Starter quiz
- The River Indus is a powerful river that flows through India and...
- 'Pakistan' ✓
- A flat area of land where a river flows between hills or mountains is called a...
- 'valley' ✓
- Other ancient civilisations have started around which rivers?
- River Nile ✓
- River Thames
- River Euphrates ✓
- River Tigris ✓
-
- Historians think that people started to farm the fertile land around the River Indus...
- 2000 years ago
- 5000 years ago
- 8000 years ago ✓
- 9000 years ago
-
- In 1921 an archaeological dig began at a place called Harappa on the banks of the River...
- 'Indus' ✓
- In the ancient city of Harappa, archaeologists have found the ruins of...
- palaces
- pyramids
- houses ✓
- wells ✓
- streets ✓
-
Exit quiz
- The first Indus Valley civilisation city found was at...
- Mohenjo-Daro
- Harappa ✓
- Cairo
-
- Which city was once the largest city of the Indus Valley civilisation?
- Harappa
- Babylon
- Mohenjo-Daro ✓
-
- Match the discovery at Mohenjo-Daro to the possible explanation.
- brick circles in the ground⇔crop threshing ✓
- raised building platforms⇔protection from flood water ✓
- clay seals⇔to show who items belonged to when they were sold ✓
- What were the pictures on clay seals usually of?
- plants
- people
- animals ✓
-
- Historians can read the writing from the Indus Valley civilisation.
- True
- False ✓
- Select the items that have been found in the Indus Valley at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
- paper
- clay models of dancing people ✓
- small clay animals ✓
- pottery ✓
- clay seals ✓
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Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Following Harappa's discovery in 1921, another major site was excavated in 1922 at Mohenjo-Daro.
- They uncovered huge numbers of clay seals, covered in writing and images, along with many pieces of broken pottery.
- They also discovered large stone circles on which they think the Indus people threshed their crops.
- They also found whistles and figures of dancing women as well as clay toys and figurines.
- From these discoveries archaeologists have worked out that the Indus Valley Civilisation was very large and complex.
Common misconception
Archaeologists and historians always know exactly what discovered items were used for in the past.
Archaeologists and historians have to make guesses about what the discovered items were used for in the past, using their knowledge and other objects to help them.
Keywords
Harappa - Harappa was the first Indus Valley civilisation site to be excavated
Mohenjo-daro - Mohenjo-Daro was the second Indus Valley civilisation site to be excavated
Indus valley civilisation - the people who lived in the Indus Valley in ancient times are known as the Indus Valley civilisation
Threshing - the act of separating the parts of a crop that can be eaten from the parts that can't is called threshing
Seal - a seal is a decorated object that is pushed into a soft material like wet clay or wax in order to leave an imprint of its design