Analyze the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300-1300 BCE) — the world's largest Bronze-Age civilization by geographic extent (modern Pakistan + northwest India + Afghanistan), urban planning at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (grid streets, drainage systems, the Great Bath), pottery, the undeciphered Indus script, and the still-debated reasons for its decline c. 1900 BCE
Exercise
Difficulty 4
~6 min
hist.g6.f.ex_17
Compare Contrast
Prompt
Compare Mohenjo-daro urban planning with Mesopotamian Ur OR Egyptian Memphis. Name 2 distinctive features of Indus urban planning. What might those features tell us about Indus social organization?
How it's presented
mode
text
Answer criteria
type
rubric scored writing
rubric
3 stars: 2 features named (grid streets + standardized bricks + drainage systems + lack of royal monuments) + plausible inference about social organization (possibly less hierarchical or merchant-elite organization). 2 stars: 2 features + weaker inference. 1 star: 1+1. 0: <1+1.
Hints
- No evidence of palaces or royal burials.
- Standardized bricks across 1 million sq km.
Misconceptions to watch
- Assuming all Bronze Age civilizations had kings and pyramids
- Forgetting the geographic scale of Indus civilization
Used in lessons