Harappan architecture

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.