war Indra, the god of fire Agni, the fierce Rudra, the god of the sky Diaus-Pitar.

What happened next?

A truly great civilization never perishes. In Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, this wise people who created the world's oldest civilization, were conquered by nomads who came from the west back in 2400 BC. Even the name of Sumer was forgotten. But not their achievements. The invaders who settled for a long time in Mesopotamia worshiped the Sumerian gods, built cities according to the Sumerian model, and used the cuneiform script invented by the Sumerians to write in their language.

What happened to the inhabitants of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro?

They were unable to revive their civilization, which, however, had already been declining for many years. But they could still teach the aliens something. The Aryas realized that they had much to learn from the peoples they conquered.

And much of the knowledge of the inhabitants of pre-Aryan India was passed on to the Aryans in order to continue to live for many, many millennia.

R. Silverberg

Translated from English by A. Volodin

Connection of times

So, the “Indus Valley Civilization” was replaced by the Aryan tribes in the 2nd millennium BC. They came from somewhere in the northwest. For many years, there have been debates in science about who the Aryans were and where they came from, and by what routes they came to Hindustan. Researchers different countries contributed to solving this problem.

It is known and indisputable that the language of the Aryans, in which their religious hymns were written, the Vedas - Sanskrit - formed the basis of ancient Indian literature.

And already from the beginning of the 19th century, Russian researchers began to pay attention to the fact that between Sanskrit and the Slavic languages, especially Russian, there is such a similarity that cannot be explained only by the fact that these languages ​​belong to the same family. Hundreds of common words and roots, almost complete identicalness of prefixes, suffixes, endings and other grammatical elements, extraordinary phonetic relatedness. (Even in modern Russian, many features and words characteristic of Sanskrit are preserved.)

In addition, as it turns out, the religion of the Aryans has similarities with Russian paganism and with the pre-Christian beliefs of other Slavic peoples. Moreover, this similarity is difficult to explain only by the general laws of historical and cultural development.

We already know that the most ancient religion of the Aryans is called Vedism. This name comes from the word “Veda” - a collection of prayer hymns in Sanskrit. It has been established that only the later hymns of the Vedas were composed in Hindustan itself, and the early ones apparently arose both on the way of the Aryans to this country, and in those areas where the Aryans formed as a people. Where were these lands on which the main body of tribes was formed - the ancestors of the Aryans, or, as they are often called in literature, Indo-Iranians? And when did the process of their formation take place?

Let's start with the fact that researchers see the territory of formation of the Indo-Iranian, or Aryan, unity in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe and date the existence of this unity to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, and the departure to Hindustan - no later than the second quarter of the 2nd millennium BC.

The famous German linguist Walter Porzig, tracing the ancient connections of the Aryan languages ​​with other languages ​​of the Indo-European family, says that, for example, Aryan and Greek “... were far apart from each other already in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC” and that we can attribute the neighborhood these languages ​​"...by the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, and the place where they coexisted with each other should be imagined somewhere north of the Black Sea."

But to the north of the Black Sea, the ancestors of the Slavs coexisted with the ancestors of the Aryans for much longer, for Soviet researchers see the initial territory of settlement of the ancestors of the Slavs on the right bank of the Middle Dnieper, from where in the 1st millennium BC they began to settle to the north, northwest and in other directions .

Moving towards Hindustan, a group of pastoral tribes - the Aryans - took with them their religious ideas - one of the most stable elements of spiritual culture. We have no information about the gods of these tribes, except for the evidence that is preserved in the Vedas, mainly in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas. And the texts of the Rig Veda date back precisely to the 2nd millennium BC.

Therefore, we have the right to look for kinship between the ancient Aryan pantheon and the gods of Slavic-Russian and Slavic-Baltic paganism, based on the non-random proximity of the Aryan and Slavic languages, which arose as a result of long-term contacts between the ancestors of the Aryans and the ancestors of the Slavs.

Similar searches have been undertaken several times. They, in my opinion, need to be replenished and developed, because, no matter how hypothetical these or those assumptions may look, they will help to identify the roots of ancient Indian and Slavic cults.

Let's give just a few examples. The word itself Veda literally correlates with the Slavic root Ved (species) and means knowledge, knowledge.

In the Rig Veda, the word meaning the god who bestowed mercy and wealth is read as bhaga. This word reflects the very idea of ​​​​divinity and, without a doubt, is a variant of the word God. And the seat of God, and the abode in general higher powers in Sanskrit it is read almost unambiguously with our word heaven - nabhasa. There is another name for heaven in Sanskrit - svarga, which cannot help but be associated with the name of the ancient Slavic god Svarog.

Being, according to legend, generated by the friction of the upper wooden stick against the lower one (this method of making fire is so widely known in ethnographic literature that it does not require additional explanation here), he first of all devoured his parents (that is, these sticks were the first to burn when a fire was made). Then he began to look for food for himself, because he cannot live without continuous absorption of food.

God Agni also bears another name, which is also similar in its constituent elements to Slavic words - Kravyad, which means “blood eater.” Sanskrit verb root hell means "to eat." This immediately suggests comparison between Old Russian and modern word folk dialects poison-im.

Agni as Kravyada is described as a rampant warrior who devours the bodies of the enemies he defeats and licks their blood with his seven tongues. He is also described as a devourer of the intoxicating drink soma, from which it can be concluded that this drink contained enough alcohol to burn in a fire and even maintain a fire.

Agni is depicted with two and three heads. This means that it contains several purposes. His two-headed figure shows that he is the fire of the hearth and at the same time the fire - the eater of victims, the three-headed figure - that he acts as a god, manifesting his essence in three worlds, or spheres: in the sky - as the fiery energy of the sun, in the atmosphere - as energy lightning and on the ground - in the form of hearth fire and sacrificial fire.

It is appropriate to point out here that in India the worship of multi-headed images of gods is widespread. In each individual case, this presence of several heads is explained differently in myths and legends. The oldest such images have not reached us, since they were apparently made of wood, a short-lived material in the climatic conditions of India. But, judging by the description given, such idols were known in very ancient times.

How can we not remember here that the pre-Christian idols of the Baltic Slavic tribes were also multi-headed.

And further. God Agni is traditionally depicted with a ram (or sheep). Apparently, this is a story about how most often it was a ram, sheep or lamb that was sacrificed to the gods on the fire. A Russian word"lamb", which has its root yag, can be compared with Sanskrit Yaga- "victim". (Isn’t this where their roots go? folk tales O Baba Yaga, accepting its victims after their “fiery death”?)

One of the oldest Vedic gods is the god of wind Vayu, whose name comes from the Sanskrit root va - to fan, blow, flutter. Commonality of Slavic and Russian blow from va cannot give rise to doubt. There is no doubt about the family closeness of the unambiguous in the meaning of Russian wind and Sanskrit Vatar. In addition, the worship of the wind god was integral part Slavic paganism.

Vayu is described in the Vedic and later Hindu literature as a mighty warrior, sweeping across the entire expanse of airspace on a chariot drawn by two red horses. Sometimes he is given the role of the charioteer of the god Indra, flying across the sky on a golden chariot harnessed to a thousand horses.

According to legend, Vayu was generated by the breath of the first man Purusha, whom the gods dismembered and sacrificed. This mighty wind god is credited with the power to blow life into the chest of all creatures born on earth. He is revered as the guardian god of the northwestern regions - by the way, in this one can also clearly see a direct connection with those lands from where the Aryans brought to India their ancient ideas about divinity, the wind as a great elemental force.

The ancient Slavs also had a god of open spaces, a god of the heavenly wind, and one of the atmospheric gods - Stribog. It is no coincidence that in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” the winds are called “Stribozhi vnutsi”, that is, they are associated with Stribog as direct carriers and continuers of the action inherent in its essence. And the name itself Stribog can be directly translated via the Sanskrit verb root stri, which means, starting from the Rig Veda, the concepts: extend, spread, cover, expand. (Add to this root the Sanskrit prefix great- a noun is also formed prastara- spaciousness, extension, space.)

The god Rudra was also highly revered by the Aryans - the creator and destroyer of all living things, the gracious, shining god, the son of the Dawn, the manifestation of heavenly Fire and at the same time the angry deity of hurricanes, roaring in the sky and sending destructive arrows to the earth. He is sung as the patron of livestock, as the Bull of Heaven.

Since Rudra is a Vedic deity, then, obviously, his cult was not born in India itself, but was known to the Aryans even earlier, in the pre-Indian period of their history.

If we turn to the search for possible analogies preserved in Slavic beliefs, we can compare Rudra with only one god, close to him in all characteristics - with a god who appears in ancient Russian paganism under the name Rhoda. Russian pagans, as academician B. A. Rybakov writes, believed that “he was a formidable and capricious god of Heaven, who owned clouds, rain and lightning, a god on whom all life on earth depended.”

According to Sanskrit dictionaries, the meaning of the name Rudra almost literally reproduces all these definitions: formidable, powerful, growling, god of thunderstorms, gracious, worthy of praise. In addition, the name of the Slavic Family is also explained as “red, shining, sparkling” - in Sanskrit there is a very ancient root rudh- “to be red” and its derivative Rudhira- “red”, “bloody”, “blood”. Slavic words are compared with these ancient words ore in the meaning of blood and red, ore and red meaning red or red color. (Thus, we see that in both languages ​​it is possible to compare a wide range of ancient concepts associated with ideas about blood, hence the concept of consanguinity; let us remember: native - blood - relative.)

In the Vedas, the god Varuna appears before us as an imperious and omnipotent ruler god, the lord of the sky and celestial waters, the lord of storms and the thunderer. He is all-encompassing and all-pervading, he is the god of heaven and eternity, he is the king of gods and people, he is all-seeing and therefore terrible for sinners and violators of oaths and vows. He is described as a god who traps sinners with a noose that he always holds in his hand.

Even in the Vedas, he is called the brother of the god Agni, and the god of the oceans, and the guardian of the western regions of the earth. Later, he becomes primarily the god of waters, but in the myths about him and his iconographic images, the interpretation of his image as a catcher of liars and perjurers continues. Gradually, he retreats further and further into the past, the memory of him becomes more and more vague, and in late Hinduism he is one of the gods, who in terms of his strength and power does not stand out from many others.

But if we look into its most ancient Aryan past, if we trace its path in the direction of those “western regions” of which its long-standing tradition makes it the guardian, then we will see that in the Rig Veda - from Sanskrit in general - those of its properties and functions are reflected, the bearer which the ancient Aryans had, obviously, in the pre-Indian period of their history.

One of the powerful ancient Russian gods was Perun, and his appearance, his purpose, his essence - as described in the chronicles - are in many ways similar to the god Varuna. The “closeness” of these two gods is also shown by linguistic analysis. The very word “varuna” is based on the root er, meaning “to nourish”, “to bestow”, “to protect”, “to embrace”, “to fill”, “to nurture”, “to save”. Another Sanskrit root has the same meaning - pr. From both of these roots are formed different words with the same meaning using a suffix n. And it can be assumed that the same god remained to live in the Vedas as Varuna, and in ancient Slavic pagan beliefs as Perun.

The god Indra played a significant role in the Vedic religion, and subsequently in Hinduism. He is a warrior and a winner, galloping across the sky in a chariot drawn by red horses. He is always armed with a mace, arrows that resemble lightning, a sharp hook and a net to catch enemies.

He owns the water of the rivers, and he also owns the herds of cloud cows that water the earth with the fertile milk of the rains.

Indra is considered a purely Aryan god, because in Vedic literature he is glorified as the main assistant of the Aryans in their battles with the enemies whom they began to crush when they came to Hindustan.

There are different versions of legends about his exploits - sometimes it is described how he was defeated by enemies (as a rule, these were the gods who were worshiped by the pre-Aryan peoples, or the heroes whom they revered), but Indra was freed from captivity or he was freed by other Aryan gods, and again fought and helped the Aryans conquer and conquer new lands.

Many hymns of the Vedas (and then later mythological narratives) describe the victory of Indra over the terrible serpent Ahi, or Namuchi, who blocked the waters of the rivers. The image of this serpent is not very clear, but it is often mentioned that it has several heads (three or seven), many arms and legs, and that therefore it was very difficult to defeat. It is said that he could not be killed either at night or during the day, and that the weapon that could hit him had to be neither dry nor wet. Doesn't he remind us of the Serpent Gorynych from our fairy tales?

And does the name Indra itself tell us anything?

In Russian fairy tales and folk songs traces of the ancient belief of our ancestors have been preserved that some mighty beast, called Indra or Indrik, is the lord of rivers and the source of waters and can lock and unlock them. From here there is only one step left to that Indra, who among the Aryans is the ruler of not only earthly, but also atmospheric waters.

All of the above indicates that researchers are right who place the ancestral home of the Aryans on the territory of the northern Black Sea and Caspian Sea region and seek to prove the historical kinship of the Proto-Aryans and Proto-Slavs.

Of course, it is impossible to say that the territory of settlement of ancient Indo-European peoples has been accurately identified. The paths of their wanderings across the face of the earth in those distant times have not yet been determined and traced to the end, nor are they dated with certainty. But historians and archaeologists, step by step, are groping in the darkness of centuries for the boundaries and routes of their migrations and settlements. And in disputes, in changing hypotheses, the truth gradually emerges, and every year researchers are getting closer to solving problems related to the problems of linguistics, ethnic geography, history, archeology and other sciences, the orbit of which includes identifying the mutual connections of ancient peoples.

N. Guseva, candidate historical sciences, laureate of the J. NEHRU Prize

The name of the Indus River served as the basis for the name of the country - “India”, which in ancient times meant the space east of the Indus, where the states of Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh are currently located. Until relatively recently (several more than a hundred years ago), the Aryan aliens were considered the first creators of civilization on the Indian subcontinent. The generally accepted opinion was that no information about the great previous culture was preserved in written texts. Now we can say that they are still recognized, although with difficulty. In particular, Strabo’s “Geography”, with reference to the Greek Aristobulus, speaks of a vast country abandoned by its inhabitants due to a change in the course of the Indus. Such information is rare, and sources characterizing the Harappan culture, or the Indus Valley civilization, were obtained and continue to be obtained during archaeological excavations.

History of the study

Alexander Cunningham. 1814-1893 The first head of the Indian Archaeological Survey.

The Harappan civilization, unlike most other ancient civilizations, began to be studied relatively recently. Its first signs were discovered in the 60s of the 19th century, when samples of stamp seals so characteristic of this civilization were found near Harappa in Punjab. They were discovered during the construction of road embankments, for which purpose huge masses of the ancient cultural layer were used. The seal was noticed by engineer officer A. Cunningham, later the first head of the Archaeological Survey of India. He is considered one of the founders of Indian archaeology.

However, only in 1921, an employee of the Archaeological Service R.D. Banerjee, while exploring the Buddhist monument at Mohenjo-Daro (“Hill of the Dead”), discovered here traces of a much more ancient culture, which he identified as pre-Aryan. At the same time, R.B. Sahni began excavations at Harappa. Soon, the head of the Archaeological Service, J. Marshall, began systematic excavations in Mohenjo-Daro, the results of which made the same stunning impression as the excavations of G. Schliemann in Troy and mainland Greece: already in the first years, monumental structures made of baked bricks and works of art were found ( including the famous sculpture of the “priest king”). The relative age of the civilization, traces of which began to be found in various regions of the north of the peninsula, was determined thanks to the finds of characteristic seals in the cities of Mesopotamia, first in Kish and Lagash, then in others. In the early 30s of the XX century. The date of the civilization, the existence of which was not recognized in the ancient written texts of its neighbors, was determined as 2500-1800. BC. It is noteworthy that, despite new dating methods, including radiocarbon dating, the dating of the Harappan civilization during its heyday is not much different now from that proposed more than 70 years ago, although calibrated dates suggest its greater antiquity.

Lively debate was caused by the problem of the origin of this civilization, which, as it soon became clear, spread over a vast territory. Based on the information that existed at that time, it was natural to assume that the impulses or direct influences that contributed to its emergence came from the west, from the region of Iran and Mesopotamia. In this regard, special attention was paid to the Indo-Iranian border region - Balochistan. The first finds were made here back in the 20s of the 20th century. M.A. Stein, but large-scale research was undertaken after the Second World War and the acquisition of independence by the states of the subcontinent.

Before the emergence of independent states, archaeological research on Harappan culture was limited mainly to the central region of the “Great Indus Valley” (a term coined by M.R. Mughal), where the largest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, are located. Then in India, intensive research was carried out in Gujarat (large excavations - Lothal and Surkotada), Rajasthan (excavations of Kalibangan are especially important here), and Punjab. Large-scale work in the second half of the 20th century. were carried out where the river used to flow. Hakra-Ghaggar. About 400 settlements with strata from pre-Harappan to post-Harappan cultures were discovered here.

In the 50-60s, data was obtained on Eneolithic (Chalcolithic) cultures, the ceramics of which were similar to finds known in Iran, Afghanistan, and southern Turkmenistan. Assumptions about the influence from these regions, which caused the emergence of first the pre-Harappan cultures, and then Harappa itself, were later corrected. What seemed to be evidence of migrations began to be perceived as the result of interactions, influences that turned out to be beneficial, since the local population had the ability not only to perceive them, but also to transform them, based on their own traditions. A special role in understanding the processes of the emergence of the Indus Valley civilization was played by excavations in Pakistan, in particular the Neolithic - Bronze Age settlements of Mehrgarh on the river. Bolan, conducted by French researchers.

For the preservation and future research of the monuments of the Harappan civilization, the efforts undertaken by UNESCO in the 60s of the 20th century are important. attempts to save one of the most important cities - Mohenjo-Daro - from soil water and salinization. As a result, new data were obtained that clarified and supplemented those already known.

Territory and natural conditions of the Indus Valley

The Indus Valley lies in the northwestern corner of the vast subcontinent, most of which is currently located in Pakistan. It is part of a zone of cultural integration, bounded on the north by the Amu Darya, on the south by Oman, extending 2000 km north of the Tropic of Cancer. The climate throughout the zone is continental, the rivers have internal drainage.
From the north, the subcontinent is bounded by the highest mountain system of the Himalayas and Karakoram, from where the largest rivers of the peninsula originate. The Himalayas play an important role in meeting the summer monsoon, redistributing its course, and condensing excess moisture in glaciers. It is important that the mountains are rich in wood, including valuable species. From the southwest and southeast the peninsula is washed by the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The Indo-Gangetic Plain forms a crescent 250-350 km wide, its length from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal is 3000 km. Five tributaries of the Indus irrigate the plain of the Punjab-Five Rivers - these are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. West Side the Ganges valley and the region between the Ganges and Jumna (Doab) is the place of formation of the classical culture of India, Aryavarta (Country of the Aryans). In the Karachi region, Indus deposits form a shelf 200 km long. Now the Indus Valley is a bare lowland with dry river beds and sand dunes, although even under the Mughals it was covered with dense forests teeming with game.

To the south of the plain lie the highlands and Vindhya mountains, to the south is the arid Deccan plateau, framed on the west and east by the mountain ranges - the Western and Eastern Ghats. Most of the rivers of the plateau flow from west to east, with the exception of only two significant ones - the Narmada and the Tapti. The geographical continuation of the peninsula is the island of Ceylon. The coastal part is narrow, with few good ports. The total length of the subcontinent from Kashmir to Cape Comorin is about 3200 km.

In the northwest, a significant part of Pakistan is occupied by the mountains and valleys of Baluchistan. This is an area that played an important role in the formation of the Indus Valley Civilization.

The sources of minerals used in ancient times were located both outside (which will be discussed specifically below) the subcontinent and on it itself. Copper probably came, in particular, from deposits between Kabul and Kurrat, from Balochistan and Rajasthan (Ganesh-var-Khetri deposit). One of the sources of tin could have been deposits in Bengal; it is possible that it also came from Afghanistan. Gold and silver could come from Afghanistan and the south of the Deccan. Semi-precious and ornamental minerals were delivered from Khorasan (turquoise), from the Pamirs, from Eastern Turkestan, from Tibet, from Northern Burma (lapis lazuli, jade). Deposits of ornamental stones, from which people loved to make beads, were located on the subcontinent.

The climate, generally tropical monsoon, is at the same time diverse. In the Indo-Iranian border region it is semi-arid with predominantly summer precipitation. East Sindh receives 7 mm of rainfall annually. In the north, in the Himalayas, winters are cold, on the plains they are mild, and summers are hot, temperatures up to +43°C. On the Deccan Plateau, temperature fluctuations between seasons are less dramatic.

The geographical location of the Indian subcontinent determines the specifics of its climate, and therefore the characteristics of the economy. From October to May, rain is rare, with the exception of areas of the west coast and certain areas of Ceylon. The peak of heat occurs in April, by the end of which the grass burns out and leaves fall from the trees. In June, the monsoon season begins, lasting about two months. At this time, activities outside homes are difficult, nevertheless, it is perceived by Indians as Europeans perceive spring, a time of revitalization of nature. Now, as partly in ancient times, two types of crops are practiced - rabi, using artificial irrigation, in which the crop was harvested in early summer, and kharif, in which the crop was harvested in the fall. Previously, soil fertility was regularly restored by the floods of the Indus, and farming conditions were favorable for agriculture, livestock breeding, fishing, and hunting.

The nature of the subcontinent is characterized by its peculiar severity - people suffered and continue to suffer from heat and floods, epidemic diseases characteristic of a hot and humid climate. At the same time, nature served as a powerful stimulus for the formation of a vibrant and original culture.

Characteristics of the Harappan civilization

Chronology and cultural communities

The chronology of the Harappan civilization is based on evidence of its contacts mainly with Mesopotamia and radiocarbon dates. Its existence is divided into three stages:

• 2900-2200 BC. - early
• 2200-1800 BC. - developed (mature)
• 1800-1300 BC. - late

Calibrated dates date its beginnings back to 3200 BC. A number of researchers note that calibrated dates conflict with Mesopotamian dating. Some researchers (in particular, K.N. Dikshit) believe that the late period of the Harappan civilization lasted until 800 BC, i.e. the time of iron's appearance here. Nowadays it can be considered a generally accepted opinion that the end of the existence of civilization was not immediate and in some areas it existed until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. and further.

"Dancing Girl" Found in 1926 in Mohejo-Daro. Copper, height 14 cm. Approx. 2500-1600 BC.

For a long time, there was an idea in science of the Harappan civilization as something uniform and little changing over the centuries. This idea is the result of a lack of information and underestimation by archaeologists at a certain stage of research of facts indicating the peculiarities of the relationship economic activity people and the natural environment, features of economic activity and culture in the broadest sense of the word. In recent decades, archaeologists have identified several zones characterized by specific features material culture, -

• eastern,
• northern,
• central,
• southern,
• western,
• southeast.

Still closeness material elements civilization, at least during its heyday, presupposes the existence of a culture whose bearers in different areas maintained close contacts with each other. How were their communities organized? Why did such a large community develop at all? Why is it believed (although new data may refute this) that big cities? What role did trade play in civilization? Judging by how ideas about this culture are changing under the influence of new discoveries, its image is still very far from clear.

Geography of areas of cultural distribution and their features

The main areas of distribution of the Harappan civilization are the Indus Valley in Sindh with the adjacent lowlands, the middle reaches of the Indus, Punjab and adjacent areas, Gujarat, Balochistan. At the peak of its development, Harappa occupied an unusually vast territory for an early civilization - about 800,000 square meters. km, significantly exceeding the territory of the early states of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Probably, not all territories were inhabited at the same time and developed with the same intensity. It can be assumed that the development of the Indus Valley also took place from the territory of Baluchistan; it was the inhabitants of this region that could lay the foundations of the Harappan civilization. At the same time, more and more materials are appearing indicating the existence of pre-Harappan inhabitants in the Indus Valley. Gujarat acquires importance only at a later stage, at the same time Makran is being developed (its coast is convenient for navigation), signs of the Harappan civilization indicate the gradual spread of its carriers to the south (in particular, in Kutch, Harappan ceramics appear along with local pottery) and the east. Climatically, these zones differ:

• The plains of Pakistan experience the effects of the summer monsoons.
• The climate on the Makran coast is Mediterranean.
• In Baluchistan, small oases are located in river valleys with permanent or seasonal watercourses, and pastures are located on mountain slopes.
• In some areas (Quetta Valley), where rainfall is relatively high (more than 250 mm per year), rain-fed farming is possible on a limited scale. In this area there are deposits of various minerals, copper; Lapis lazuli was recently discovered in the Chagai Mountains, but the question of the use of this deposit in ancient times still remains open.

Balochistan is important as a relatively well-studied region, where settlement dynamics can be traced back to the Neolithic era (Mehrgarh). At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. the population in the north and central part becomes rare and only in the south does the Kulli culture continue to exist. It is possible that the reason is the disruption of old economic ties between the population of mountainous zones and valleys. At the same time, the population of the Indus Valley increases, although the relative desolation of Balochistan does not mean that only from this region there was an influx of population; moreover, it is very likely that for various and as yet unclear reasons, people from other neighboring regions came to the area of ​​​​the Harappan civilization. It is noteworthy that Harappan settlements were also located on the edge of the Indus Valley, on the routes leading to Iran and Afghanistan.

The emergence of such a vast civilization is the result of economic and cultural integration, in which regional characteristics were preserved. Continuity of development with neighboring areas and with the pre-Harappan cultures of the Indus Valley can be traced in many ways. In the end, a completely unique culture was formed. Its most important features are

• extensive development of large river valleys,
• the emergence of large cities (evidence of the existence of a complexly structured society or societies),
• exchange over long distances,
• development of crafts and highly artistic arts,
• the emergence of writing,
• the existence of complex religious ideas, calendar, etc.

It is hardly productive to believe that the “idea of ​​civilization” was brought to the Indus Valley from outside, from Mesopotamia or Iran. On the contrary, all available evidence points to its deep local roots, although one cannot ignore the role of contacts with other cultural formations, the extent of the expected impact of which, however, remains unclear. Thus, A. Dani believed that in neighboring Iran three regions played an extremely important role in the formation of Harappa - the southeast (Bampur, Tepe Yahya and the coast), the region of Helmand, an intermediary in the transfer of northern and southeastern Iranian cultural elements, and the Damgana region in the northeast. From there, connections spread through Afghanistan and Balochistan. Further we will have to say what role distant connections played in the history of Harappa.

The central part of the Harappan civilization was located in the Indus Valley, a huge river with a variable course, the depth and width of which doubled in summer as a result of melting snow and monsoon rainfall. Its waters bring fertile deposits, but the instability of the river has created and continues to create great difficulties for the development of land. In Sindh, where one of the largest cities of the Harappan civilization, Mohenjo-Daro, is located, the coastal areas were dominated by lush thickets of reeds and moisture-loving plants, then there were forests in which reptiles, rhinoceroses and elephants, tigers, wild boars, antelopes, and deer lived in ancient times. Until relatively recently, as mentioned above, these places abounded in game. The bearers of the Harappan culture depicted many representatives of the local fauna and flora on their products.

Another important territory of civilization was the Punjab, where the city that gave its name to the entire culture is located - Harappa. The natural situation here is close to that in Sindh; the flora and fauna differ little from those in Sind. Rain-fed farming is possible in the Islamabad area. Forests are common in the hills and mountains surrounding Punjab and surrounding areas. There is reason to believe that mobile forms of pastoralism played a significant role in ancient times in Punjab, especially in neighboring Rajasthan.

The geographical conditions of Gujarat are similar to those characteristic of Southern Sindh. Recently, signs of the existence of pre-Harappan settlements have been discovered here.

Population of the regions

Anthropological data, according to some researchers, indicate the heterogeneity of the anthropological type of the bearers of the Harappan civilization. Among them were representatives of the Mediterranean and Alpine types, according to some researchers, originating from the west, Mongoloids from mountainous regions and proto-Australoids, a supposed autochthonous population. At the same time, V.P. Alekseev believed that the main type was long-headed, narrow-faced Caucasians, dark-haired and dark-eyed, related to the population of the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and Western Asia. It is possible that the diversity of funeral rites of Harappa itself, Mohenjo-Daro, Kalibangan, Rupar, Lothal, and Balochistan speaks about the multi-ethnicity of the bearers of the Harappan culture. The appearance of corpses in urns (simultaneous with burials in Swat) in late Harappa is noteworthy.

Economy in the Harappan civilization

Due to the diversity of environmental conditions, the economy was dominated by two forms - agriculture and livestock raising and mobile cattle breeding; gathering and hunting, and the use of river and sea resources also played a role. According to B. Subbarao, in early history In India, three stages can be distinguished, with which the prevailing forms of management are associated -

• pre-Harappan - in the north-west there were cultures of settled farmers and pastoralists, in the rest of the territory - hunters and gatherers.
• Harappan - there was an urban civilization, communities of archaic farmers-pastoralists and hunter-gatherers.
• and post-Harappan - settled agricultural cultures spread widely, the area of ​​which included Central Hindustan, which felt strong influence Harappan civilization.

Rain farming was practiced on lands that were sufficiently moistened by monsoon rains. In the foothills and mountain areas, stone embankments were built to retain water, and terraces were built to arrange crop areas. In river valleys in ancient times, although there is no definitive data on this, flood waters were accumulated by creating dams and dams. There is no information about the construction of canals, which is understandable due to thick layers of sediment. The main agricultural crops were wheat and barley, lentils and several types of peas, flax, as well as such an important crop as cotton. The main harvest is believed to be until the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. collected in summer (rabi). Later, in some areas, the kharif crop was also practiced, in which sowing was done in summer and harvesting in autumn. During this late period, millet introduced from the west and its varieties spread. They begin to cultivate rice - imprints have been found in Rangpur and Lothal, and it may have been cultivated in Kalibangan. In western Uttar Pradesh, intermediate forms from wild to cultivated have been identified. An opinion was expressed about the beginning of rice cultivation here in the 5th millennium BC, somewhat earlier than in China. It is believed that at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. This important crop is becoming increasingly widespread in South Asia, although its origins remain unclear.

New forms of agriculture made it possible to move away from the characteristic Harappan practice of growing winter cereals, thanks to which new zones were introduced in the old territories, and lands in the east were also developed. By the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. the livelihood base becomes more diverse than before. The resources of sea coasts and rivers are being exploited more widely; in some settlements, fish and shellfish were used more than other animal foods (for example, Balakot).

As already mentioned, the Neolithic inhabitants of the territories that were later covered by the Harappan civilization were engaged in animal husbandry. Predominated in different places different kinds cattle, large cattle dominated on well-watered alluvial lands, although small ones were also bred. Outside the alluvium the picture was reversed. In the alluvial valleys, primarily in the Indus Valley, the number of cattle was very significant - in some places up to 75% of all animals used (Jalipur near Harappa).

Important changes occur at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC: in the settlement of Pirak in the northern part of the Kachi Valley, near Mehrgarh, not only the bones of a camel and a donkey were discovered, but also the oldest evidence of horse breeding in South Asia.

To cultivate the land, a primitive wooden plow was used, to which oxen were harnessed, but it is obvious that small areas of particularly soft soil were cultivated with a hoe, a tool such as a digging stick and a harrow. In Kalibangan, traces of cross-plowing were discovered - further evidence of highly developed agriculture. The use of crop rotation is possible. Obvious existence different ways management; there is reason to believe that they played a complementary role. At the same time, there is no data on how relations between, for example, mainly fishermen and farmers or livestock breeders were regulated.

Settlements of the Harappan civilization

Studying the dynamics of the spread of the Harappan culture is difficult due to the low availability of early strata. Systems of interconnected settlements of different sizes and functions are also difficult to identify due to the concealment of many settlements, primarily small ones, under layers of sediment. Despite the difficulties of studying settlement dynamics, some progress has been achieved in this area. Thus, it is believed that more than a third of the settlements of the Amri culture in Sindh were abandoned during the Harappan time, but the rest continued to exist in the southwestern part.

Most settlements are small, from 0.5 to several hectares, this is rural settlements. The population was mainly rural. Currently, more than 1000 settlements have been discovered. There are four known large settlements (besides the two long-known ones, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, Ganveriwala and Rakhi-garhi in Punjab), the area of ​​which amounts to many tens of hectares, although the exact inhabited territory can be difficult to determine. Thus, Hill DK, excavated in Mohenjo-Daro, has an area of ​​26 hectares, while the total area is determined to be 80 and even 260 hectares, Hill E in Harappa is 15 hectares, although there are other hills here.

For a number of large settlements, a three-part structure was revealed - the parts received the conventional names “citadel”, “middle city” and “ lower city" A fourth development area has also been discovered in Dholavira. Both large and some relatively small settlements had perimeter walls surrounding a sub-rectangular area. They were built from baked bricks and adobe (in Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and some other settlements), stone and other available materials. It is assumed that the main purpose of the bypass walls was not defensive; they were supposed to serve as a means of protection against floods. Perhaps their construction was a consequence of the desire to limit the habitat of certain social organisms. Thus, in Banawali, Surkotada and Kalibangan, the territory was divided into two parts by a wall. There is an opinion that fortification itself was necessary only on the outskirts of Harappan territory, at outposts created on foreign lands. The regular development of Harappan settlements sharply distinguishes them from the chaotic layout of cities of other civilizations of the Ancient East and can contribute to the reconstruction of the features of social organization, which is still far from clear.

In conditions favorable for study, it is possible to establish that the settlements were located in groups - “clusters”. The paucity of settlements in the vicinity of Harappa is surprising. A cluster of settlements was discovered 200 km south of Harappa, near Fort Abbas. The early Harappan settlement of Gomanwala had an area of ​​27.3 hectares, perhaps almost the same as contemporary Harappa. Another cluster was discovered upstream of the Ghaggar in Rajasthan - these are Kalibangan, Siswal, Banavali, etc.; Pre-Harappan layers were also exposed here (the Sothi-Kalibangan complex, which is similar to Kot Diji). With the beginning of Harappa, significant changes occurred in the Hakra-Ghaggar system: the number of settlements quadrupled and reached 174. In the cluster at Fort Derawar, the largest was Ganveriwala (81.5 hectares), located 300 km from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.

320 km from Harappa, on Drshadvati, there is a settlement called Rakhigarhi, the area of ​​which is supposed to be 80 hectares, although it has not been excavated. In Gujarat, Harappan settlements are small. In late Harappa there were more than 150 settlements here, many of them small and seasonal. The coastal Lothal stands out - a supposed port that carried out trade in copper, carnelian, steatite, shells, maintaining connections with hunting-gathering communities and, perhaps, those who were engaged in specialized cattle breeding.

IN Lately It has been suggested that on the territory of the Harappan civilization from the period preceding it to the later period, there were 7 or 8 large settlements - “capitals”, surrounded by towns and villages. In the strict sense, these were not central settlements, since they could also be located in peripheral territories, establishing contacts between zones that were different in ecological and economic terms.

Settlement of Mohenjo-daro

It is advisable to consider the features of large settlements using the example of the long-studied Mohenjo-Daro. Its exact dimensions are unknown due to accumulated sediments, but it is significant that traces of buildings were found 2 km from the supposed city border. During the heyday, the maximum number of inhabitants is determined to be 35-40 thousand people. The thickness of the cultural layer is very significant; fragments of clay vessels were found at a depth of 16 to 20 m from the level of the modern surface, while the mainland was not reached. And now the ancient division of the city into two parts is clearly visible - the “citadel” and the “lower city”, separated by an undeveloped area. The building materials were burnt and mud brick and wood. In all likelihood, baked brick was used because of its ability to resist the destructive effects of moisture.

The “citadel” structures were located on a five-meter brick platform. Two large structures of unclear purpose were excavated here, which were most likely intended for meetings (the assumption that one of them could have been the residence of a high-ranking official is unlikely). One of them, with an area of ​​70x22 m. with thick walls, had a vestibule, the other had a hall with an area of ​​about 900 sq. m. m. - was divided into four parts by rows of pillars.

The foundation of the structure, the upper part of which was wooden, was also discovered here. According to popular belief, it was extensive, with an area of ​​1350 square meters. m., a public granary, at the base of which there are deep ventilation channels. A similar granary was discovered in Harappa at the foot of the “citadel”; here its area is 800 sq. m.

Finally, on the “citadel” there was a “large pool”, built later than other buildings. Its area is 11.70 × 6.90 m, depth - 2.40 m. Wooden stairs coated with bitumen led to it from the narrow sides. For waterproofing, lime and bitumen coating was made. The pool was filled from a nearby well and emptied using a chute in one of the walls. It was surrounded by a gallery, from which the pillars have been preserved. It is believed that it could have served for ritual ablutions, which were given great importance. Evidence of this is the existence of “bathrooms” in residential buildings.

“Lower Town” was occupied by residential development. The blocks of houses were separated by straight streets and alleys located at right angles. The significant height of the walls - up to 6 m - gave rise to the now rejected opinion that the houses were not one-story: the height of the walls, as well as the great depth of the regularly located wells (one for every three houses), are the result of reconstruction.

Premises with flat ceilings were grouped around courtyards; the area of ​​the largest block, which consisted of two parts connected by a covered passage, was 1400 sq.m.; there is no basis to judge that it belongs to a high-ranking official. In general, the area of ​​the houses reached 355 square meters. m, and they consisted of 5-9 rooms.

Landscaping was unusually developed for antiquity. Bathrooms and toilets are found in the houses. Under the pavements there were sewer channels lined with baked bricks, and settling tanks were located at a certain distance from each other.

Relatively recent further investigations of Mohenjo-Daro have made it possible to trace changes in the principles of its development. During the developed Harappan period, it was cramped, with wide axial streets. The houses were both small and large, their plans varied. No traces of craft activity were found. Later, the number of small buildings increases, and the layout becomes more unified. The craft zone is approaching the residential zone. Finally, at the late stage of civilization, dwellings form isolated groups, and traces of handicraft production are discovered. The sewer system is falling into disrepair, which indicates a crisis in the organization of urban life.

Crafts and art

For the traditional culture of antiquity, which includes the Harappan culture, the division into craft and art is hardly legitimate. Creations of artisans, were they intended for Everyday life or for rituals, often marked by high skill. At the same time, among the things of each category there are better and worse made ones, and there are also rough ones, the manufacture of which did not require great skill. Differences in the quality of products indicate the existence of high-class professionals, stone carvers, jewelers, and sculptors. In different settlements, workshops were discovered where they made dishes, jewelry (including from shells), etc. The works of Harappan craftsmen are distinguished by their deep originality, and attempts to find analogies for them in other regions, in particular in Mesopotamia, as a rule, come down to a small number of probable imports from the Indus Valley and difficult to prove similarities of individual pictorial motifs.

Tools

So, the production of tools, utensils, building materials was highly developed and specialized. One of the important indicators is the level of metalworking. The paucity of weapons is noteworthy, although copper and bronze daggers and knives, arrowheads and spearheads were found. Labor tools are largely associated with wood processing (axes, chisels, adzes) and with household chores (needles, piercing tools). Vessels were made from copper and silver, and rarely lead. Casting in open molds, cold and hot forging were known; Some items were cast using the lost wax technique. Alloys of copper with arsenic, lead and tin were used, and a large percentage - about 30 - of tin bronzes is noteworthy. Jewelry (bracelets and beads) was made from stone, shells, copper, silver, and rarely gold. Bracelets, as in later times, were worn a lot; in all likelihood, this custom had ritual character. IN special cases they used vessels made of copper and even gold.

Stone tools have not gone out of use either, and over time the variety of types decreases, the quality of raw materials and processing technology increases. Vessels were made from soft varieties of stone, including shaped ones, which had a ritual purpose, and from various minerals - beads, seals. Materials for both metal and stone products were often delivered from afar.

Ceramics

Another indicator of a highly developed craft is ceramic production. The dishes were made on a rapid rotation wheel and fired in two-tier furnaces. The shapes are varied and generally standard - bowls, goblets, dishes, braziers, vessels with a pointed bottom and stands, vessels for making dairy products. The tradition of painting vessels is preserved, although it is dying out: black painting on a red background, geometric and figurative - images of animals, plants, fish. Although ceramics good quality, the vessels are heavy and differ from the more elegant products of pre-Harappan times, which happens in the ceramic production of not only ancient cultures, when it becomes widespread.

Women's figurines were sculpted from clay, and less often, men's figurines, including characters in horned headdresses. They are undoubtedly associated with mythological ideas and rituals. These figurines are quite conventional, with molded details depicting body parts and numerous decorations. Very expressive figurines of bulls, sometimes harnessed to carts, and wild and domestic animals were made from clay and stone. At least some of them could have been toys.

Small stone and metal sculptures of men and women are distinguished by their great resemblance to life, which well convey the anthropological type of at least part of the bearers of the Harappan civilization. The most famous is a fragment of a sculptural image of a bearded man in a diadem, in a robe decorated with relief trefoils. The squinting of his eyes resembles the position of the eyelids of a meditating person.

Making stamps

The real masterpieces were stamp seals made mainly from soapstone, intended, as the found prints show, for sealing goods, although it is very likely that they were also perceived as amulets and talismans. They are flat, square or rectangular, with a protrusion with a hole on the back. A few samples are round; There are practically no cylinder seals, so characteristic of Mesopotamia, Iran and other regions of Western Asia. As on the vessels, they depicted mainly plants and animals (“tur”, the so-called unicorn, humpbacked bull, tiger, crocodile, snakes, fantastic polymorphic creatures). In Mohenjo-Daro there are about 75% of such images. The images are in-depth, executed with great skill and understanding of body shapes, rendered close to life. As a rule, animals are depicted standing calmly near objects, which are interpreted as feeders or conventional symbols. In addition, samples were found with images of anthropomorphic male and female creatures in various poses, including those reminiscent of yogic ones. They are represented by participants in rituals. In addition to the image, a short inscription could be placed on the seals. There are seals with conventional geometric shapes.

The images on the seals are associated with holidays and rituals - feeding an animal, treating a snake, worshiping a tree in whose branches a goddess could be depicted, the marriage of gods in anthropomorphic and zoomorphic form. Judging by the available materials, the goddess played a major role in marriage myths. Images similar to those applied to seals are found on copper plates of unknown purpose. There were prismatic stone and clay objects, the belonging of which to the category of seals is questioned; perhaps they played the role of amulets. Seals could serve as signs of ownership, but there is no doubt that they also served ritual purposes, they were something like amulets, and the images on them contain information about mythological ideas and rituals. Research by W.F. Vogt of the seals of Mohenjo-Daro did not provide grounds for judging social differentiation among the population.

It is on the study of seals and related products that work on deciphering proto-Indian writing is based.

Writing and language

The study of the writing system and language of the Harappan texts has not yet been completed; Domestic researchers played a significant role in the research (a group led by Yu.V. Knorozov). The conclusions they reached are presented here based on the work of M.F. Albedil “Proto-Indian civilization. Essays on Culture" (Moscow, 1994). The difficulty of understanding the texts lies in the fact that they are written in an unknown script in an unknown language, and there are no bilinguals. About 3000 texts are known, lapidary (mostly 5-6 characters) and monotonous. The letter was hieroglyphic (about 400 characters), written from right to left. It is believed that the texts were of a sacred nature.

It turned out that early texts were written on stone plates, then on stone, and less often metal seals. The existence of cursive writing is not ruled out. When interpreting the signs, pictograms of the modern peoples of India, primarily the Dravidian-speaking ones, were used.

Researchers believe they have deciphered general meaning most of the inscriptions and revealed the formal structure grammatical system. Comparison with the structure of languages ​​hypothetically existing in the Indus Valley led to the exclusion of all but Dravidian. At the same time, scientists consider it unacceptable to mechanically extrapolate the phonetics, grammar and vocabulary of historically recorded languages ​​into Proto-Indian. Reliance is placed on the study of the texts themselves, and the Dravidian elements are used as a “correction factor”. Translation is based on the semantic interpretation of the sign, which is determined by the method of positional statistics. They also turned to Sanskrit, as a result of which it was possible to identify the correspondence of 60 astronomical and calendar names and the structural correspondence in the names of the years of the 60-year chronological cycle of Jupiter, known only in the Sanskrit version.

It is assumed that the text block consisted of the name of the owner of the seal in a respectful form, explanations of a calendar and chronological nature and an indication of the period of validity of the seal. There is an assumption that the seals of officials belonged to them temporarily, for a certain period.

Judging by the deciphering of the texts, the solar agricultural year began with the autumn equinox. There were 12 months in a year, the names of which reflected natural phenomena; “micro-seasons” were distinguished. Astronomical year was based on four fixed points - solstices and equinoxes. New moons and full moons were revered. The symbol of the winter solstice, the beginning of the year, is believed to have been the tour. There were several subsystems of time reckoning - lunar (hunting-gatherer), solar (agricultural), state (civil) and priestly. In addition, there were calendar cycles - 5-, 12-, 60-year; they had symbolic designations. These are the assumptions of domestic researchers of proto-Indian texts.

The problem of exchange and trade

For a long time, in the science of antiquity there was an idea of ​​greater or lesser isolation and self-sufficiency of ancient social formations, in particular the Harappan ones. Thus, W. Ferservis wrote that trade played a large role in Sumer, a somewhat smaller role in Egypt, and the Harappan civilization was in a state of isolation and trade relations were random, not systematic. Later, in the 70s of the 20th century, the attitude towards the role of exchange and trade in antiquity changed dramatically, especially in foreign science. Reconstructions of not only the economy, but also the social structure of ancient societies that were unliterate or did not have informative written texts began to be carried out taking into account the role of exchange, not at the local level, but over long distances. Now some researchers attach great importance to the role of trade in the formation and existence of the Harappan civilization. In particular, a number of Indian scholars believe that traders played a large role in the formation of cities and ideological ideas, and they consider the disruption of trade with countries west of Harappa to be the reason for the decline of cities. Researchers (including K.N. Dikshit) associate the decline of trade in the later period with the weakening of central power, as a result of which trade routes became unsafe. The change in the political situation in Mesopotamia and the rise to power of Hammurabi caused the weakening of the cities of Southern Mesopotamia, and trade routes began to be reoriented to the west, to Anatolia and the Mediterranean. Cyprus became the source of copper, and not, as before, Oman and its neighboring territories.

Trade with Western countries

The existence of connections between the bearers of the Harappan civilization and their close and distant neighbors cannot be doubted, primarily because the Indus Valley, its indigenous territory, like Mesopotamia, is poor in the minerals that people needed and used. Minerals and shells came from the subcontinent and were widely used in various industries. Copper was delivered from more distant areas (its deposits were exploited in Iran, in particular in Kerman, and Afghanistan) and gold. Tin, as currently available information allows us to judge, came from Central Asia(one of the supposed sources is the Fergana Valley, the other is located in the southwest of Afghanistan), lapis lazuli is from Badakhshan (if not from the Chagai Mountains), turquoise is from Iran. Already in Neolithic Mehrgarh, connections with Iran are clearly visible, from where widely used minerals were delivered - crystalline gypsum (“alabaster” of archaeological literature) and steatite. The appearance of Late Harappan settlements in the foothills of the Himalayas may be connected precisely with the need of civilization for mineral raw materials - in one of the settlements traces of the production of various beads were found, clearly intended for exchange.

Already at the end of the 4th millennium BC. names began to appear in Mesopotamian texts southern countries- Dilmun, Magan, Meluhha. There have been and continue to be debates about their localization in science. Probably during the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. they meant different territories. However, it is clear that Dilmun and Magan were intermediate between Mesopotamia and Meluhha - the supposed Indus Valley. Dilmun (Bahrain) always played an intermediary role, while the real sources of the much-valued copper, wood, and minerals were not always known to the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and their source could be considered the point where they received them - Dilmun. Thanks to the finds recent years It became clear that one of the important suppliers of copper to Mesopotamia was Oman. Standard copper ingots weighing about 6 kg are typical of finds of this kind from Syria to Lothal. It is noteworthy that the peak of information about this exchange occurs during the heyday of Harappa, around the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. Harappan type seals have been found in Ur, Umma, Nippur, Tell Asmara, on the Persian Gulf Islands, Bahrain and Failak, on the coast of the Arabian Sea. An inscription in Harappan script was discovered in Oman. The carriers of another culture, kulli, were also associated with the western regions - products typical of it were found in Abu Dhabi.

In Lagash at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. lived Harappan traders with their families. There have also been suggestions about the existence of Mesopotamian colonies on the territory of Harappa, although direct data on this matter is still insufficient. Everyone is surprised by the extremely small number of things characteristic of the Mesopotamian civilization on Harappan territory. This is usually attributed to the fact that they could be made from short-lived materials; Fabrics are mentioned among the likely imports. Perhaps the absence of foreign things is a consequence of the Harappans’ strong commitment to their traditions: researchers recall that in the houses of Indian merchants in the 19th century. It was rare to find things of foreign origin.

The sea route was most likely used - there are known images of sailing ships that were built from wood and reeds. The voyage was coastal, the sailors did not lose sight of the shore. There is an opinion, although not shared by all researchers, that the port was Lothal in Gujarat, where a structure similar to a dock was discovered. A seal typical of the Persian Gulf region was found at Lothal.

Trade with the Nordic countries

Exchange with nearby territories could be direct, and with distant ones - indirect. At the same time, the discovery of a real Harappan colony in Northern Afghanistan, near the confluence of Kokchi and Amu Darya, is symptomatic. It is believed that Shortugai was a “trading point” on the route connecting Harappa with the territory of Turkmenistan and other neighboring regions. One of the likely objects of interest of the “Harappans” is lapis lazuli, and possibly tin. The inhabitants of Shortugay brought lentils and sesame from India; the local crops they cultivated were grapes, wheat, rye and alfalfa; they raised zebu and buffalo from their native places. At the settlements of the Anau culture of Southern Turkmenistan, seals of the Harappan type, ivory products were discovered, and there are signs characteristic of Harappan products in the shapes and decoration of ceramic vessels.

Land routes ran north through mountain passes, bypassing the Dashte Lut desert into the Diyala valley, along river valleys within their territory, possibly along the coast - Harappan settlements were found on the Makran coast. It is unlikely that carts drawn by oxen, models of which made of clay and bronze were found in different settlements, were used for long journeys. But already in the period of the developed Harappa, they began to use Bactrian camels, which are believed to have been domesticated in Central Asia, data on which were obtained in Southern Turkmenistan, where the camel, according to existing assumptions, was domesticated back in the 4th millennium BC. In exchange operations, they used mainly cubic stone weights weighing 8, 16, 32, 64, 160, 200, 320, 640, 1600, 3200, 6400, 8000 g. Conical, spherical, and barrel-shaped weights were also used. Rulers with measuring divisions were also used.

The question of the location remains debatable foreign trade in the economic life of the Harappans. Was it an essential or peripheral part of the economy? Did it represent a more or less regular exchange or was it a planned trade? How were the products of internal exchange realized in it? Was the trade directed by "government administrators" or professional agents?

As with the study of other areas of Harappan culture, the answer to these questions depends on the reconstruction of the social order as a whole, the understanding of which is far from clear. Nevertheless, it is hardly justified to conclude that trade and production of goods differed little from modern ones.

Social structure

Researchers of large Harappan settlements, from the moment their structure became clear, expressed, on the basis of the division of these settlements into two or more parts, an assumption about the division of society into the nobility - the inhabitants of the “citadels” and the rest of the population. Some researchers interpret the inscriptions on clay bracelets as titles. M. Wheeler saw an analogy to the social organization of Harappa in the city-states of Mesopotamia, and considered the idea of ​​cities brought from Sumer. Many scholars have written about the Harappan "empire" with centralized power and an exploited rural population. They also assumed the existence of several classes - an oligarchy, warriors, traders and artisans (K.N. Dikshit), rulers, farmers-traders, workers (B.B. Lal), to which some added slaves. M.F. Albedil wrote about the possibility of a highly centralized political structure in proto-Indian society. At the same time, it allowed for a strong role for local centers, in which central power was partially duplicated locally. Some researchers rightly focus attention on the specifics of Harappan society, in particular on the place of the priesthood in public life, which was different than in Mesopotamia with its organized temple households. Nevertheless, there are reasons to believe that at least at some stages, especially during the developed Harappan period, there could have been a strong ruling elite consisting of priests. Based on the decipherment of documents of proto-Indian writing proposed in Russian science, one can assume the functioning of temples and priesthood and even the presence of political leaders.

So, the data does not allow us to draw direct parallels between public organization Mesopotamia or Elam and the one that the bearers of the Harappan civilization had. Until now, despite a significant volume of excavations, no signs of the existence of rulers and individuals who concentrated in their hands significant material values, deposited, in particular, in burials, as was the case in Mesopotamia or Egypt, have been discovered. The weak manifestation of the military function in society is symptomatic. Apparently, significant wealth was not concentrated in the temples. Business documents were not found or were not identified.

At the same time, there are facts indicating the existence of property inequality, the presence in society of groups occupying different social status and those who performed different functions. The accumulation of values ​​is suggested, in particular, by treasures discovered in Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and other places. W. Ferservis, taking into account the peculiarities of the Harappan civilization, drew attention to the large number of short-term settlements and the significant role of livestock breeding, which could act as a symbol of wealth. Settlements in a particular area played different roles - among them were predominantly agricultural ones and those in which craft production and exchange predominated. These settlements were interconnected. He suggested that the form of organization was not a city-state or a single state, but chiefdoms. According to his hypothesis, the Harappan chiefdoms were based on kinship ties and were similar to those known in Hawaii, Northwest America, Southeast Asia and West Africa.

The degree of development of cities, crafts and economy, the formation of its specialized forms, agriculture and cattle breeding implied the need to regulate relations between representatives of different spheres of activity. The circulation of “primitive values”, traced, in particular, through the example of lapis lazuli products, led other researchers to the assumption of the formation of formations such as chiefdoms already at the early stage of Harappa. In the future, the emergence of a state is assumed in which power was no longer associated with genealogical rank, and relations of production were separated from relations based on kinship. Application of the chiefdom concept to reconstruction social order pre-state societies of the East raised objections. As an alternative, another model was proposed, based on the study of acephalous societies of the Eastern Himalayas (in Russian science, its development belongs to Yu.E. Berezkin). Farm type: irrigated agriculture and cattle breeding. Signs of such societies, some of which can be discerned in archaeological material, are expressed in the appearance of settlements. These are closely built-up villages without monumental architecture with many small sanctuaries, the existence of differences in property status, overcome thanks to a special institution of redistribution such as the potlatch, specialized crafts, trade exchange, obtaining exotic prestigious things through trade over long distances. These are not chiefdoms, but neither are they groups of closed village communities. At the same time, community and clan institutions were weak, and the individual, thanks to individual ownership of the means of production, was independent. Public life regulated during mass ceremonies and celebrations, during which complex systems of relations developed, covering the entire area of ​​residence of the ethnic group. In the villages there were councils of respected men. It cannot be ruled out that the society of the Harappan civilization without a layer of elite and with public buildings that required relatively little labor could have been more likely to be similar to those described, but on a larger scale. It should be noted that before and, what is especially noteworthy, now, with the advent of new data, opinions are being expressed about the existence of the state.

Religious and mythological ideas and rituals

It is difficult to judge the myths, beliefs, rituals, as well as the spiritual life of the “Harappans” in general, primarily due to the low information content of written monuments, even if we recognize the accuracy of their interpretation. The sources are primarily images on seals and other things, samples of clay, stone, and metal sculpture, traces of rituals. Temples - one of the main evidence of the veneration of the gods - did not exist or are not identified. One of the grounds for reconstructions is a comparison of known data with the ideas and rituals of the supposed historical successors of the bearers of the Harappan civilization or, as many researchers are inclined to think, the Dravidian-speaking peoples of India related to them in language.

Animals depicted on seals and metal plates: humpbacked Indian bull, gaur bull, buffalo, an animal similar to a bull, but depicted with one horn (“unicorn”), tiger, rhinoceros, crocodile, elephant, rarely a rabbit, birds, fantastic multi-headed animals, according to domestic researchers, served as symbols, some of them - cardinal directions and/or seasons. Trees were also depicted - peepal, ashwattha. The tree is sometimes depicted rising from a ring-shaped enclosure - it probably served as an object of worship, embodying the idea of ​​a “world tree” (enclosures of this appearance were discovered during excavations). In later times, revered trees were decorated, in particular, in order to have children. Sacrificial rituals played an important role.

A seal depicting a horned figure, possibly a yogi, either proto-Shiva or Pashuvati (lord of animals).

There are known images of anthropomorphic female and male creatures, found, in particular, in scenes of their worship. One seal depicts a horned male figure, whose pose, according to J. Marshall, resembles that in which Shiva was depicted. E. Düring Kaspers pointed to images of a horned and tailed character with a bow, which, in her opinion, evidenced the existence of hunting rituals. Female creatures, images of which are also known in small plastic works, are usually associated with images of “mother goddesses”. Apparently, there were many such mythological creatures; they were, at least in part, associated with fertility cults and ideas about life and death. Among the gods, they suggest the predecessors of Skanda, creator gods, spirits - the predecessors of the Yakshas, ​​Gandharvas, Apsaras. There were rituals of sacred marriage, perhaps performed seasonally.

Research by Yu.V. Knorozova, M.F. Albedil and other domestic scientists suggest the veneration of celestial bodies based on deep knowledge of astronomy and observations of natural phenomena. Famous sculptures of men and women most likely depicted priests and performers of ritual dances. There is evidence that rituals were carried out in open courtyards; in Kalibangan, on the “citadel”, something like fire altars was discovered near the platform. Podiums with signs of cattle sacrifices were found. It is very likely that shamanic-type rituals and corresponding ideas exist. The images of bull hunters may be associated with ancient ideas inherent in hunters; The image of people jumping over a buffalo is interesting (W. Ferservis suggested the possibility of Cretan influence on this image made in an unusual linear style, which requires new confirmation). Cult objects were conical and cylindrical stones - something like lingas and ring-shaped objects - possible predecessors of the yoni.

Many researchers have no doubt about the profound influence of the religious practices and ideas of the bearers of the Harappan culture on the later ones brought by the Aryans. These include, in particular, the practice of yoga.

In general, the interpretation of the evidence of the Harappan religion, as well as the social system, depends on the position of the researcher:

• if we assume that society was organized hierarchically, and civilization was a holistic entity, we can talk about a pantheon, a priesthood with a hierarchy, etc.;
• if we assume that the organization of society was archaic, then we will have to talk about the diversity of ideas and religious life, even if they have a certain commonality.

Disappearance of the Harappan civilization

According to tradition, there are two reasons why the Harappan civilization could have disappeared -

• change in climatic conditions, and, as a consequence, change in the course of the Indus
• the arrival of other ethnic groups in the Indus Valley, and in particular the Aryans.

You can read in more detail what could have happened in.

Be that as it may, the role of the Harappan civilization in the history of India is still truly difficult to determine, although, following many researchers, it can be regarded as extremely important. Among the preserved heritage there are forms of traditional way of life, social structure, a significant array of religious ideas and rituals. It is assumed that the four-varna division and the caste system were formed under the influence of non-Aryan ethnocultural substrates.

At the beginning of the 20th century. in archaeological science there is a strong opinion that the birthplace of the productive economy, urban culture, writing, in general civilization, is the Middle East. This area, according to the apt definition of the English archaeologist James Breasted, was called the “Fertile Crescent”. From here, cultural achievements spread throughout the Old World, to the west and east. However, new research has made serious adjustments to this theory.

The first finds of this kind were made already in the 20s. XX century. Indian archaeologists Sahni and Banerjee discovered civilization on the banks of the Indus, which existed simultaneously from the era of the first pharaohs and the era of the Sumerians in the III-II millennia BC. e. (three of the most ancient civilizations in the world). A vibrant culture with magnificent cities, developed crafts and trade, and unique art appeared before the eyes of scientists. First, archaeologists excavated the largest urban centers of this civilization - Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. By the name of the first she received name - Harappan civilization. Later, many other settlements were found. Now about a thousand of them are known. They covered the entire Indus Valley and its tributaries with a continuous network, like a necklace covering the northeastern coast of the Arabian Sea in the territory of present-day India and Pakistan.

The culture of ancient cities, large and small, turned out to be so vibrant and unique that researchers had no doubt: this country was not the outskirts of the Fertile Crescent of the world, but an independent center of civilization, today a forgotten world of cities. There is no mention of them in written sources, and only the earth retained traces their former greatness.

Map. Ancient India - Harappan civilization

History of ancient India - Proto-Indian culture of the Indus Valley

Other the mystery of ancient Indian civilization- its origin. Scientists continue to debate whether it had local roots or was introduced from outside, with whom intensive trade was carried out.

Most archaeologists believe that Proto-Indian civilization grew out of local early agricultural cultures that existed in the Indus Basin and the neighboring region of Northern Balochistan. Archaeological discoveries support their point of view. In the foothills closest to the Indus Valley, hundreds of settlements of ancient farmers dating back to the 6th-4th millennia BC have been discovered. e.

This transition zone between the mountains of Baluchistan and the Indo-Gangetic plain provided the early farmers with everything they needed. The climate was favorable for growing plants during the long, warm summers. Mountain streams provided water for irrigating crops and, if necessary, could be blocked by dams to retain fertile river silt and regulate field irrigation. The wild ancestors of wheat and barley grew here, and herds of wild buffalo and goats roamed. Flint deposits provided raw materials for making tools. The convenient position opened up opportunities for trade contacts with Central Asia and Iran in the west and the Indus Valley in the east. This area was more suitable than any other for the emergence of agriculture.

One of the first agricultural settlements known in the foothills of Baluchistan was called Mergar. Archaeologists excavated a significant area here and identified seven horizons of the cultural layer in it. These horizons, from the lower, most ancient, to the upper, dating back to the 4th millennium BC. e., show the complex and gradual path of the emergence of agriculture.

In the earliest layers, the basis of the economy was hunting, with agriculture and cattle breeding playing a secondary role. Barley was grown. Of the domestic animals, only the sheep was domesticated. At that time, the residents of the settlement did not yet know how to make pottery. Over time, the size of the settlement increased - it stretched along the river, and the economy became more complex. Locals they built houses and granaries from mud bricks, grew barley and wheat, raised sheep and goats, made pottery and painted it beautifully, at first only with black, and later with different colors: white, red and black. The pots are decorated with whole processions of animals walking one after another: bulls, antelopes with branched horns, birds. Similar images have been preserved in Indian culture on stone seals. In the economy of farmers, hunting still played an important role, they did not know how to process metal and made their tools from stone. But gradually a stable economy was formed, developing on the same basis (primarily agriculture) as the civilization in the Indus Valley.

During the same period, stable trade ties with neighboring lands developed. This is indicated by the widespread decoration among farmers made from imported stones: lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise from Iran and Afghanistan.

Mergar society became highly organized. Public granaries appeared among the houses - rows of small rooms separated by partitions. Such warehouses acted as central distribution points for food. The development of society was also expressed in the increase in the wealth of the settlement. Archaeologists have discovered many burials. All residents were buried in rich outfits with jewelry from beads, bracelets, pendants.

Over time, agricultural tribes settled from mountainous areas to river valleys. They reclaimed the plain irrigated by the Indus and its tributaries. The fertile soil of the valley contributed to the rapid growth of population, the development of crafts, trade and agriculture. Villages grew into cities. The number of cultivated plants increased. The date palm appeared, in addition to barley and wheat, they began to sow rye, grow rice and cotton. Small canals began to be built to irrigate fields. They tamed a local species of cattle - the zebu bull. So it grew gradually the most ancient civilization of the north-west of Hindustan. At an early stage, scientists identify several zones within the range: eastern, northern, central, southern, western and southeastern. Each of them is characterized its own characteristics. But by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. the differences have almost disappeared, and in its heyday The Harappan civilization entered as a culturally unified organism.

True, there are other facts. They bring doubts into the slender theory of the origin of the Harappan, Indian civilization. Biological studies have shown that the ancestor of the domestic Indus Valley sheep was a wild species that lived in the Middle East. Much in the culture of the early farmers of the Indus Valley brings it closer to the culture of Iran and Southern Turkmenistan. By language, scientists establish a connection between the population of Indian cities and the inhabitants of Elam, an area that lay east of Mesopotamia, on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Judging by appearance ancient Indians, they are part of one large community that settled throughout the Middle East - from the Mediterranean Sea to Iran and India.

Adding up all these facts, some researchers have concluded that Indian (Harappan) civilization is a fusion of various local elements that arose under the influence of Western (Iranian) cultural traditions.

Decline of Indian civilization

The decline of the proto-Indian civilization also remains a mystery, awaiting a final solution in the future. The crisis did not start all at once, but spread throughout the country gradually. Most of all, as evidenced by archaeological data, the large centers of civilization located on the Indus suffered. In the capitals Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, it took place in the 18th-16th centuries. BC e. In all probability, decline Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro belong to the same period. Harappa lasted only slightly longer than Mohenjo-Daro. The crisis hit the northern regions faster; in the south, far from the centers of civilization, Harappan traditions persisted longer.

At that time, many buildings were abandoned, hastily made stalls were piled up along the roads, new small houses grew up on the ruins of public buildings, deprived of many of the benefits of a dying civilization. Other rooms were rebuilt. They used old bricks selected from destroyed houses. They did not produce new bricks. In cities there was no longer a clear division into residential and craft districts. There were pottery kilns on the main streets, which was not allowed in former times of exemplary order. The number of imported things decreased, which means that external relations weakened and trade declined. Craft production decreased, ceramics became coarser, without skillful painting, the number of seals decreased, and metal was used less frequently.

What appeared the reason for this decline? The most likely reasons seem to be of an environmental nature: a change in the level of the seabed, the Indus riverbed as a result of a tectonic shock that resulted in a flood; change in monsoon direction; epidemics of incurable and possibly previously unknown diseases; droughts due to excessive deforestation; soil salinization and the onset of desert as a consequence of large-scale irrigation...

The enemy invasion played a certain role in the decline and death of the cities of the Indus Valley. It was during that period that the Aryans, tribes of nomads from the Central Asian steppes, appeared in North-Eastern India. Perhaps their invasion was the last straw in the balance of the fate of the Harappan civilization. Due to internal turmoil, the cities were unable to withstand the onslaught of the enemy. Their inhabitants went to look for new, less depleted lands and safe places: to the south, to the sea, and to the east, to the Ganges valley. The remaining population returned to a simple rural lifestyle, as it had been a thousand years before these events. It adopted the Indo-European language and many elements of the culture of the nomadic aliens.

What did people look like in ancient India?

What kind of people settled in the Indus Valley? What did the builders of magnificent cities look like? ancient india? These questions are answered by two types of direct evidence: paleoanthropological materials from Harappan burial grounds and images of ancient Indians - clay and stone sculptures that archaeologists find in cities and small villages. So far these are few burials of residents of proto-Indian cities. Therefore, it is not surprising that conclusions regarding the appearance of the ancient Indians often changed. At first, it was assumed that the population would be racially diverse. The city organizers showed features of the proto-Australoid, Mongoloid, and Caucasian races. Later, the opinion was established about the predominance of Caucasian features in the racial types of the local population. The inhabitants of proto-Indian cities belonged to the Mediterranean branch of the large Caucasoid race, i.e. were mostly human dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-skinned, with straight or wavy hair, long-headed. This is how they are depicted in sculptures. Particularly famous was the carved stone figurine of a man wearing clothes richly decorated with a pattern of shamrocks. The face of the sculptural portrait is made with special care. Hair grabbed with a strap, a thick beard, regular features, half-closed eyes give a realistic portrait of a city dweller,