Mohenjo-daro, also spelled Mohenjodaro or Moenjodaro, group of mounds and ruins on the right bank of the Indus River, northern Sindh province, southern Pakistan. It lies on the flat alluvial plain of the Indus, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Sukkur. The site contains the remnants of one of two main centres of the ancient Indus civilization (c. 2500–1700 BCE), the other one being Harappa, some 400 miles (640 km) to the northwest in Pakistan's Punjab province
The name Mohenjo-daro is reputed to signify "the mound of the dead." The archaeological importance of the site was first recognized in 1922, one year after the discovery of Harappa. Subsequent excavations revealed that the mounds contain the remains of what was once the largest city of the Indus civilization. Because of the city's size—about 3 miles (5 km) in circuit—and the comparative richness of its monuments and their contents, it has been generally regarded as a capital of an extensive state. Its relationship with Harappa, however, is uncertain—i.e., if the two cities were contemporaneous centres or if one city succeeded the other. Mohenjo-daro was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980.
The city of Mohenjo-daro, now 2 miles (3 km) from the Indus, from which it seems to have been protected, in antiquity as today, by artificial barriers, was laid out with remarkable regularity into something like a dozen blocks, or "islands," each about 1,260 feet (384 metres) from north to south and 750 feet (228 metres) from east to west, subdivided by straight or doglegged lanes. The central block on the western side was built up artificially to a dominating height of 20 to 40 feet (6 to 12 metres) with mud and mud brick and was fortified to an unascertained extent by square towers of baked brick. Buildings on the high summit included an elaborate bath or tank surrounded by a veranda, a large residential structure, a massive granary, and at least two aisled halls of assembly. It is clear that the citadel (for such it evidently was) carried the religious and ceremonial headquarters of the site. In the lower town were substantial courtyard houses indicating a considerable middle class. Most houses had small bathrooms and, like the streets, were well-provided with drains and sanitation. Brick stairs indicate at least an upper story or a flat, habitable roof. The walls were originally plastered with mud, no doubt to reduce the deleterious effect of the salts that are contained by the bricks and react destructively to varying heat and h
There is no surviving evidence of architectural elaboration, though that may well have been confined to timberwork that has disintegrated. Stone sculpture, too, is scarce; some fragments, however, include the competent head and shoulders of a bearded man with a low forehead, narrowed and somewhat supercilious eyes, a fillet round the brow, and across the left shoulder a cloak carved in relief with trefoils formerly filled with red paste. Aesthetically the most notable work of figurative art from the city is a famous bronze of a young dancing girl, naked save for a multitude of armlets. Among innumerable terra-cottas the most expressive are small but vigorous representations of bulls and buffalo. Female figurines may wear elaborate headdresses, and occasional figurines of small, fat grotesques, male or female, betray what perhaps was a crude sense of humour.
The evidence suggests that Mohenjo-daro suffered more than once from devastating floods of abnormal depth and duration, owing not merely to the encroaching Indus but possibly also to a ponding back of the Indus drainage by tectonic uplifts between Mohenjo-daro and the sea. That evidence has led to speculation that Harappa may have succeeded—or at least outlasted—Mohenjo-daro.
Sir John Hubert Marshall, (born March 19, 1876, Chester, Cheshire, Eng.—died Aug. 17, 1958, Guildford, Surrey), English director general of the Indian Archaeological Survey (1902–31) who in the 1920s was responsible for the large-scale excavations that revealed Harappā and Mohenjo-daro, the two largest cities of the previously unknown Indus Valley Civilization.
ir John Hubert Marshall
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Sir John Hubert Marshall
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By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Last Updated: Aug 13, 2022 • Edit History
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Sir John Hubert Marshall, (born March 19, 1876, Chester, Cheshire, Eng.—died Aug. 17, 1958, Guildford, Surrey), English director general of the Indian Archaeological Survey (1902–31) who in the 1920s was responsible for the large-scale excavations that revealed Harappā and Mohenjo-daro, the two largest cities of the previously unknown Indus Valley Civilization.
Born:
March 19, 1876 Chester EnglandDied: August 17, 1958 (aged 82) Guildford EnglandSubjects Of Study: Indus civilization
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Marshall was educated at Dulwich College and at King's College, Cambridge. He took part in excavations on Crete under the auspices of the British School at Athens, where he studied from 1898 to 1901. Despite his youth, he was appointed director general of archaeology in India in 1902. Marshall reorganized the Indian Archaeological Survey and greatly expanded its scope of activity. Initially, his chief task was to save and conserve the standing Indian temples, sculptures, paintings, and other ancient remains, many of which had been long neglected and were in a sad state of decay. His energetic efforts resulted in the preservation of ancient buildings all over British India.
In addition to monument conservation, Marshall presided over an ambitious program of excavation. He devoted much attention to the ancient region of Gandhāra, in modern Pakistan, and particularly to the excavation of one of its principal cities, Taxila. Here were found vast quantities of jewelry and domestic artifacts that helped make possible a vivid reconstruction of ancient everyday life. Taxila (1951) is one of Marshall's most valuable works. The sites of Sānchi and Sārnāth, important for their connection with the history of Buddhism, were also excavated and restored, and Marshall published The Monuments of Sanchi, 3 vol. (1939).
Until the final 10 years of his directorship, virtually no attempt was made to examine Indo-Pakistani prehistoric remains. Then came the dramatic finds at Harappā (1921) and Mohenjo-daro (1922), in present-day Pakistan. The Indian Archaeological Survey's excavations of these and other sites revealed an ancient civilization that flourished from about 2500 to 1750 BC over an area covering much of Pakistan and corners of India and Afghanistan. Eight years after his retirement, Marshall completed editing Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization, 3 vol. (1931). He was knighted in 1914.
Great Bath, ancient structure at Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, an archaeological site featuring ruins of the Indus civilization. The Great Bath dates to the 3rd millennium BCE and is believed to have been used for ritual bathing.
The Great Bath is part of a large citadel complex that was found in the 1920s during excavations of Mohenjo-daro, one of the main centres of the Indus civilization. The bath is built of fine brickwork and measures 897 square feet (83 square metres). It is 8 feet (2.5 metres) lower than the surrounding pavement. The floor consists of two skins of sawed brick set on edge in gypsum mortar, with a layer of bitumen sealer sandwiched between the skins. Water was evidently supplied by a large well in an adjacent room, and an outlet in one corner of the bath led to a high corbeled drain that disgorged on the west side of the mound. The bath was reached by flights of steps at either end, originally finished with timbered treads set in bitumen.
The significance of the structure is unknown, but it is generally thought to be linked with some sort of ritual bathing. Indeed, while lacking impressive palaces or monuments, Mohenjo-daro featured numerous baths—most homes had washrooms—and an extensive sewage system, suggesting that a priority was placed on cleanliness and sanitation