(ORDO NEWS) — In 1914, Rahaldas Banerjee, director of the Western Archaeological District in Bombay (now Mumbai), went to investigate a series of mounds near the town of Dokri in Sindh, Pakistan.
The site has never been excavated as the locals believed the site was cursed and that anyone who climbed the mounds would turn blue! Previous research has identified the remains of a stupa dating from the 2nd century BC, but Banerjee believed that the ruins of a much older city lay beneath the mounds.
By 1922, interest and intrigue around the mysterious burial mounds had increased. The ancient city of Harappa in the Punjab province of British India, now in Pakistan, has just been discovered, hinting at the existence of a previously unknown civilization that existed thousands of years ago.
Banerjee received permission to excavate the mounds, and research soon confirmed his suspicions. Jewelery, scales, finely painted pottery, and numerous square seals with strange writings and engravings of animals and people, similar to those already found in Harappa, began to appear from the earth.
Could it be that these objects were made by people of the same culture as in Harappa, located at a distance of about 680 kilometers? This opportunity was intriguing!
Large-scale excavations began under the leadership of the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, Sir John Marshall, and after some time, a huge and very ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro was discovered at the excavation site.
Its name means “Mound of the Dead” as this city has been dead, buried and forgotten for millennia.
The near-simultaneous discovery of ancient cities at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa provided the first clue to the existence of a civilization in the Indus Valley about 5,000 years ago that rivaled those known in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Today it is known that the Indus Valley Civilization, or the Harappan Civilization as it is sometimes known, arose at least as early as 3000 BC. and flourished for 1200 years.
Its cities exhibited an exceptional level of civic planning and beautification. The houses were built of baked bricks and were equipped with bathrooms, many of which had toilets.
Waste water from them was diverted into well-built brick sewers that ran through the center of the streets and were covered with brick or stone slabs. Drinking water was stored in cisterns and wells built of wedge-shaped bricks.
Mohenjo-Daro was located on a huge area of more than 100,000 m2, on which there were more than 300 dwellings. On a high hill, known as the citadel, above the residential area of the city, was the Great Bath.
Built from layers of carefully fitted bricks, gypsum mortar and waterproof bitumen, the bathhouse even had changing rooms and a hot air heating system.
More than 40,000 artifacts found during the excavations have helped researchers get an idea of the life of the Mohenjodar people. Among them are the famous bronze statue of a half-naked dancing girl, ideally shaped earthenware urns, plates, stoves, stone weights and measures.
A set of carved seals hint at a revenue collection system, while hand-carved figurines such as chess pieces and clay toy animals show a more cheerful side to city life.
The Secret of Forty-Four
Around 1800 B.C. In the Indus Valley Civilization, everything changed. Archaeological evidence suggests that cities began to decline and settlements were abandoned.
Standardized scales used for commercial purposes began to fall into disuse, and traces of writing began to disappear. By about 1500 B.C. civilization almost collapsed. What happened that led to the death of this huge civilization?
Perhaps Mohenjo-Daro can provide some clues.
At the highest levels of Mohenjo-Daro, among a mixture of residential and industrial buildings, archaeologists led by Sir John Marshall unearthed several dozen skeletons or parts of them scattered through the streets and houses.
Altogether, the remains of 37 men, women, and children were found, with more later excavations unearthing more, bringing the total to 44. Excavation reports described them as lying in layers of rubble and debris, or on the streets in crooked positions. which indicated a violent death.
Archaeologist Harold Hargreaves, who in the 1920s was in charge of excavations in the southernmost district of the city, wrote in the excavation report that the discovered skeletons “appear to be indicative of some kind of tragedy” and the position of their bodies is “which, most likely, it was taken in its death throes.
Archaeologist Ernest Mackie, who excavated the site from 1926 to 1931, agreed with him, suggesting that they were killed by raiders while trying to escape the city.
Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the last director of the Indian Department of Archeology who excavated Mohenjo-Daro in the 1950s, claimed that they were all victims of the same massacre and suggested that the Indus Civilization, whose death could not be explained, fell as a result of an armed invasion Indo-Aryans, nomadic settlers from the northwest who are believed to have settled in India in the second millennium BC.
Wheeler claimed that the remains belonged to people who defended the city during its final hours. He was so convincing that this theory became the generally accepted version of the fate of Mohenjo-Daro.
However, for the massacre theory to be a credible explanation for the scattered skeletal remains of forty-four people, Dr. arrows, weapons, pieces of armor, broken chariots and the bodies of invaders and defenders?” he asks in his work “The Mythical Massacre at Mohenjo-Daro”.
The answer is that, despite extensive excavations at Mohenjo-Daro, none of them have ever been found.
“There is no level of destruction spanning the city’s most recent period, no traces of extensive burning, no bodies of warriors clad in armor and surrounded by weapons of war,” writes Dr. Dales. “The citadel, the only fortified part of the city, did not give any evidence of the last defense.”
Further evidence debunking the massacre theory has emerged in the form of more accurate dating of the various layers of the ruins at Mohenjo-Daro, as well as the skeletons themselves. For example, during one of the studies, the remains found in the street, known as the “lane of the dead”, were studied.
Parts of the skeleton were strewn diagonally across the narrow street, giving the impression that the man had been killed in the street and left there.
However, archaeologist Dr. Dales reported that dating has shown the alley to be from the Indus Valley Intermediate Period (c. but apparently fell through the rubble of a house rebuilt over the alley in the Late Period (1700 – 1300 BC).
It is now believed that up to 1000 years could have elapsed between the time of death of some people, which means that there was not a single tragedy that claimed the lives of forty-four people, and in fact, all of them could have died quite naturally.
Archaeologists estimate that at its peak, Mohenjo-Daro had a population of around 40,000. So why only forty-four bodies?
To date, not a single cemetery has been found in Mohenjo-Daro and its environs. If such a site is found, it could hold the key to answering many of the questions that still remain about this impressive civilization.
The fall
What led to the final death of Mohenjo-Daro, and of the entire civilization as a whole?
We will never know for sure, but a number of factors appear to have played a significant role in her downfall. The Indus River was prone to change its course and gradually moved east over the centuries, which periodically led to floods in the city.
Indeed, the massive brick platforms on which the city is built, and the fortifications around some of its parts, seemed to be designed to protect against such floods.
However, studies have found significant evidence of flooding in Mohenjo-Daro in the form of numerous layers of silty clay. Conditions were ideal for the spread of waterborne diseases, especially cholera, although cholera epidemics cannot be proven.
Around the same time, Mesopotamia, their main trading partner, was in the midst of great political upheaval, and this could lead to the destruction of trade networks, which would have a huge impact on the entire Indus Valley region.
Perhaps the mystery of the forty-four has been solved, but archaeological and anthropological work must continue throughout India and Pakistan to unravel the last secrets of this enigmatic civilization.
Nuclear bombing
In the excavations, melted stones, traces of fires and an exceptionally powerful explosion were found. So, within a radius of a kilometer, all buildings were completely destroyed.
From the position of the skeletons, it was clear that before death, people calmly paced the streets of the city. The ashes of Mohenjo-Daro were somewhat reminiscent of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after atomic explosions, where the shock wave and radiation came from above.
Two hypotheses have been put forward to explain the death of the city. One of them is a nuclear explosion. According to another hypothesis, a nuclear or other explosion occurred during the launch or maneuver of an alien spacecraft that visited our Earth in the distant past.
It is known that the ancient Greeks and Romans repeatedly described “flaming chariots” appearing in the night sky; American Indians – “round baskets” in the sky; the Japanese are “ghost ships” with glowing lights. According to the testimony of the priest Ezekiel, in Palestine around 592 BC. e.
“A strong wind came from the north, and a great cloud arose. And the fire was blazing from it, and the brilliance was strong, and a strong radiance came out of the middle of the cloud.
And the Mahabharata testifies: during the death of Mohenjo-Daro, the air seemed to be on fire, which was noted even on a sunny day against the background of a bright southern sky!
Mohenjo-Daro under threat
Although Mohenjo-Daro has existed for five millennia, it is now threatened with imminent destruction.
While the intense heat of the Indus Valley, monsoon rains and salt from underground waters have a devastating effect on the treasury, the greatest threat comes from the visitors who flock here by the thousands.
The problem is exacerbated by lack of funding, public indifference and government neglect. In 2014, the government even approved a festival at the site, where tents, lanterns and stages were driven into the walls of the fragile ruins.
Mohenjo-Daro is already in an incredibly fragile state. According to experts, at the current rate of degradation, this World Heritage site may disappear in 20 years. Experts now say the only way to save it is to rebury the city.
The loss of Mohenjo-Daro will not only be a great national tragedy for Pakistan, but also a loss for the whole world.
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