THE ARCHAEOLOGIST EDITOR GROUP
Although it is considered one of the world's most ancient civilizations and the subject of extensive research, much about this ancient society remains unknown.
The growing Indus Valley Civilisation presided over the region that is now Pakistan and India four thousand years ago. From 2600 BC to 1500 BC, the Indus Valley Civilisation flourished in the Indian subcontinent near the Indus River. It probably had a profound impact on Hindu culture, according to archeological evidence. This civilization was lost to history until it was rediscovered in 1920. Taking into account the evidence of the appearance of cities, agriculture, architecture, and writing, it is ranked alongside its contemporaries, the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, as one of the three most ancient civilizations on Earth.Although it is considered one of the oldest civilizations in the world and the subject of extensive research, much about this ancient society remains unknown.
Himalayan cave stalagmite offers most detailed explanation yet of what led to ancient Indus civilization's decline, new study says.
The "social and political structures" of the Indus civilization, for example, are unknown, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Archaeologists and historians know almost nothing about the language, the weight system, or the artifacts of the time. Yet one mystery remains the greatest of all: how, when, and why did the Indus Valley Civilization disappear?
Experts generally agree that a drought hit the Indus Valley about 4,200 years ago, but the "exact timing and magnitude" of that drought remain unknown, researchers said in a study published April 4 in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
The Dharamjali cave in the Himalayas held the solutions to these vexing issues. Researchers discovered a stalagmite with a revealing mix of traits close to the far end of the tiny cave. Although the cave creation occurred in a weather-sensitive environment, it was protected enough to have formed during this prehistoric epoch. According to the study, the researchers were able to reconstruct historical rainfall patterns that started 4,200 years ago based on the stratified strata of minerals in the stalagmite.
Their findings provided a more thorough and slightly different picture of ancient life than what was previously known. The researchers discovered "three big drought periods" between 4,200 and 3,900 years ago, with each one "lasting 25-90 years," as opposed to "a single severe drought spanning roughly 100-200 years." In a press statement on April 24, research co-author Cameron Petrie of the University of Cambridge noted, "We find convincing evidence that this time was not a short-term crisis but a continuous transformation of the natural conditions under which Indus people lived." According to the study, rainfall dropped during these dry spells in both the summer and the winter. The drought had a negative impact on Indian towns' access to water as well as predictions of rainfall and river flooding for crucial crops.
"The archaeological findings show that over a period of 200 years, the ancient inhabitants took various measures to adapt and remain resilient in the face of this new environment," study lead author Alena Gise said in the release. The great megacities of the Indus, such as Harappa, began to decline as people moved to "smaller and more flexible agricultural settlements," as the researchers point out in the study. "Craftsmanship and innovation in Indian urban centers... and long-distance exchange and trade" also declined. About 300 years after the final dry period, about 3,600 years ago, the Indus Valley Civilization disappeared completely, a study suggests.
In order to better comprehend this final stage of decline, the researchers underlined the need of examining various cave formations, according to the report. The Indian Himalayan area of Uttaranchal is home to Dharamjali Cave, which is around 290 miles northeast of New Delhi and close to the borders with Nepal and China.
