The Lost City of Mohenjodaro

The city that literally translates to the ‘mound of the dead’ and is also called as the lost city, this city was one of the largest settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization.

Mohenjo-Daro Settlement; Image Source: World Archaeology

Being one of the largest and the most advanced cities in the whole of the Indus Valley civilization, this city is called Mohenjo-Daro. It was developed in 3000 BCE. One of the things that were impressive about this town was that it had the most remarkable urban systems and sophisticated engineering.

However, this town has its own quota of experiencing ups and downs. As Mohenjo-Daro was one of the cities that was considered as the most developed at that time, it was believed to have a governed system that was headed through the system of an elected committee. There was no system of monarchy then.

The urban system that the town had, included multi-storied buildings made up of fired and baked bricks. This civilization and its towns were the first ones to introduce baked bricks and an urban system of the functioning of a town.

The town was fortified with towers however there were no separating walls as such in the whole town. The town of Mohenjo-Daro was divided into two parts, the Citadel, and the lower city.

The citadel was the part of town where the buildings were two-storied and they were all made of sun-dried, mortar bricks and mud-brick mounds. This part of town was also the part of town that had residential blocks, assembly halls, public baths, a central marketplace, and a large central well.

The whole of the Indus Valley civilization including the town of Mohenjo-Daro, a 5000 year old city could contain a total population of 40,000 people. The whole population of the town lived in peace as there were no traces or anything else found related to weapons or violence.

The encryptions and the language that was used by the people then haven’t yet been deciphered completely and hence a lot of things about Mohenjo-Daro have not been able to get confirmed, until now. However, the one thing that was confirmed and comes as a shock is that Mohenjo-Daro is not the actual and initial name of this Indus Valley town. Since the language has not been deciphered yet, the original name has not been identified yet.

The reason behind keeping the name of the city as the ‘mound of the dead’ is that the city was abandoned in the 19th century BCE. It was named so because the city was found on a mound of ruins. Another reason this happened was that the civilization started witnessing a decline.

The city was abandoned due to the decline in civilization which lead to a kind of drought and further the people leaving the city. Not long after the abandonment of the town, it was engulfed by a muddy flood. Some people consider the flood to be a reason that the town was abandoned, however, that was not the case. The reason for the decline of the civilization is again unknown due to the inability to decipher the language of that time.

It was later in the 1920s that the city was once again discovered and excavated. The city remained undocumented and undiscovered for 3,700 years. The excavations were carried out till the year 1965 after which they were banned due to the weathering damage and the buildings being exposed to the same.

The lost city of Mohenjo-Daro was lost from time to time. Starting from being a town with the most advanced urban system and engineering, this town also experienced drought and some abandonment issues before being excavated.

Mohenjo-Daro archaeological site; Image Source: Britannica