Harappa

Harappa is a village in Pakistan. After this village, a historic town located next to the village on the upper reaches of the Indus River is named. It is the eponymous locality of the Harappan Culture or Indus Valley Civilization.

The city was the Bronze Age from about 2600 BC and 1800 BC, a center of the Indus or Harappan culture and then got forgotten until Sir Alexander Cunningham conducted 1872/1873 first excavations. But only since further work after 1920 Age and significance Harappas have been detected. Further excavations took place from 1995 to 2001. However, the bricks of the city in the middle of the 19th century were used as material for the construction of a railway line. Thus, a large part of this ancient city was completely destroyed.

From the obtained residue can be seen that the city consisted of two parts. To the east lay the actual residential town and to the west called the citadel, which was surrounded by a wall heavily fortified. North of storage facilities and workers' quarters were still to be investigated. The few remnants obtain the actual city building indicate a checkerboard map. Air-dried and burnt clay bricks of the buildings were used as building material. South of the city cemetery was excavated. It is one of the few known cemeteries of the Indus Valley Civilization.

In Sumer found harappische workpieces and from remote areas originating materials suggest that Harappa was a trading center. The production of copper, bronze, precious metals and their processing techniques such as casting, bustle, forging and Zieselieren was known. The quality of the gems found indicates a highly developed craftsmanship.