Homes

Posts about ancient Indus Valley Civilization homes and houses.

An Indus House #3

"One of the finds from the former room [13] consisted of fragments of a pierced lattice of alabaster which presumably filled the windows or ventilators at the top of the wall. Perforated screens with geometric patterns have been met with before in Kushan and Gupta buildings. It is now patent that perforated lattices were known and employed in the Indus valley in the prehistoric period," (Marshall, Mohenjo-daro, Vol. 1, 1931, p. 219). See also An Indus House #1 and An Indus House #2.

An Indus House #2

Drawing of the Interior of Hall 76, House XIII, VS Area [of Mohenjo-daro], one of 28 rooms in a well-preserved building. "There is nothing that we know of in prehistoric Egypt or Mesopotamia or anywhere else in western Asia to compare with the well-built baths and commodious houses of the citizens of Mohenjodaro" wrote John Marshall. "One of the finds from this [room] consisted of fragments of a pierced lattice of alabaster which presumably filled the windows or ventilators at the top of the wall" (Marshall, Mohenjo-daro Vol. 1, pgs. vi, 219). See also An Indus House #1 and An Indus House #3.

An Indus House #1

"House 13 in the VS Area [of Mohenjo-daro] has a more elaborate plan . . . On its ground floor are four fair-sized courts, ten smaller rooms, three staircases, a porter's lodge, and a well-chamber. The front is towards First Street, and here there are three entrances side by side, the principal one of which is plainly the middle, since this is the only one provided with a porter's lodge.

Harappa Mound AB Center

Harappa Mound AB Center with the great drain looking out over Punjab. Harappa was first excavated in 1872 by Alexander Cunningham, the original Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. Although he named the mounds and found a seal and other implements after digging a handful of trenches, he was in search of a Buddhist city and did not realize that he had come upon a Bronze Age civilization that would push back Indian history 2,000 years.

Mohenjo-daro Great Bath Diagram

"The Great Bath, which I have reserved to the last, was part of what appears to have been a vast hydropathic [water therapeutic] establishment and the most imposing of all the remains unearthed at Mohenjo-daro. Its plan is simple: in the centre, an open quadrangle with verandahs on its four sides, and at the back of three of the verandahs various galleries and rooms; on the south, a long allery with a small chamber in each corner; on the east, a single range of small chambers, including one with a well (no 16); on the north, a group of several halls and fair-sized rooms.

The Great Bath of Mohenjo-daro B

1. The Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, looking north. The side walls of the roughly 12 by 7 meter tank were constructed with finely fitted bricks and a thick layer of bitumen (natural tar) was laid along the sides of the tank to keep water from seeping through the walls and up into the superstructure. 2.Lower ledge inside the Great Bath, southern edge, looking east. At the foot of the stairs is a small ledge with a brick edging that extends the entire width of the pool. People coming down the stairs could move along this ledge without actually stepping into the pool itself.

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