Context: Mohenjo-daro might be removed from the World Heritage Site list due to the damage caused by rains and flood in Pakistan’s Sindh Province.

Mohenjo-Daro

• It is a 5000-year-old archaeological site located in Larkana District in Sindh state in present Pakistan.

• It was situated along the west bank of the Indus River in Sindh.

• It was contemporary of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete, and Norte Chico civilizations.

• Mohenjo-Daro means ‘mound of the dead’.

• It was one of the oldest cities of the world.

• It comprises the remnants of one of two main centres of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation (2,500-1,500 BC).

• The other one is Harappa which is located 640 km to the northwest, in Punjab province.

• When the Indus Valley Civilisation went into sudden decline around 19th century BC, Mohenjo-Daro was abandoned.

• The ruins of the city remained undocumented for around 3,700 years.

•  It was first discovered by an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India, Rakhal Das Banerji in 1920.

•  Initial excavations at the large scale were done by Kashinath Narayan Dikshit and John Marshall.

• The site went to Pakistan during Partition.

Features

• It was the largest site of the Indus Valley Civilization.

• It was known to be a model planned city of the ancient civilisation.

• It was divided into two parts – Citadel in the west and the Lower City to the east.

• The Buddhist stupa was constructed with unbaked brick over the ruins of Moenjodaro in the 2nd century AD in the citadel area.

• The buildings are laid out along streets intersecting each other at right angles, in a highly orderly form of city planning.

• The covered area of Mohenjo-Daro was around 300 hectares.

• It was world’s earliest major urban settlements.

• The houses had bathrooms, toilets and an elaborate drainage system.

• The sheer size of the city, and its provision of public buildings and facilities, suggests a high level of social organisation.

• It was built with baked bricks and had public baths.

• There were wells, soak pits for disposal of sewage, and a large granary.

• The walls and brick pavements in the streets are still in a preserved condition.

• It was considered as the most advanced city of its time, with sophisticated civil engineering and urban planning.

Archaeological Ruins at Mohenjo-daro

• Mohenjo-Daro is the best-preserved urban ruin in the Indus Valley.

• Ruins comprise the first great urban center of the Indus civilization built 5000 years ago with burnt brick structures.

• It had a significant impact on the subsequent urbanisation of human settlement in the Indian peninsular.

Other Indus Valley sites

• The major urban centres included Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are situated in Pakistan, and Lothal, Kalibangan, Dholavira and Rakhigarhi are in India.