0:00 [Music] e these letters are part of the most mysterious language of the ancient world nobody can weo understand them the women of the people who used it wore few clothes but much jewelry they
0:45 regarded animals like this bull with veneration their religion involved the worship of a God who is usually shown seated like this with his right hand on his knee and an elaborate hairstyle the people who practice this religion lived some 4,000 years ago in this extraordinary brick Metropolis the city of maheno daro mahendroo itself stands 2 or three miles today from the river Indus that that line which you can see just below the Horizon running into the distance the Indus is one of the Great Rivers of the world it's the backbone of West Pakistan as it curves and meanders a thousand miles from the Himalayas to the Arabian
1:35 Sea the civilization that produced mendaro is called the Indus Valley Civilization it spread over a much larger area than the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt of the same period M henaro was one of the two greatest cities of this little known civilization of the ancient east and it is the subject of this program mendra daro was discovered as recently as 1922 it's not every day that a new civilization is brought to light with great cities and elaborate organization of Civic life and welldeveloped knowledge of writing so the event was an exciting one the ancient civilizations of Egypt and
2:21 Mesopotamia have been known for a long time now here was a third great civilization almost as old covering a, miles of the subcontinent of India research has shown that it lasted from before 2,500 BC to something like 1500 BC about 100 sites have now been discovered uh most of these sites are Villages but there's also the city of herpa which is about the same huge size as Mahendra daro the though there's not so much of it to be seen today the origins of this civilization like much else about it are a mystery
3:08 but let us approach the city of mudaro and see for ourselves what we can make of it with the help of archaeology and a little reasonable imagination the first point about maharo is its great size these are only some of the sections that have been cleared amongst the Tamaris scrub and red desert sand perhaps a weth of it has been revealed by excavation but that is enough to show how vast it is 3 or four miles round entering by a Main Street we're at once struck by its width and straightness then we have no difficulty in telling what sort of vehicle once used it the ox cart for today has scarcely changed from its 4,000 year old predecessor whose shape is known to us from this terracotta
3:57 Model A number of these models have been found at mentra daro of slightly different types they were probably children's toys turning at right angles into another Street we get a feeling of Law and Order from the guard rooms still used by the modern Watchmen which stand at the Junctions of roads and Lanes this is confirmed by the symmetrical layout of maharo was seen from the air it's also shown in this checkerboard plan drilled and regimented by a Civic architect whose word was law this is in
4:42 sharp contrast to the Contemporary city of ER in Mesopotamia The Irregular meanderings of the main street of er are a very different story returning to madaro uh we leave the main streets and turn into one of the side Lanes here the high blank wall walls with few doors and fewer Windows emphasize the uniformity of the street architecture no decoration now breaks the monotony and this absence of individuality is something that we'll notice everywhere in the city although of course there may at one time have been a certain amount of carved woodwork the walls as preserved are made almost exclusively of baked brick in the so-called English Bond that's to say alternate rows of headers and stretchers
5:28 with mud mortar in between upper stories were probably built of Timber such Windows as there were probably had gratings in them like this and if it all seems very monotonous now at least the varied decorations of the household Pottery can perhaps give us an idea of how the Carpenter and painter may have relieved the original brick work with their designs finally down a dog leg turn in a lane which helped to break the force of the prevailing wind we come to a well preserved and typical house immediately inside the door a cage protects a piece of the original mud plaster which probably normally covered
6:14 most interior walls next inside the entrance is a small court with a Porter's Lodge facing the doorway from there a passage leads to the central Courtyard of the house but we stop on the way to visit a bathroom with a well in it Wells like this better preserved one in another house bars and cleanliness were a feature of the inhabitants lives returning to our house we come next to the main Courtyard around which the life of the house would revolve off it were the various rooms for sleeping eating and cooking finally in one corner is a brick
6:59 staircase which leads to a now vanished upper Story Probably as I said largely built of wood but now what about the people who once trod these stairs we can discover a certain amount from the pieces of statu that have been found like this portrait bust this shows it was fashionable to shave the upper lip the beard is clearly shown while the upper lip is bare this is confirmed by the discovery of a rather battered bronze Razer now in the Karachi Museum another point is that men took some trouble over their closely cropped wavy hair which was done up into a bun at the
7:46 back this is not such an impressive portrait but with his neat beard and the twinkle in his eye he strongly reminds me of an old Professor friend of mine the women too went in for elaborate J wear and headdresses these figures aren't portraits in the same way as the male head but they do show that the women of Mahendra daro made up in jewelry what they La in clothes here a Pakistani girl with the help of a bronze mirror which some beauty of mendaro once used some 4,000 years ago is showing us some of their jewelry which was found in the excavations these necklaces were mainly made of semi-precious stones like Carnelian and Jasper and some would not look at all unfashionable
8:41 today this one with its three gold pendants in the center is particularly attractive bangal both of bronze and gold were obviously popular too and notice the girdle particularly it's made of long tubes of red carnelia and is the image of the one worn by by some of the Terra Cotta models other evidence we have of the ladi's interest in makeup is this pot of black eyes Shadow and the bronze sticks that were once used to put it on they also had nail cutters and
9:28 combs and on a more homely note needles and buttons another familiar domestic object they had was a baby's feeding bottle you must forgive me if I don't handle it quite as it should be for the older children there was this charming animal which still works quite well today then there were Marbles and gamesmen like these they were used for some sort of
10:13 game like chess or drafts for grownup children uh there was that old Pastime dice after which if you were born you could always say bring on the dancing girls the dancing girl on the right is in fact one of the most remarkable finds from aeno daro she hasn't got many clothes on but she carries all her wealth on her left arm and with her Saucy look and easy posture she really is a charmer L obtrusive members of the household were the pets was this a cage for a pet bird it may have been
11:02 but there's no doubt what made these foot marks on a wet brick a dog perhaps this very one whose owner had obviously taken pride in his handsome collar so much for the contents of our house but there's one other point about the arrangements of the now vanished upper story I must make in other houses there exist the remains of an upstairs lavry a convenience that is not often found even 2,000 years later in Pompei in another house you can see surviving a good example of the carefully built choots by which waste was drained into the covered brick drains of the main street there's one on the left uh the brick path is modern the
11:47 drains of henaro were thus far in advance of those in many towns today these drains led to to brickbuilt manholes with a number of drains leading into to them these were cleared by Municipal santress squads who in some cases left an adjacent heap of debris for modern rediscovery turning off the main street our next call is at a building which seems to have been a shop this still has the resting places in the floor where the pots holding the shopkeepers goods used to be put the shop runs on the street and this one was near a Crossroads too so no doubt it had a a flourishing trade
12:35 the kill or furnaces where the pots were made used to be outside the city but in the later stages they were built in amongst the buildings like this one that's its outline with the entrance here the pottery they produced was mostly wheel turned and red in color small pots like this are notable as being the only ones with a Potter's Mark and a fine one it is too but now look at this set a perfectly good child's te- set copied from the large
13:22 Originals another point about maharo Pottery like these examples here is its resemblance to the pottery which is still made in The Villages near madaro today I went to look at one of these Village potteries Which is less than a mile from henrao the wheel is foot operated these are some of the
14:10 products this pot has a pattern which is almost identical with that on another piece of Potter in the Karachi Museum from one of the levels of moeno daro another aspect of trade which has a special interest is these weights a large number have been found all of very accurate finished workmanship this scale which is partly reconstructed was probably used by a jurer turning to another building near the shop uh we come past a guard room to an enclosure that may once have
14:57 held a secret tree its special character makes one think that this unusual building may have been a temple there are two stairways at the back they they lead to a a room whose purpose May perhaps be deduced from a sculptured figure found there was this a temple devoted to the worship of the monkey Feast God and perhaps this other figure found there represents a
15:48 priest his eyes were originally inlaid with shell and tree foils on his cloak probably represent stars there are common religious motive in the ancient Middle East we would know more about their religion if we could read their script 396 of its signs are known and it's still in a pictographic state as to say the signs are still recognizable like this fish or this sun or wheel it's not like any other known script and unless a biling inscription is found it's unlikely ever to be translated another point is that it's read
16:35 buidan as to say backwards and forwards like this most of the letters are found on these seals which are one of the the outstanding artistic achievements of these people they were probably used for stamping bales of goods or or storage jars amongst other things the carvings on them are masterpieces of controlled realism possibly they represent proper names and titles they're usually a little smaller than a matchbox in size besides animals there are designs like this multiple cross the sped eagle and even the swastika mostly they seem to have some religious significance this Beast is
17:20 often shown with a sacred brazer in front of it other religious scenes show this three-headed monster with Antelope heads and a bull's body or this seated figure with a horned headdress perhaps the Prototype of the Hindu god Shiva in this seal the deity has another kneeling figure beside it while below seven voies with long pigtails and headdresses take part in a ritual dance but for the strongest expression of religious activity perhaps we should go to the Citadel of madaro this is the remains of an artificial Hill which once dominated the city it was built up on a platform of mud brick and mud and stood
18:05 some 30 ft Above the Rest of the town today the remains are Crown by a Buddhist Monument a stupa which was built when the Romans were in England though mendaro was then 2,000 years old leaving then this later Buddhist Monument we find amongst the earlier ruins on the Citadel one of the most remarkable of all the buildings of where Hendra d the ceremonial bath the great bath which was probably used for ceremonial cleansing is approached by steps which once had timbered Treads set in Asphalt in one corner is the outlet drain the floor of the bath now rather battered was a remarkable piece of work with the bricks laid very closely
18:50 together with very fine joints to stop the water draining away truly this is one of the most remarkable relics of the ancient east the outlet drain becomes this High tunnel roofed with flat bricks the nearest they got to an arch water for the bath was supplied by this big well just beyond the great bath is a block which contains eight rooms opening off a central passage the entrances are so arranged as to give the occupants privacy each room has a staircase which led to an upper floor
19:37 lighting was from a lamp which went in a niche in the wall the floor was made waterproof by finely jointed brick so that after any ceremonial washing the water would run down to the drain and be carried away where these the dwelling places of Priestly rulers who govern the vast indust Valley Civilization at least it is not difficult to see in this face the hay disdain of a governing official another aspect of their government is reflected in this building the graner for grain was a city's wealth it fed the citizens and was used to pay the taxes the front of The Granary was originally laced with Timber which quickly Decay a sign that it was an
20:23 early building built by people who were newcomers and unused to The Climate above that was a loading platform where sacks of grain were hauled up before being stacked inside we were able by excavation to discover this plan of The Granary the crisscross passages serving to circulate the air so necessary for the preservation of the grain there are other relics of their agriculture this is a quir for rubbing grain or spices and here are some actual wheat grains preserved because they were burned through the carelessness of some ancient
21:12 housewife the grain from The Villages up and down the Indus Valley was probably brought to maheno daru in ships like this one scratched on a piece of pottery one thing is certain the country around the city didn't then consist of tamarisk scrub and desert evidence of the difference of climate in ancient times comes from the seals which show jungle animals like the rhinocerus or the elephant with which the artists were obviously very familiar returning to the Citadel these towers were found quite recently they are part of its defensive system between the towers was a rampart where we found a pile of clay missiles possibly hurled by The Defenders there it does not seem a very effective method of repelling an enemy but the unmilitary character of
21:58 this civilization is confirmed by its weapons they are neither strong nor warlike but for all that the Dominion of the Priestly rulers of maheno daro lasted for a thousand years for a period as long as from the Norman conquest of the present day there is no sign of change in their habits arts or way of life now you may be asking how did this great City with its vast and elaborate organization come into being uh we don't know Fortin it seems to have been derived from the villages in the blistan Hills but it owed almost everything to its spacious setting in the plains and the determination with which its Builders face new problems there in the
22:43 spring the Indus River comes down in a great flood swollen by Mountain snows it overflows its banks far and wide and refertilized the great tracks of country which it drowns it was us a challenge which compelled the valley dwellers to unite in controlling and exploiting it civilization on a large scale was the result we have very few Clues as to when this happened because throughout the Indus Valley Civilization remained very isolated but there are one or two a seal of the Indus Valley type has been found in Mesopotamia in the city of er at a level that can be dated approximately to
23:30 2,350 BC then this piece of decorated Stone part of a box shaped like a Hut is of a well-known Mesopotamian type that was found at Mahendra daro so was this cylindrical seal it was rolled over the object to make its impression these seals were were very common in Mesopotamia but are rare amongst the square seals of mendra daro summarizing then the finding of indust type seals in Earth and of Mesopotamian stonework and cylinder seals in the Indus Valley show that this civilization was well established by 2,300 BC it lasted for perhaps a thousand years during that time there were a few
24:18 trading contacts with the outside world but mostly the inhabitants were left to lead their well regulated and peaceful if somewhat monotonous and uninspired lives you can see here how a Brick Street has been relay uh on the crumble of leveled off bricks and rubbish that has accumulated over its predecessor during many years and here are two Wells that have been gradually built up as the city level rose with time so that when the excavators clear down to the original level they they stand up like Factory chimneys evidence of the long peaceful growth of the city then about 1500 BC something happened sudden tragedy brought this
25:04 ancient civilization to a violent end I want you to imagine for a moment that you are back in 1500 BC and are looking out over the straight streets and brick houses of mendra daro suddenly smok and Flames begin to rise amongst them and up one of the main streets there streams a horde of Swordsmen led by a swaying figure in an outlandish Chariot by The Chariot pole crouches The Chariot tier and every now and then the warrior beside him fits an arrow to a short stocky bone discharges it into the panic-stricken groups of fleeing citizens at another spot some of the towns F cow beside a well where they were drawing water when they first heard
25:49 the Dreadful sounds of the city's feet two of them are now climbing the stairs and have reached the street when the invading mob closes up on them they drop and are instantly trampled into the sand a Burly fellow with the race with a raised sword turns onto the wellhouse stairs and cuts down a woman who is straggling up them she falls backwards across the steps and The ravening Horde sweeps on the story I'm telling you is not fantasy it is a literal interpretation of actual Discovery this is the place where one of the massacres took place 34 centuries after it happened the archaeologists of the 20th century dug and found these bones of the massacred
26:36 mute evidence of how an agong civilization perished within the hour moreover we can relate this evidence with the earliest literature of India the rig Veda uh which it is agreed tells in the traditional and symbolic way uh of the Indus Valley and its Invasion by the arens the the hymns and the rig Vader make it clear that the mobile cess Arian Invaders differed at every point from the long static citizens which they invaded the Aran War guard Indra is called the fort Destroyer he shatters a 100 ancient castles he rends forts as age consumes a
27:23 garment in the past it was supposed that these citadels were mythical or at the most palisaded refugees but the discovery in 1944 of walls and Towers like these of maheno daro goes far to confirm the literal truth of the Epic tradition these Indus fortifications were in all probability the actual fortifications that fell to Indra the fort destroyer and his Aran followers climatic economic and political deterioration may have weakened the Indus Valley Civilization but its ultimate Extinction seems to have come from the hand of the Aryan
28:08 Invader sand and dust then covered its ruins but fortunately for us enough remains to tell us a little about the character of one of the earliest civilizations of the [Applause] world [Music]
