Indus Valley Civilisation — Which Site Is Famous for What

Why This Chapter Repeats Every Year

The Indus, or Harappan, Civilisation is the most reliably asked topic in ancient history, because it can be tested as a plain fact: which site is famous for what. Papers rarely ask you to interpret it. They ask you to match.

Fix the frame before the details:

• ›A Bronze Age civilisation, contemporary with Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• ›Mature phase roughly 2600–1900 BCE; the early phase begins around 3300 BCE.
• ›Discovered in 1921 at Harappa by Daya Ram Sahni, working under John Marshall, then Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India. Mohenjodaro followed in 1922, excavated by R. D. Banerji.
• ›Called "Harappan" after the first site found — not after the largest one.
• ›Spread over about 1.3 million sq km, the largest of the ancient river civilisations in area.
• ›The four corners: Sutkagendor in the west (Balochistan), Alamgirpur in the east (Uttar Pradesh), Manda in the north (Jammu), Daimabad in the south (Maharashtra).

1. Harappa was excavated in 1921 by:

2. The dockyard, the strongest evidence of Harappan sea trade, was found at:

3. Which Harappan site is situated on the bank of the river Ravi?

4. The world's earliest evidence of a ploughed field has been found at:

5. Which of the following metals was NOT known to the Harappan people?

6. The standard ratio of length : breadth : thickness of Harappan burnt bricks was:

7. The only Harappan city divided into three parts — citadel, middle town and lower town — is:

8. Mesopotamian records refer to the Indus region as: