You're Dead to Me The Indus Civilisation: life in Bronze Age South Asia
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Feb 24, 2023 
Journey through the Bronze Age Indus world, from carefully planned cities and remarkable plumbing to terracotta figurines, carved seals and a mysterious one-horned creature. Explore daily life, food, trade, burials and the civilisation’s gradual decline, with a few playful detours along the way.
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Scope and Scale of Indus Civilization
- The Indus civilization spanned modern Pakistan and India, with some sites in Afghanistan, dating from about 2600 to 1900 BCE.
- Its urban planning, shared writing, and trade networks prove it was a connected and complex civilization beyond a single valley.
Indus' Advanced Sanitation System
- The Indus civilization featured advanced sanitation with thousands of wells and drainage connecting toilets to those water systems.
- This infrastructure likely did not reappear in major cities until the Victorian era, showing remarkable Bronze Age innovation.
Indus Ancient Global Trade
- The Indus traded extensively with regions including Mesopotamia, Arabian Gulf, and Central Asia.
- Archaeological finds of lapis lazuli and carnelian beads show contact and exchange beyond their civilization boundaries.