Who were the Indus people?

An artist's impression of an Indus city.

The Indus people lived on the banks of the Indus river, the longest river in Pakistan.

The Indus river begins high up in the Himalayan Mountains (the tallest mountain range in the world), and flows nearly 3,000 kilometers to the Arabian Sea. As the river moves downstream it carves out a valley. This is where the Indus people settled.

The first farmers liked living near the river because it kept the land green and fertile for growing crops. These farmers lived together in villages which grew over time into large ancient cities, like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

The Indus people needed river water to drink, wash and to irrigate their fields. They may also have used water in religious ceremonies. To the Indus people, their river was ‘The King River’.

This is an artist's impression of what life may have been like in the Indus Valley. 

• The Indus civilization seems to have been a peaceful one. The cities were built with strong walls and gateways, which usually means they needed protection. However few weapons have been found and there is no evidence of an army.

• Ancient writings can tell us about civilizations, but no one has been able to translate the Indus writings. We have to look for other clues.

• Sometimes you are able to see changes in ruins that indicate wars or battles, but the Indus Valley seems to have stayed the same for hundreds of years.

• However, archaeologists have recently found some skeletons that suggest that the Indus valley might not have been such a peaceful place after all. When they looked closely at the skeletons, they saw that they might have died in a pretty nasty way - being beaten with a heavy club.

Ruins of an Indus city. 

• Drains ran along the edge of the streets to carry rubbish away and wells were dug for clean water.

• Some cities, like Mohenjo-Daro, had high walls. These walls had gateways so people could come and go. Some city districts inside were raised on mounds. The highest mound was known as the citadel, which might have been where the priests or rulers lived.

• Most Indus buildings were made from mud bricks. Over time, people built new houses on top of old ones. So, over hundreds of years, the cities grew higher and higher. Some houses were seven meters above the old houses at the bottom!