She recalled her thesis. Harappa and Mohenjodaro are now in Pakistan. These were great cities known for the huge number of residents, the burnt bricks used in construction, the drainage system, their guilds, their merchants who visited many countries on basis of their seals found in other countries.
The remains of Harappa include a citadel/fortress, a massive monumental building once called the granary, and at least three cemeteries. Mohenjo-Daro had a Citadel and the Lower City. The Citadel supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house about 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls. The lower city had a central marketplace, with a large central well. Individual households or groups of households obtained their water from smaller wells. Wastewater was channeled to covered drains that lined the major streets. Some houses, presumably those of more prestigious inhabitants, include rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and one building had an underground furnace possibly for heated bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that opened onto side-lanes. Some buildings had two stories. Something like how the present city of Chandigarh has been built.
Lothal was the port city of Indus Valley Civilization and had the world's earliest known dry dock, which connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river on the trade route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a part of the Arabian Sea. It was situated in Gujarat. The dockyard was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt. Lothal engineers studied tidal movements, and their effects on brick-built structures since the walls are of kiln-burnt bricks.
Kalibangan, in present-day Rajasthan, India, was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization. Kalibangan is distinguished by its unique fire altars and "world's earliest attested plowed field". The citadel and the lower city was in evidence here too. Things found here were small blades of chalcedony and agate, sometimes serrated or backed; beads of steatite, shell, carnelian, terracotta and copper; bangles of copper, shell and terracotta; terracotta objects like a toy-cart, wheel and a broken bull; quem with mullers, a bone point, and copper celts, including an unusual axe, etc. Toy carts suggest carts were used for transportation in Kalibangan.
"You are telling me that you are coming from the Indus Valley period?" asked Tania with excitement.
"This was a dream come true." thought Tania.
"My thesis has been submitted otherwise I would have got a lot of information from this girl and added it in my thesis."
"Can you tell me about any seals, coins, toys etc. that were made in your area?"
"I do not have anything at present but I think I can describe a few things." Sanya replied. "In my next visit I will bring something to show you. But can you not guess from my clothes?" she added.
Tania looked at her again and shook her head. "It is not possible as the clothes you are wearing are the same type of clothes which were worn by the queens and princesses way into the 15-16 centuries."
"Can you describe an important city where you live. You could not have traveled all the way from present day Gujarat or from present day Pakistan?"
"No!" Sanya replied. "Those cities of Lothal and Harappa etc are too far away. The city I have lived in is Kalibangan."
Tania was in a minor shock. She was still wishing that she had not submitted her thesis. She could have made it even better after acquiring information and having added this information that Sanya could give her. She really felt like kicking herself.
"The place from where I hail from is called Kalibangan and it is in the present-day Rajasthan. It is now a prehistoric town, located 205 Km from Bikaner."
"It means black Bangles and is a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley. Our city has houses on both sides of streets, brick on edge platforms, bathrooms and drains of baked bricks."
"The citadel (higher area) has a huge gateway on the south side with a flight of steps to climb up to the platforms. It is divided into two parts, one having platforms and other having a residential complex for the elite, separated by a wall. The lower area is for the public."
"We make bangles and beads for export. These bangles are made of precious stones like chalcedony, agate, shells, carnelian, copper, etc."
"We have internal trade between various provinces. This means agricultural produce, industrial raw materials like copper ores, stone, semi-precious shells, etc."
" It also means finished products from metals like pots and pans, weapon, etc.; Precious and semi-precious stones (beads, pendants, amulets, etc.); and Ornaments of gold and silver."
"Because of the trade, we have a good social structure and the standard of living is high. We have developed a system of communication and a strong economy."
"We also import many things. The imports came to our port city of Lothal. Our imports comprise Copper from Oman, Tin from present day Afghanistan and Iran."
"We use the wooden plow with a copper or wooden plowshare to work on the soil for tilling the fields. We grow our own crops and take the help of the cows or bulls to till the soil. This is done by harnessing them. We grow two crops in a year. The river banks gets flooded during the summer and during the monsoons. When the water recedes it leaves behind alluvial silt, which is highly productive."
"The main cereals cultivated in my province are Rice, Wheat and Barley as well as Six varieties of Millet including ragi, kodon, sanwa, and jowar along with vegetables like peas and beans."
"The cereals are stored in granaries and kept in reserve to face any future emergency. We also grow cotton. Spindles are there to have it woven into thread and then we weave it into cloth."
"We are harvesting the crops with copper sickles as well as stone blades shafted in wood. Our people have invented the wheel, and we use the wheels by fastenings with wood to make carts and harness animals like horses, donkeys etc to carry our ware to the sea ports for export."
"I will bring you a Toy bullock carts made from terracotta from which you can figure out that carts with wheels were used for transportation in my home state. In many countries, especially in the villages the same sort of carts are still used today."
"We know about Mining, Metal-Working and the art of constructing well-planned Buildings. We have some buildings which are higher than two stories."
"In addition we made utensils and storage jars of metals. The potter's wheel is still widely used to made pottery."
"Then we also make steatite seals which depict a single animal like a unicorn, bull, elephant, rhinoceros etc. but some seals also depict trees, semi-human, and human figurine . Some of these seals contain the image of a ship or mother earth or the ruler of the animals. These seals are used for trade."