Although we can’t read the writing that’s been found in the ruins in the Indus Valley, we can read other ancient writings. Hindu writings from India describe the Indus Valley cities being conquered in 1500 BC. We don’t know that that’s true. We do believe that the Indus Valley civilization was a peaceful one and didn’t have an army.

That’s before the time of Moses, between Genesis and Exodus in the Bible. The Indus Valley cities were at their height around the time of Abraham, around 2000 BC.

It’s also possible that natural disasters hurt the area through flooding, earthquakes, or droughts. There could have been a plague of a disease. That could have weakened them and opened them up to conquerors. Could they have suffered from the same famine as in the story of Joseph? Maybe, we don’t know.

Whatever happened, from the ruins, archaeologists can see that houses crumbled and drains were blocked up. The Great Bath was rebuilt over crumbled ruins, but in other places just piles of bricks remain, as if people had taken many of the bricks with them when they left.

All together the civilization lasted more than one thousand years. It’s evidence is still seen in India with links to Hinduism, the main religion of India, and in the jewelry still worn in India. Farmers still lay their crops in the same way as it is believed they did in the ancient Indus Valley with slopes of crops.

Their system of governing must have worked, as their cities were very successful for over 500 years. Without an army, they had learned to live in peace with each other instead of in competition with each other.

One more legacy of the ancient Indus Valley is the swastika. Now a symbol of hate, it’s origins seem to be in the Indus Valley as a sign of rebirth, a kind of “good luck charm.”

 

 

Photo credits:

Found at skyscrapercity.com

Swastika seals from commons.wikimedia.org