Ancient Indian History Test 21

Most Jorwe culture sites were abandoned around 1000 BCE, possibly due to famine or drought, and the remaining sites show signs of increased poverty until their abandonment in c. 700 BCE.

There were no evidence of sudden abandonment, it was a gradual process.

The answer is D as it is not correct.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro each had its own citadel, which was probably occupied by members of the ruling class. Below the citadel in each city lay a lower town, which was inhibited by the common people. The houses in the cities followed the grid system. According to it, roads cut across one another almost at right angles. Water flowed from the houses to the streets which had covered drains. The street drains were equipped with manholes. They used burnt bricks in the Harappan cities.

In one figurine found at Mohenjodaro, a plant is shown grown out of the embryo of a woman. Probably the image represents the goddess of earth, and it was intimately connected with the origin and growth of plants. The Harappans, therefore, looked upon the earth as a fertility goddess. The male deity represented on a seal from Mohenjodaro in the sitting posture of a Yogi. The god is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros, and a buffalo below his throne. At his feet appear two deer, and the depicted god is identified as Pashupati Mahadeva.

One of the noticeable features of the Dholavira was the complicated water management system through many channels and reservoirs, the earliest found anywhere in the world. All these reservoirs were made completely of stone. The inhabitants of Dholavira created 16 or more reservoirs for the effective water supply to the city.

According to B.B. Lal, the former DG of ASI, the Kalibgan had given the evidence of the earliest plowed agricultural field ever revealed through an excavation.

It shows a grid pattern of furrows, placed about 30 cm apart running east-west and other spaced about 190 cm apart running north-south, a pattern remarkably similar to the one practiced even now. Even today, similar plowing is used for two simultaneous crops in this region, esp. of mustard and gram.

Mesopotamia was one of the important civilisations of the ancient world. This civilisation was flourishing in the fertile crescent created by the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The region we call as Mesopotamia is identical to the parts of modern-day Iraq. Because of its geographical position, the civilisation was also called as the land between two rivers.

• The archaeological finds from Alamgirpur in Meerut district reflected the Harappan culture.
  
• Alamgirpur was discovered in 1959.
  
• This site shows the presence of Harappan civilization to the east of Yamuna river.
• It was the eastern most territory of the Indus valley civilization.
• Vedic Culture started in Indian sub-continent from 1500 BC onwards.

• The majority of the beads during the harappan period were made of steatite.
• The beads were made up of several rock materials like lapislazuli, serpentine, shell, steatite, agate, alabaster, carnelian, faience, jasper, terracotta, and turquoise.
• Several terracotta figurines have been excavated from harappan sites. Some of the examples are mother goddess, toys, animal figures like monkey,bull etc.
• The terracotta figurines of harappan times were modeled with great details of eyes, hand and neck.

• Seals indicate the commercial and economic development of Harappan civilization.
• They were largely used for trading activities during harappan period.
• They were made of soft rock material like steatite, soapstone, terracota and metals like copper.
• Some seals were found in the Mesopotamian sites with Indus script on them.
• They were used in trade for authentication purposes.

• The Indus Valley people traded with the Mesopotamians.
• Mesopotamia of harappan times is now Iraq and Kuwait.
  
• The composition of trade was almost exclusively to luxury goods like spices, textiles and precious metals.
• Mesopotamians didn't have many natural resources. So, they depended mostly on the trade to get what they wanted.
  
• Parthians are the ones who ruled in NW frontier India during later ancient period of India.