Harappan architecture is the architecture of the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization, an ancient society of people who lived during c. 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE in the Indus Valley of modern-day Pakistan and India. The civilization's cities were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). Its large urban centres of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa very likely grew to containing between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals, and the civilisation itself during its height may have contained between one and five million individuals. Harappan culture was heavily influenced through its integration into international trade and contact due to its location along the Indus River. Signs of urbanization in the Indus Valley began as early as 6000 BCE, in the Neolithic, and many towns and cities had been established by 3200 BCE, in the Early Harappan phase. The architectural transition between Early and Mature Harappan phases took place in the sites of Amri, Nausharo, Ghazi Shah, and Banawali. By 2500 BCE, in the Mature Harappan phase, the civilization had become the eastern anchor of a network of trade routes including the Mesopotamian city-states, the Gulf, Iranian Plateau, and Central Asia. Through its urbanization, the Harappan Civilization brought together many kinds of people from different ethnic and linguistic groups into a socio-cultural whole, in turn affecting its architecture and town planning.
Overview
Elements of Harappan architecture Art of the Indus Valley civilization architecture was indigenous and without any influence. Sculpture had no integral role in architecture; they were found separately. There was a concentration of utility factor rather than aesthetic factor presumably because they were primarily traders. Harappan architecture of the Indus civilization focused on functional expression rather than pure decoration. Evidence shows that the Indus culture lacked magnificent buildings such as palaces, monuments, discrepancies, and tombs, on the contrary, most buildings were large-scale public buildings, commodious houses, or practical residences, which proved to be the first complex ancient society based on egalitarianism.
Planning A notable feature of Harappan architecture is that of a developed infrastructural city plan, in that they had sophisticated systems to control the flow of water and waste with public wells and drains that may have required advanced planning to implement. The cities were divided into rectilinear grids divided by roads which intersected at right angles, encircled by fortifications, with each block containing a network of houses and public wells. Harappan cities featured urban and social elements such as roads, fire pits, kilns, and industrial buildings, and were primarily functional in purpose rather than aesthetic. The city sewerage, plumbing, and drainage systems were distributed in the network of the grid planning by early hydro-engineers to be functionally used and maintained. The Harappan civilization seems to also be capable of astrological observation and alignment, as some evidence exists that Mohenjo-daro was aligned with the star "Rohini".
Mohenjo-daro had a planned layout with rectilinear buildings arranged on a grid plan. Most were built of fired and mortared brick; some incorporated sun-dried mud-brick and wooden superstructures. Sites were often raised, or built on man made hills. This could be to combat flooding in the nearby areas. Another aspect of the architecture is they often built walls around their entire cities. This could have served several different needs. Many believe that the walls were built as defensive structures, where “Large and impressive construction works can be used to intimidate potential attackers (Trigger 1990)”. It was also an obvious feature to show the city was strong and powerful by being able to divert resources and labor to make such a large structure and not focus all of their energy on survival. This was not the only purpose for the wall, it is thought that the wall also served as protection from floods. There is also evidence of a tapering at the bottom of the wall to guide the water away from the city. The city could be split into two different sections: an upper "acropolis" or citadel and a "lower town". The lower town consisted of lower valued residential buildings located on the eastern side of the city, while the upper acropolis would be on the western side of the city which contained the higher value buildings and public buildings. The acropolis was a “parallelogram that was 400–500 yards north-south and 200–300 yards east-west” It was also thought that the acropolis area would be built on the highest part of the mound in the city showing the importance and status of the area was much higher than the rest of the area. Another feature which suggests the acropolis is of higher importance is that the fortifications around the area were bigger and stronger than those around the rest of the city.
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