HIST 120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Metalworking, Indus Valley Civilisation, Indus River
Document Summary
British believed that india was primitive and backwards. India"s 1st cities grew up on a river. Monsoons are the (cid:498)givers of life itself(cid:499) in the indus valley. Trade collapsed and people when back to the land. Harappa was older that any city in india. 50 mill years ago collided with asia and created the himalayas. One of the oldest civilizations in the world. How it began and ended is a mystery. Major disaster, natural or human; ecological or internal causes. 1600 bce- migration waves from southern russia, east & west. Both a spoken and written language back then. Use of chariots, spoke wheels, metal-tipped weapons, glorification of war. Pantheon of deities: indra- warrior god riding a chariot with a bow. Model chieftain; agni- model priest, god of fire. Vedic aristocracy rode chariots as their gods did. 1500-500 bce (roughly overlapping with late shang and zhou dynasties in china) Mixture of aryan and indigenous (indus river culture)
