List of inventions and discoveries of the Indus Valley Civilisation

The list of inventions and discoveries of the Indus Valley Civilization refers to the technological and civilizational achievements of the Indus Valley Civilization, an ancient civilization which flourished in the Bronze Age around the general region of the Indus River and Ghaggar-Hakra River in what is today Pakistan and northwestern India.

The extent of Indus Valley Civilization.

Inventions

An ancient well, and the city drainage canals, in Lothal, Gujarat, India
  • Button, ornamental: Buttons—made from seashell—were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BCE.[1] Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pierced into them so that they could be attached to clothing by using a thread.[1] Ian McNeil (1990) holds that: "The button, in fact, was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Moheno-daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of a curved shell and about 5000 years old."[2]
  • Cockfighting: Cockfighting was a pastime in the Indus Valley Civilization in what today is Pakistan by 2000 BCE[3] and one of the uses of the fighting cock. The Encyclopædia Britannica (2008)—on the origins of cockfighting—holds: "The game fowl is probably the nearest to the Indian red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), from which all domestic chickens are believed to be descended...The sport was popular in ancient times in the Indian subcontinent, China, the Persian Empire, and other Eastern countries and was introduced into Greece in the time of Themistocles (c. 524–460 BCE). The sport spread throughout Asia Minor and Sicily. For a long time the Romans affected to despise this "Greek diversion," but they ended up adopting it so enthusiastically that the agricultural writer Columella (1st century CE) complained that its devotees often spent their whole patrimony in betting at the side of the pit."[4]
  • Stepwell: Earliest clear evidence of the origins of the stepwell is found in the Indus Valley Civilization's archaeological site at Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan and Dholavira, India.[5][6][7] The three features of stepwells in the subcontinent are evident from one particular site, abandoned by 2500 BC, which combines a bathing pool, steps leading down to water, and figures of some religious importance into one structure.[5] The early centuries immediately before the common era saw the Buddhists and the Jains of India adapt the stepwells into their architecture.[5] Both the wells and the form of ritual bathing reached other parts of the world with Buddhism.[5] Rock-cut step wells in the subcontinent date from 200-400 CE.[8] Subsequently, the wells at Dhank (550-625 CE) and stepped ponds at Bhinmal (850-950 CE) were constructed.[8]
  • Circular saw: Excavated in Lothal.[9][10]
  • Floor Tiles: Rooms with floor clay tiles with circular geometry have been discovered in the ruins of Kalibangan, Kot Bala and Ahladino.[11][12]
  • Bow Drill: Bow drills were used in Mehrgarh between the 4th and 5th millennium BC.[13] This bow drill—used to drill holes into lapis lazuli and carnelian—was made of green jasper.[13] Similar drills were found in other parts of the Indus Valley Civilisation and Iran one millennium later.[13]
  • Public Baths: The earliest public baths are found in the ruins in of the Indus Valley Civilisation. According to John Keay, the "Great Bath" of Mohenjo Daro in present-day Pakistan was the size of 'a modest municipal swimming pool', complete with stairs leading down to the water at each one of its ends.[14]
  • Grid Plan: By 2600 BC, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, and other major cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation, were built with blocks divided by a grid of straight streets, running north-south and east-west. Each block was subdivided by small lanes.[15]
  • Flush Toilet: Mohenjo-Daro circa 2800 BC is cited as having some of the most advanced, with toilets built into outer walls of homes. These toilets were Western-style, albeit a primitive form, with vertical chutes, via which waste was disposed of into cesspits or street drains.[16][17]
  • Drainage System: The Indus Valley Civilisation had advanced sewerage and drainage systems. All houses in the major cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had access to water and drainage facilities. Waste water was directed to covered gravity sewers, which lined the major streets.[18]
  • Distillation: A terracota distillation apparatus in the Indus Valley in West Pakistan dates from around 3000 BC.[19]
  • Perfume: it was stored in the form of mud containers and perfume jars. Round copper stills were used during the Indus Valley to make perfume and the archaeological excavation dates them to be at least 5000 years old [20][21]
  • Cotton industry: The Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India.[22]
  • Gaming/ chess pieces: Indus valley people used gaming pieces which are refereed by some scholars as proto chess pieces made up of stone, terracotta, ivory, wood between 4000-2500 BCE.[23]
  • Public Litter bins: Archaeologists have found several brick containers that were strategically located along the street junctions of Mohenjo-Daro specifically for garbage disposal.[24][25]
  • Dentistry: The evidence of dentistry being practised as far back as 7000 BC.[26] An IVC site in Mehrgarh indicates that this form of dentistry involved curing tooth related disorders with bow drills operated, perhaps, by skilled bead crafters. The reconstruction of this ancient form of dentistry showed that the methods used were reliable and effective.[27]
  • Touchstone: Found in excavations from Banawali, Harayana.[28][29]
  • Signboard: One of the most significant discoveries at Dholavira was made in one of the side rooms of the northern gateway of the city, and is generally known as the Dholavira Signboard. The Harappans had arranged and set pieces of the mineral gypsum to form ten large symbols or letters on a big wooden board.[30] At some point, the board fell flat on its face. The wood decayed, but the arrangement of the letters survived. The letters of the signboard are comparable to large bricks that were used in nearby walls. Each sign is about 37 cm (15 in) high and the board on which letters were inscribed was about 3 m (9.8 ft) long.[31] The inscription is one of the longest in the Indus script, with one symbol appearing four times, and this and its large size and public nature make it a key piece of evidence cited by scholars arguing that the Indus script represents full literacy. A four sign inscription with large letters on a sand stone is also found at this site, considered first of such inscription on sand stone at any of Harappan sites.[32]
  • Hydraulic Engineering:
    One of the water reservoirs, with steps, at Dholavira
    "The kind of efficient system of Harappans of Dholavira, developed for conservation, harvesting and storage of water speaks eloquently about their advanced hydraulic engineering, given the state of technology in the third millennium BCE" says R.S.Bist, Joint Director General (Rtd.), Archaeological Survey of India. One of the unique features[33] of Dholavira is the sophisticated water conservation system[34] of channels and reservoirs, the earliest found anywhere in the world,[35] built completely of stone. The city had massive reservoirs, three of which are exposed.[36] They were used for storing fresh water brought by rains[34] or to store water diverted from two nearby rivulets.[37] This clearly came in response to the desert climate and conditions of Kutch, where several years may pass without rainfall. A seasonal stream which runs in a north-south direction near the site was dammed at several points to collect water.
  • Stadium: world's earliest stadium with terraced stands was constructed at Dholavira. Two stadiums have been identified at the ancient site, one is considered a ceremonial ground, another, a small stadium.[38][39][40]
  • Bronze sculpture: Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro belonging to the Harappan civilization dating back to 2500 BCE is said to be the first bronze statue.[41][42]
  • Lost wax casting: a detailed, full-field photoluminescence study of a 6,000 year old copper "wheel" amulet from Mehrgarh in Balochistan has opened the door to many new facts about this period of history. This study by Ipanema, the European center for the study of ancient materials, believes that this is the oldest known example of the "lost wax" casting technique, one of the most important innovations in the history of metallurgy[43][44]

Discoveries
  • Gemstones and Lapis Lazuli – Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BCE, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley Civilisation.[45]
  • Sesame oil: Sesame seeds were one of the first crops processed for oil as well as one of the earliest condiments. Sesame was cultivated during the Indus valley civilisation and was the main oil crop. It was probably exported to Mesopotamia around 2500 BC.[46][47][48]

See also

References
  1. Hesse, Rayner W. & Hesse (Jr.), Rayner W. (2007). Jewelry making Through History: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. 35. ISBN 0-313-33507-9.
  2. McNeil, Ian (1990). An encyclopedia of the history of technology. Taylor & Francis. 852. ISBN 0-415-01306-2.
  3. Sherman, David M. (2002). Tending Animals in the Global Village. Blackwell Publishing. 46. ISBN 0-683-18051-7.
  4. Cockfighting. Encyclopædia Britannica 2008
  5. Livingston & Beach, 20
  6. The Lost River by Michel Danino. Penguin India 2010
  7. Purnima Mehta Bhatt (16 December 2014). Her Space, Her Story: Exploring the Stepwells of Gujarat. Zubaan. ISBN 9789384757083.
  8. Livingston & Beach, page xxiii
  9. Raj Pruthi (2004). Prehistory and Harappan Civilization. APH Publishing. p. 185. ISBN 978-81-7648-581-4.
  10. Rebecca Kraft Rector (15 July 2016). The Early River Valley Civilizations. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-4994-6328-6.
  11. Indian History. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9781259063237.
  12. McIntosh, Jane (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576079072.
  13. Kulke, Hermann & Rothermund, Dietmar (2004). A History of India. Routledge. 22. ISBN 0-415-32920-5.
  14. Keay, John (2001), India: A History, 13–14, Grove Press, ISBN 0-8021-3797-0.
  15. Jane McIntosh, The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives ; ABC-CLIO, 2008; ISBN 978-1-57607-907-2 ; pp. 231, 346.
  16. Teresi et al. 2002
  17. Gray, Harold Farnsworth (1940). "Sewerage in Ancient and Mediaeval Times". Sewage Works Journal. 12 (5): 939–946. JSTOR 25029094.
  18. Arthur Coterell (1980). The Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations. Rainbird Publishers. pp. 176–178. ISBN 0-7112-0036-X.
  19. Rhind, Jennifer Peace; Pirie, David (2012). Essential Oils: A Handbook for Aromatherapy Practice. Singing Dragon. p. 14. ISBN 9781848190894.
  20. Arp, Robert (2018-03-12). 1001 Ideas that Changed the Way We Think. Octopus. ISBN 9781788400503.
  21. https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/6CjYuJ3p7TCAkFK423j5MI/The-perfumed-past.html
  22. Wisseman & Williams, p. 127
  23. Ajeet Jha. A History of Ancient India. Pearson Education. p. 28.
  24. Kenoyer, Jonathan M.; Heuston, Kimberley Burton (2005). The Ancient South Asian World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195222432.
  25. "World's only surviving Bronze Age metropolis in Pakistan faces ruin". Daily Telegraph. 2013-10-13. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  26. Coppa, A. et al. 2006. "Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry" (PDF). Nature. Volume 440. 6 April 2006.
  27. MSNBC (2008). Dig uncovers ancient roots of dentistry.
  28. Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. pp. 152–. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0.
  29. Shannon L. Kenny (12 April 2011). Gold: A Cultural Encyclopedia: A Cultural Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 264–. ISBN 978-0-313-38431-8.
  30. Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Oxford University Press. 1998
  31. Possehl, Gregory. (2004). The Indus Civilization: A contemporary perspective, New Delhi: Vistaar Publications, ISBN 81-7829-291-2, p.70.
  32. Subramanian, T. "The rise and fall of a Harappan city". The Archaeology News Network. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  33. Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. pp. 155 bottom. ISBN 978-813-17-1120-0.
  34. "Dholavira excavations throw light on Harappan civilization". United News of India. Indian Express. 25 June 1997. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  35. Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Dholavira: A Harappan City - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". whc.unesco.org.
  36. McIntosh, Jane (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley : New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 84. ISBN 978-157-60-7907-2.
  37. Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. p. 155. ISBN 978-813-17-1120-0.
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  39. Bisht, Ravindra Singh. "Dholavira and Banawali: Two Different Paradigms of the Harappan Urbis Forma". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  40. Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 9780759101722.
  41. "National Museum, New Delhi". www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 2015-09-16.
  42. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/the-bronze-age/
  43. "Mehrgarh Wheel Amulet Analysis Yields Many Secrets". www.harappa.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  44. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/11/15/this-6000-year-old-amulet-is-the-oldest-example-of-a-technology-still-used-by-nasa/
  45. "Excavation Bhirrana | ASI Nagpur". excnagasi.in. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  46. "History and Lore of Sesame in Southwest Asia" (PDF).
  47. Small, Ernest (2004). "History and Lore of Sesame in Southwest Asia". Economic Botany. New York Botanical Garden Press. 58 (3): 329–353. doi:10.1663/0013-0001(2004)058[0329:AR]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 4256831.
  48. Kenneth F. Kiple; Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas (2000). The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press. pp. 413–. ISBN 978-0-521-40214-9.
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