The river valley civilisation that developed in India in the third millennium BC is generally known as Indus civilisation or the Harappa civilisation. As has been noted in the preceding unit (7), the environmental condition in the West and South Asian region had become conducive to the growth of agriculture at the end of the Pleistocene period, about 10,000 years ago.
Originating in West Asia the agriculture soon spread in India in different regions. One of the regions, identified as the Indus region, provided peculiar environmental conditions that supported agriculture in the flood plains of Indus and other rivers of the region.
Several sedimentary settlements have been unearthed by the archaeologists in this region yielding evidence of early agriculture and permanent habitation. Such settlements were in fact the precursor of a fully developed urban civilisation.
Image Source: 5abc8cd20e8cfb583b0a-f08455577a10cebd8677ed53887ae045.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
It sustained on the same agricultural practice that had mediated the emergence of sedimentary settlements in the region in the past and that was essentially based on the flood plains of the river as the principal area of agricultural activity. Since seasonal inundation of the river valleys and subsequent deposit of rich alluvial soil was a principal feature supporting agriculture we also call Indus civilisation as the River Valley Civilisation.
The flood-plains of rivers supporting agriculture has been a typical environmental activity in the Indus region. It gave rise to habitations that sustained on a mix of agricultural and nomadic practices. Some major sites of this type excavated in the region are Kili Ghul Muhammad, Rana Ghundai and Mehrgarh.
The result of excavation at Mehrgarh has been particularly rewarding. Mehrgarh was an early food-producing village located on the banks of the Bolan River that flowed through the Kachi plain which is an extension of the Indus valley. Mehrgarh is a unique site as it provides evidence from nearly ‘every phase of the Neolithic Revolution’ extending roughly from 7000 BC to 3800 BC.