Homes

Posts about ancient Indus Valley Civilization homes and houses.

Imagining Life in Lothal

A reimagining of life in Lothal 4,000 years ago, satellite images of the town in context of today's landscape, and the discoverer, S. R. Rao's drawings of the town plan, bead factory and warehouse. "While exploring the Sabarmati estuary an ancient mound presently known as Lothal was discovered in November, 1954," wrote S. R. Rao. "The excavation conducted here during the following seven years has brought to light the existence of a flourishing port-city of the Indus Civilization with an excellent brick-built dock and nearly laid-out streets.

The Streets of Mohenjo-daro

"Inside the major blocks, the streets [of Mohenjo-daro] are not well-aligned. There are many doglegs and some deadends. The walls along the streets and lanes may pinch in on the avenues that grow narrower and narrower, but curves are rare in the Mohenjo-daro system of roads. "While there is regularity in the layout of Mohenjo-daro it is far from perfect. The regularity itself suggests that the founders of this city started with a clean plate, virgin soil, on which they began the construction of the metropolis." (Gregory Possehl, The Indus Civilization A Contemporary Perspective, p. 191, 1.

Mohenjo-daro Restaurant?

Was this an ancient Mohenjo-daro restaurant? Sir Mortimer Wheeler writes "Of another kind is a building fronting upon one of the main streets, 'First Street', in VR Area [Mohenjo-daro]. Its outside dimensions are 87 by 64.5 feet, but within that considerable framework are included not only residential quarters around the courtyard but also, towards the street, industrial or commercial premises of some note: in particular, three rooms neatly paved with bricks on edge, one room with five conical pits or holes sunk in the floor and lined with wedge-shaped bricks, apparently to hold the pointed

Ringstones

Laboratory assistants Mohammad Naim, Shokat Ali, Said Ahmed, and Mukthar Massih carry the cleaned and conserved ringstone to the Harappa Museum for display.
Ringstones are among the most fascinating of ancient Indus objects, particularly after recent research has shown some of those at Harappa to have originally been manufactured near Dholavira and then transported some 1,000 kilometers north. We think they might have been used to support wooden pillars. Here a newly re-discovered ringstone from Harappa is being transported to the Harappa Museum.

Artistic Reconstruction of Harappa

One of the most detailed reconstructions of an ancient Indus gateway, this one on Mound E at Harappa. The reconstruction was drawn by Chris Sloan, based on the work done by the Harappa Archaeological Research Project. J.M. Kenoyer writes: "A series of side rooms were also excavated along the eastern edge of the gateway in 1995. The latest phase of construction also included a large east-west oriented doorway leading through the eastern edge of the gateway.

The Silent Lanes of Mohenjo-daro

1. The Stupa Mound, Mohenjo-daro, 1962. 2. Low Lane, East of Blocks 4 and 7. Inter. III Level. From North. "Low Lane, 4 ft. 10 ins. wide at the Intermediate III level; in the photograph of this lane, the eastern side of Block 4 is seen between the two men." 3. "Crooked Lane" South of Blocks 4 and 5, DK Area, G Section. This was excavated by Ernest Mackay, who wrote "Fore Lane along the north of this building was 5 ft.

Stairways of Mohenjo-daro

From the southern steps of the Great Bath showing recesses for wooden treads and stairways to platforms of some among the 700 wells in Mohenjo-daro, glimpses of where the ancient Indus people trod every day. "A curious feature of the two stairways leading down into the bath is the presence of a channel 9.25 inches wide and 3.25 inches deep, running parallel with and at the based of the lowest step of each. This channel penetrates into the two sides of each stairway for a distance of 3.5 inches. At either end of each tread there is a recess of the same width as the tread and 3.25 inches high

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