India: Ancient Cities

In the main parts of the city there were two- and three-story houses with a flat roof, relatively well-arranged; Some even had rooms for water procedures with drainage of used water. Houses closely adjoined to each other, forming large blocks; The streets and alleys intersected at right angles, which indicates the presence of planning elements when laying down cities. They had many well-constructed wells, and in Mohenjo-Daro, the ruins of a city sewer system were found.

Cities were not only administrative centers, but also the focus of craft and trade. They produced raw and burned bricks, from which the buildings were built. They were engaged in the processing of copper and its alloys: they made weapons, tools, household goods and jewelry, flourished jewelry and pottery, stone carving and bones. Of particular note is cotton growing - the earliest example in the history of cotton production and processing. The emergence of India ...

Such a developed degree of craft, whose products were mainly for sale or for exchange, the availability of large market and storage facilities, a large number of found weights, the use in the craft of many raw materials (copper, gold, silver, wood, precious and semiprecious stones) Which could not be found on the spot, the finds of Indian masters' products far beyond their probable manufacturing presuppose the existence of trade links not only with other areas of India, but also with the territories outside it. More or less confidently, one can talk about trade ties with the tribes of modern South India, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia; Even with distant Mesopotamia, trade relations existed at least as early as the 24th century. BC. E.

As for agriculture, we know little about it, since rural settlements have not been explored. Certain indications that artificial irrigation was used in agriculture, we do not have, but natural floods of rivers have certainly been used. It is known about the cultivation of wheat, barley, peas, melons, date palms by farmers at that time ; In the II millennium BC. E. On the southern outskirts of the Indian civilization (in Gujarat) rice was also cultivated. Of the technical cultures, the most important was cotton: in all likelihood, India (and this has already been mentioned above) is the first country where this valuable plant began to be cultivated. From domestic animals cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs were bred; It is also known about keeping chickens in the household.

India - Ancient Cities.