Ruins of Mohenjo-daro in present-day Sindh, Pakistan, one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. Family activities seem to have centered on the front of the house, particularly the courtyard and, in this, are similar to what has been inferred from sites in Rome, Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia. Houses were constructed with a large courtyard opening from the front door, a kitchen/workroom for the preparation of food, and smaller bedrooms. The cities of this period were larger than contemporary settlements in other countries, were situated according to cardinal points, and were built of mud bricks, often kiln-fired. ![]() The Indus Valley Civilization dates to 5000 BCE and grew steadily throughout the lower Gangetic Valley region southwards and northwards to Malwa. The beginnings of the Vedic tradition in India, still practiced today, can now be dated, at least in part, to the indigenous people of ancient sites such as Balathal rather than, as often claimed, wholly to the Aryan invasion of c. It is now understood that significant human activity was underway in India by the Holocene Period (10,000 years ago) and that many historical assumptions based upon earlier work in Egypt and Mesopotamia, need to be reviewed and revised. Prior to this find, leprosy was considered a much younger disease thought to have been carried from Africa to India at some point and then from India to Europe by the army of Alexander the Great following his death in 323 BCE. A 4000-year-old skeleton discovered at Balathal in 2009 CE provides the oldest evidence of leprosy in India. ![]() Balathal was not discovered until 1962 CE and excavations were not begun there until the 1990s CE.Īrchaeological excavations in the past 50 years have dramatically changed the understanding of India’s past and, by extension, world history. The village of Balathal (near Udaipur in Rajasthan), to cite only one example, illustrates the antiquity of India’s history as it dates to 4000 BCE. Though the ancient city of Harappa was known to exist as early as 1842 CE, its archaeological significance was ignored and the later excavations corresponded to an interest in locating the probable sites referred to in the great Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana (both of the 5th or 4th centuries BCE) while ignoring the possibility of a much more ancient past for the region. Recognition of the antiquity of their presence in India has been largely due to the fairly late archaeological interest in the area as, unlike work in Mesopotamia and Egypt, western excavations in India did not begin in earnest until the 1920s CE. Evidence of the existence of Homo heidelbergensis was first discovered in Germany in 1907 CE and, since, further discoveries have established fairly clear migration patterns of this species out of Africa. The species Homo heidelbergensis (a proto-human who was an ancestor of modern Homo sapiens) inhabited the subcontinent of India centuries before humans migrated into the region known as Europe. The areas of present-day India, Pakistan, and Nepal have provided archaeologists and scholars with the richest sites of the most ancient pedigree. While the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt have long been recognized for their celebrated contributions to civilization, India has often been overlooked, especially in the West, though its history and culture is just as rich. The land was, therefore, known as Bharatavarsha (`the subcontinent of Bharata’). Hominid activity in the Indian subcontinent stretches back over 250,000 years, and it is, therefore, one of the oldest inhabited regions on the planet.Īrchaeological excavations have discovered artifacts used by early humans, including stone tools, which suggest an extremely early date for human habitation and technology in the area. According to the writings known as the Puranas (religious/historical texts written down in the 5th century CE), Bharata conquered the whole subcontinent of India and ruled the land in peace and harmony. The name ‘Bharata’ is used as a designation for the country in their constitution referencing the ancient mythological emperor, Bharata, whose story is told, in part, in the Indian epic Mahabharata. India is a country in South Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. ![]() India has often been overlooked, especially in the West, about the contributions of its rich history and culture to civilization. Map of the Indo-Saka / Indo-Scythian Kingdoms / World Imaging, Wikimedia Commons
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