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Harappan food came from farming, animal husbandry, fishing, hunting and gathering. Wheat and barley were important crops, while cattle, sheep, goats and buffaloes formed part of the livestock economy. Regional differences meant that food habits were not identical everywhere.
Harappan cities show remarkable attention to streets, houses, drainage, wells and water storage. Mohenjo-daro developed an elaborate network of wells and drains, while Dholavira created large reservoirs to survive in an arid environment.
The Indus Civilization was spread across a vast region and included many important settlements beyond Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Dholavira, Lothal, Kalibangan and Rakhigarhi each reveal different aspects of Harappan urban life, trade, farming, water management and regional diversity.
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were two major urban centres of the Indus Civilization. Their streets, brick buildings, drainage systems and public structures reveal a highly developed tradition of urban life.
The discovery of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in the early twentieth century revealed a previously unknown Bronze Age urban civilization. This topic explains how the civilization was recognized and how archaeologists divide its long history into Early, Mature and Late Harappan phases.
The first cities of the Indian subcontinent did not appear suddenly. Over thousands of years, hunting and gathering, farming, settled villages, craft production and growing trade networks gradually created the conditions for Harappan urbanization.
Chalcolithic communities used both stone and copper tools and lived in regional farming settlements across much of the Indian subcontinent. Their pottery, agriculture, houses, burials and craft traditions reveal a diverse world between the Neolithic and the wider spread of iron.
Mehrgarh is one of the most important early farming sites of the northwestern Indian subcontinent. Its archaeological remains reveal the gradual development of cultivation, animal domestication, village life, craft production and long-distance exchange.
The Neolithic phase brought a major transformation in human life as communities increasingly cultivated crops, domesticated animals and lived in more settled habitations. Archaeological sites across the subcontinent reveal that this change occurred differently in different regions.
The Mesolithic Age marked an important phase between Palaeolithic hunting traditions and later food-producing communities. Microlithic tools, changing subsistence patterns and rock paintings—especially at Bhimbetka—provide valuable evidence of life during this period.
