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Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) in the northwestern region^[1] of the Indian subcontinent,^[2][3] consisting mainly of what is now Pakistan, and parts of India, Afghanistan and Iran.^[4] Flourishing around the Indus River basin, the civilization^{[n 1]} extended east into the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley^[8]and the upper reaches of Ganges-Yamuna Doab;^[9][10] it extended west to the Makran coast ofBalochistan, north to northeastern Afghanistan and south to Daimabad in Maharashtra. The civilization was spread over some 1,260,000 km², making it the largest known ancient civilization.^{[citation needed]}

The Indus Valley is one of the world's earliest urban civilizations, along with its contemporaries,Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. At its peak, the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The civilization is noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multistoried houses.

The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the Harappan Civilization, as the first of its cities to be unearthed was located at Harappa, excavated in the 1920s in what was at the time the Punjab province of British India (now in Pakistan).^[11] Excavation of Harappan sites has been ongoing since 1920, with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999.^[12] There were earlier and later cultures, often called Early Harappan and Late Harappan, in the same area of the Harappan Civilization. The Harappan civilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from these cultures. Up to 1999, over 1,056 cities and settlements have been found, out of which 96 have been excavated,^[13] mainly in the general region of the Indus andGhaggar-Hakra river and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centres ofHarappa, Mohenjo-daro (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan andRakhigarhi.^[14]

The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus scriptis still undeciphered. A relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo-Dravidian language family is favored by a section of scholars.^{[15][page needed][16]}