Indus valley civilization belongs to Chalcolithic age/ Bronze age. It was the largest civilization on that period. It belonged to the time period of the Early Harappan age i.e., 3200-2600 BC. It was an urban civilization. Harappan script was pictographic and logo specific. It was written from right to left in the first line and left to right in the second line. This style is known as “Boustrophedon”. In 1826, Charles Mason was the first person, who noticed the remains of Harappa City. In the year of 1861, Archaeological survey of India was founded by Alexander Cunningham. In 1924, Sir Jhon Marshall named this civilization as Indus Valley civilization.
The most interesting part of this civilization was its brilliant town planning which constituted of:
ü Most of the cities divided into two parts a) Upper area b) Lower Area. (Dholavira divided into three parts)
ü In upper area a citadel was existed (Chanahudaro is the only city without Citadel). Rulers of the city was probably lived there.
ü In Lower area the common people lived.
ü Grid or Chessboard system where roads cut across one another at right angles and the city was divided into large rectangular or square box.
ü In most of the cities, houses built with burnt bricks (exception: Dholavira where stones used as a building material and in kalibangan, houses built with mud bricks)