The Indus civilization flourished for around five hundred to seven hundred years, and in the early second millennium it disintegrated. This collapse was marked by the disappearance of the features that had distinguished the Indus civilization from its predecessors: writing, city dwelling, some kind of central control, international trade, occupational specialization, and widely distributed standardized artifacts. In the post-Indus period, local materials were used for objects like stone tools, and the cultural uniformity of the Mature Indus civilization gave way to a number of regional groupings, often using material reminiscent of that belonging to the Early Indus phase in each area. While there was considerable depopulation in the Indus heartland, settlements increased in number in Gujarat, and Late Harappan communities were established in areas well outside those occupied by the Mature Harappan people, particularly in the east. While sea trade now only reached the inhabitants of Gujarat, the wide distribution of many cultural elements (such as features of ceramic form and decoration, and distinctive stamp seals) indicates that there was considerable interregional communication, and movements of individuals and groups both within the subcontinent and between it and the regions to its north and west.
Urban Decay
At Mohenjo-daro, the last period of occupation of the city shows a serious decline in civic standards, with poorly constructed houses, pottery kilns in what had previously been residential areas, the neglect of civic amenities such as drains, and corpses thrown into abandoned houses or streets instead of being buried with due rites. Important public buildings such as the Great Bath went out of use. Some stone sculptures were deliberately broken. A similar situation is known in many cities and towns, and others were abandoned altogether. The central region saw a massive reduction in the density of settlement, and, throughout the greater Indus region, the majority of settlements were villages and campsites, with a few small towns, though in both Gujarat and the east the number of settlements increased dramatically. This seems to imply either that emigration from the center
A burial urn from the Late Harappan cemetery at Harappa (Cemetery H).The painted frieze around the urn’s shoulder shows the characteristic blend of earlier Harappan motifs, like the peacock, with new designs, such as wavy lines. The depiction of the peacock, apparently in flight, is also quite different from the way it was represented in the Harappan style. (Harappa Archaeological Research Project, Courtesy Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan)
To the outer regions occurred or that there were conditions favoring population growth in the peripheries and a demographic crash in the center, or both.
At the same time many of the characteristic features of urban life and organization declined and disappeared. Writing was no longer used, though occasionally signs were scratched as graffiti on pottery. Cubical weights became rare or ceased to be used, indicating that metrical controls were no longer needed.
One reason for this urban decay may have been the poor health of the citizens. Studies of the skeletons from Mohenjo-daro's upper levels show that many individuals had suffered and often died from disease, including malaria. Both malaria and cholera are likely to have been associated particularly with life in the Indus towns and cities, with their abundance of clean and foul water in wells, water tanks, and drains.
World History
