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History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

BRONZE AGEThe Bronze Age refers to a period of time in prehistoric societies where metallurgy had advanced to the point of making bronze - an alloy of tin and copper - from natural ores, but not yet to the point of the systematic production of iron (the Iron Age). The Bronze Age is more advanced than the Stone Age, in which artifacts and tools are largely made from carved stone. The Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age make up the traditional three-age system for classifying prehistoric cultures. In some areas of the Earth, like Africa, certain groups went straight from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Rare groups, such as isolated Amazonian tribes in Brazil, have not yet progressed past the Stone Age.

The Bronze Age primarily took place between 3500 BC and 1200 BC, and is traditionally divided into the Early Bronze Age (c.3500-2000 BC), Middle Bronze Age (c.2000-1600 BC), and Late Bronze Age (c.1600-1200 BC), with progressively more sophisticated metallurgy which culminates in the discovery of ironworking.

The Bronze Age began 5,500 years ago in the present-day areas of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, which was also the cradle of human civilization. By this time permanent settlements were already a few thousands years old, but it took time for these early people to discover the potential of metallic ores. The birthplace of metallurgy is usually taken to be Anatolia, Turkey. The Indian Bronze Age began in 3300 BC with the Indus Valley civilization. In China and southeast Asia, the Bronze Age began around 2100 BC. Throughout Europe the Bronze Age began between 2100 BC and 2000 BC or so, with sophisticated Bronze Age civilizations rising throughout the 2nd millennium BC.The Bronze Age was important to mankind because it allowed us to create more durable tools and artefacts for productive use. Bronze is preferable to stone for a wide variety of applications - whether you're making a knife, an axe, armour, pottery, or artwork, Bronze is harder and longer-lived. A more durable capital base enhances the potential for sustained economic activity, but also warfare.

During the Bronze Age, much of humanity was segmented into thousands of warring tribes. Small nations did exist, but it would be many centuries before countries resembling any of those today - such as the Roman Empire - came into existence.

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

MOHENJODAROINDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, SINDH, PAKISTAN. 2600 TO 1900 BC

KEY - PLAN

•HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS

•PLANNING FEATURES

•URBAN DESIGN

•REASONS FOR DECLINE

• FOCUS AREA

•KEY REFERENCES

Mohenjo Daro, or "Mound of the Dead" is an ancient Indus Valley Civilization city that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. It was one of the first world and ancient Indian cities. The site was discovered in the 1920s and lies in Pakistan's Sindh province.

In the 1980s extensive architectural documentation, combined with detailed surface surveys, surface scraping and probing was done by German and Italian survey teams led by Dr. Michael Jansen (RWTH) and Dr. Maurizio Tosi (IsMEO).

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

MOHENJODAROINDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, SINDH, PAKISTAN. 2600 TO 1900 BC

KEY - PLAN

•HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS

•PLANNING FEATURES

•URBAN DESIGN

•REASONS FOR DECLINE

• FOCUS AREA

•KEY REFERENCES

The site is located in the semi-arid region of Sindh province, Pakistan, and situated on a Pleistocene ridge that sits like an island in the flood plain of the Indus River.

The site appears to have been located in a central position between the two vast river valleys, the Indus on the west and the Ghaggar-Hakra on the east that would have flowed to the east of the Rohri hills.

In its heyday however, Mohenjo-daro would have dominated the riverine trade networks moving from the coast to the northern Indus plain, as well as trade routes leading to the passes in the Bolan Valley to the west.

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

MOHENJODAROINDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, SINDH, PAKISTAN. 2600 TO 1900 BC

KEY - PLAN

•HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS

•PLANNING FEATURES

•URBAN DESIGN

•REASONS FOR DECLINE

• FOCUS AREA

•KEY REFERENCES

The "Lower Town" is made up of numerous lower mounds that lie to the east and may represent multiple walled neighborhoods.

Each sector has numerous large brick houses that could have been the mansions of powerful merchants or landowners. No temples have been identified, though there is one building with a double staircase that may have had a ritual function.

Other habitation areas are partly buried by the silts of the encroaching Indus River and some Indus brick structures are seen eroding into the Indus River itself. No cemetery area has been located at the site, though there have been reports of occasional chance burials discovered in the course of site conservation. The buildings of Mohenjo-daro are made

primarily of fired brick, though some structures do include mud brick and timbers.

Excavations of the "citadel" mound uncovered a large colonnaded building with a specially designed water tank usually referred to as the "Great Bath". Just to the south west of the Great Bath is the so-called "Granary," a massive building with solid brick foundations with sockets for a wooden super structure and doorways.History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

MOHENJODAROINDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, SINDH, PAKISTAN. 2600 TO 1900 BC

KEY - PLAN

•HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS

•PLANNING FEATURES

•URBAN DESIGN

•REASONS FOR DECLINE

• FOCUS AREA

•KEY REFERENCES

Various factors contributed to the decline of Mohenjo-Daro.

On the one hand, changes in the river flow patterns and correspondent widespread flooding would have disrupted the agricultural base, but did not destroy the city directly.

Although there appears to have been a significant break between the end of the Indus occupation and the Early Historic occupation, it is unlikely that the site was ever totally abandoned due to its high position on the plain and the protection it afforded against floods.

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

MOHENJODAROINDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, SINDH, PAKISTAN. 2600 TO 1900 BC

KEY - PLAN

•HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS

•PLANNING FEATURES

•URBAN DESIGN

•REASONS FOR DECLINE

• FOCUS AREA

•KEY REFERENCES

Although the Indus people did not bury their wealth with the dead, they did occasionally hide valuable ornaments in pots and bury these under the floors of a house. In the course of the early excavations, a few rare discoveries were made of gold and silver ornaments and silver vessels that provide evidence for a class of wealthy merchants or landowners.

Unlike Mesopotamia or Egypt, the Indus elites did not erect stone sculptures to glorify their power, and depictions of warfare or conquered enemies are strikingly absent in representational art. Most of the art and symbolic objects were relatively small and in many cases even made in miniature.

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

MOHENJODAROINDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, SINDH, PAKISTAN. 2600 TO 1900 BC

•HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS

•PLANNING FEATURES

•URBAN DESIGN

•REASONS FOR DECLINE

• FOCUS AREA

•KEY REFERENCES

Alcock, L. 1986 A Pottery Sequence From Mohenjo Daro: R. E. M. Wheeler 's 1950 "Citadel Mound" Excavations. In Excavations at Mohenjo Daro, Pakistan: The Pottery, edited by G. F. Dales and J. M. Kenoyer, pp. 493-551. Philadelphia, University Museum Press.

Ardeleanu-Jansen, A. 1984 Stone Sculptures from Mohenjo-Daro. In Interim Reports Vol. 1: Reports on Field Work Carried out at Mohenjo-Daro, Pakistan 1982-83 by IsMEO-Aachen University Mission., edited by M. Jansen and G. Urban, pp. 139-157. Aachen, IsMEO/RWTH.

Ardeleanu-Jansen, A. 1987 The Theriomorphic Stone Sculpture from Mohenjo-Daro Reconsidered. In Interim Reports Vol. 2: Reports on Field Work Carried out at Mohenjo-Daro, Pakistan 1983-84 by IsMEO-Aachen University Mission, edited by M. Jansen and G. Urban, pp. 59-68. Aachen, IsMEO/RWTH.

Ardeleanu-Jansen, A. 1988 The Terracotta Figurines from Mohenjo-Daro: Considerations on Tradition, Craft and Ideology in the Harappa Culture. Lahore Museum Bulletin 1(2): 9-28.

Ardeleanu-Jansen, A. 1989 A Short Note on a Steatite Sculpture Fragment from Mohenjodaro. In South Asian Archaeology 1985, edited by K. Frifelt and P. S¿rensen, pp. 196-210. London, Curzon Press.

Ardeleanu-Jansen, A. 1992 New Evidence on the Distribution of Artifacts: An Approach Towards a Qualitative -Quantitative Assessment of the Terracotta Figurines of Mohenjo-Daro. In South Asian Archaeology 1989, edited by C. Jarrige, pp. 5-14. Madison, WI, Prehistory Press.

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

CITY OF MARI

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine

History of Architecture(Year 1) By Anjith Augustine