Mohen-jo-daro: A civil Engineering wonder
We Sindhis are proud of our old heritage. It's the legacy of Mohen-jo-daro that symbolizes our vibrant civilized past from the times when people in many parts of world were living in caves. The recent survey into civilization suggests that Mohen-jo-daro civilization is perhaps the first ever civilization where the concept of Architecture, civil engineering and luxurious life style flourished not less than current standard.
Indus Valley Civilization
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It is a fact that indoor plumbing did not arrive in modern societies to any extent until the 19th century and also urban planning has still not been adopted much to that period of Mohen-jo-daro date in history. What we find in the ancient city of Mohen-jo-daro is anomalous indeed. This city in the Indus Valley was built on a grid system about 4,500 years ago, obviously planned out and drawn up before the first brick was laid. It had houses, some with indoor plumbing, a granary, baths, an assembly hall and towers all made out of standard size bricks. The streets were about eight to ten feet wide on average, and were built with well-engineered drainage channels. Mohen-jo-daro was successively destroyed and rebuilt at least seven times. Each time, the new cities were built directly on top of the old ones. Flooding by the Indus is thought to have been the cause of destruction. Mohen-jo-daro is a remarkable construction, considering its antiquity. The city was divided into two parts, the Citadel and the Lower City. Most of the Lower City is yet uncovered, but the Citadel is known to have the public bath, a large residential structure designed to house 5,000 citizens and two large assembly halls.
A question for brainy people: These well organized people were destroyed in a way that they did not left large number of everyday items, human remains (only 44 skeletons were found from the estimated population of 30,000). What we have found is the dumped items. This proves that they migrated to elsewhere to survive (a group or a family, did not leave and were found dead). Thenuclear and radiation archaeological and bibliographic history suggests a large scale accidents during that period...like an atomic bomb...<read more..> It is advised to spare few hours or days to read from this link,
Photography (mostly by Dr. M. Y. Jamro in 1996)
In Picture; Mohen-jo-daro: showing equal spaced pillars, walls, well-balanced foundations. Stupa or Watch Tower room in the central location at a highest place (being mud-plastered by authorities to protect from heavy monsoon rain). A portion of Great Bath visible in the bottom-left corner of the above picture whereas the bottom-mid section contains underground channels of water to fill and empty the Great Bath.
Mohen-jo-daro has a planned layout based on a grid of streets, with structures constructed of bricks of baked mud, sun dried bricks and burned wood. At its height the city probably had around 35,000 residents. It had an advanced drainage system, a variety of buildings up to two stories high and an elaborate bath area. Being an agricultural city, it also featured a large well, granary, and central marketplace. Perhaps most unexpected, it even had a building with an underground furnace (hypocaust), possibly for heated bathing similar to those Baths built by Roman.
Front view of Great Bath of Mohen-jo-daro.
Great Bath that was made of fine quality brickwork and drains. The Great Bath was 40 feet long and 8 feet deep, a huge public facility by any standards. The Great Bath was made watertight by the use of two layers of brick, lime-cement and then finally sealed with bitumen (tar) to stop any water leakage. The bath included a shallow section for children. It had channels to fill fresh water from river and drain out in to downstream. It had quarter turn-steps into main area on either sides other than main stairs in centre.
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Side view of Great bath. Water channels in the front and on the right hand side.
Great bath outlet, an inside view; showing outlet channel for water to drain. It was at the brink of collapse when I last visited in 1996.
It is to mention with a great disappointment that officially Government of Pakistan withdrawn completely from the protection project for a period of about 10 years due to lack of funds. There was not even a single security person during that withdrawn period until very recently in 2005-06 when UNESCO provided funds to save this wonderful historical icon. This shows the intentions and the interest of Islamabad in the preserving the best gift of the great Sindhi civilization.
Other side of the outlet drain opening of great bath. A view from inside the drain opening
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Huge grain house-hold storage pots with narrow opening at bottom.
Huge grain storage pots, granaries, large residential building block and several assembly halls were also on the upper level.
Rooms (or small barracks) inside a house on Mohen-jo-daro. A water well is also visible (covered with a protective disk by authorities).
Another view of wide street. On the right hand side the ruins are unexcavated.
A view of an narrow pathway of a street in Mohen-jo-daro (similar to modern bricks-path) and covered drainage system through street.
A closer look into a long straight drain
Two-story water wells. One in each block of flats/houses.
Top view inside a water well. A downward spiral staircase is visible that was used to clean the water and surface by professional cleaners. Even today, same style water wells are in daily use in rural areas of Sindh (protective iron cage is placed on the surface by authorities).
It is a mystery that how an ancient culture of which nothing is known, not even their language, created this sophisticated city at a point in time many thousands of years ahead of the curve? Civil engineers do not crawl out of thatched-roof huts able to draw up plans for a complex urban environment. We need to address the following question to archaeologists and historians:
1. Where are the cities that demonstrate the path of urban development, social and technical organization, leading to Mohen-jo Daro?
1. Where are the cities that demonstrate the path of urban development, social and technical organization, leading to Mohen-jo Daro?
2. How do you explain the sudden emergence of a complex society when the rest of humanity was living primitively?
A computer generated 3D model of the Great bath, its surroundings and over the top will soon be presented. Meanwhile, watch the surroundings of bath inside out and imagine its construction from a civil engineering and Architect point of view.
The above computer generated images were produced from www.wikipedia.com taken from the book (Austen Atkinson, 'Lost Civilizations: Rediscovering Ancient Sites Through New Technology', Watson-Guptill Publications, January 2003. This book is well researched where satellite navigated image technology was used to measure the accuracy of location. It covers 20 civilization of the world and pages 179 - 188 contains information about Mohen-Jo-Daro civilization.
A huge collection of different shapes and sizes of seals, jewellery, ornaments, woven clothes, bullock-cart, needles, tools, tiny toys and many other items of handicraft catches eyes if you visit Museum. Some of these can be found in British Museum London which were illegally transported to London during British Raj. (A must visit the website to view these huge collection of the wealth).
The importance of aforementioned aspects and issues cannot be brushed aside with some arrogant pretence that the questions have already been addressed and answered by digging up and labelling pottery shards and other artefacts. We have been and are being overly indulgent with our "soft sciences" regarding their cavalier assertions about having all the answers. In fact, they have very few, so why are they throwing stones at independent researchers from behind glass towers?
Extraordinarily little is known about the Indus Valley civilisation that once spanned nearly a thousand miles with other cities matching the description of Mohen-jo-daro. It is listed in a list of great enigmas and challenges to orthodox scholars to prove differently as with the mysteries of lost civilizations.
Extraordinarily little is known about the Indus Valley civilisation that once spanned nearly a thousand miles with other cities matching the description of Mohen-jo-daro. It is listed in a list of great enigmas and challenges to orthodox scholars to prove differently as with the mysteries of lost civilizations.
It is noted that the Indus Valley civilisation was contemporary with the Great Pyramid. It is often said this was one of the first three civilisations in the world, having a written script that has never been deciphered.
Much more is needed to bring the existing remaining of the heritage to life by taking advantage of modern satellite navigational tools, images, sensor technology, geological instruments and computer 3D animations. If possible to reconstruct a model town or at least a sketch of excavated area of Mohen-jo-daro.
It is suggested to well-wishers of Sindh in particular to the staff members in the universities of Sindh related to departments of Information, Computer Science, Technology, Art, Design, Archaeology, Civil and Building engineering to invest their efforts to formulate study and research projects to set 3D computer generated images, movies, files and make them public.
Its a pity that this living wonder of civil engineering is situated in a country where officials just plan things. It has become a reality of life that there is a systematic ignorance to its preservations and promotion since it belongs to 'Land of Sindh'. It is ignored like their native indigenous Sindhi people, their language and culture as well.
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