SOC401 Assignment 1 Solution and Discussion

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Due Date: 21-11-2019
Objectives:
SEMESTER Fall 2019 Cultural Anthropology (SOC401)
Assignment No. 01
Branches of Anthropology
Assignment marks: 20
 To make students familiar with the historical changes took place over thousands of years in different societies.
 To learn about past societies and the development of the human race. Background:
Anything made or modified by humans is an artifact. The book you read, the chair you sitting in, the pen you are taking notes with are all artifacts. In fact, we are surrounded by artifacts, most of which we will lose or throw away. And that is exactly how things enter what we call the “Archaeological record”. Think about it: How much garbage do you produce in a day? What kinds of things do you throw away? Mostly paper, probably, but also wood, plastic and even metal. Into the garbage they go and out to dump or landfill. Under the right conditions many of those items will survive for future archaeologists to find most of the artifacts that make up the archaeological record are just this kind of mundane waste, the accumulated garbage of daily life that archaeologist may recover and examine to reconstruct what daily life was like long ago.
Assignment
With reference to the background, you are supposed to visit archeological websites and prepare a comprehensive report on the following Indus valley civilizations:
 Harappa
 Mohenjo-Daro
Your report must be comprises on the following elements:
 Living standard or town planning
 Art and craft
 Trade and Economy
 Language

      Report Format and marking scheme:

 Introduction 3
 Precise note on above mentioned elements of Indus valley civilization (12)  Conclusion (5)
Important:
You can consult various sites to complete this report. So you are advised to give references of visited sites. Those students will be encouraged who prepare the report in their own words and show their potential. Copy paste practice will be highly discouraged. Best of luck
Note: Only in the case of Assignment, 24 hours extra / grace period after the due date is usually available to overcome uploading difficulties which may be faced by the students on last date. This extra time should only be used to meet the emergencies and above mentioned due dates should always be treated as final to avoid any inconvenience.
Important Instructions:
Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the assignment solution.
Deadline:
 Make sure that you upload the solution file before the due date. No assignment will be accepted through e-mail once the solution has been uploaded by the instructor.
Formatting guidelines:
 Use the font style “Times New Roman”/ “Arial” and font size “12”.
 It is advised to compose your document in MS-Word.
 Use black and blue font colors only.
Solution guidelines:
 Every student will work individually and has to write in the form of an analytical assignment.
 Give the answer according to question.
 For acquiring the relevant knowledge don’t rely only on handouts but watch the video
lectures and use other reference books also.
Rules for Marking
Please note that your assignment will not be graded or graded as Zero (0) if:
 It has been submitted after due date

      The file you uploaded does not open or is corrupt

 It is in any format other than doc (MS. Word)
 It is cheated or copied from other students, internet, books, journals etc…

[zareen]

Solution:
Introduction:
The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the world’s first great urban civilizations. It flourished in the vast river plains and adjacent regions in Pakistan and western India. Although there were economic and cultural contacts between these early urban societies, significant differences are seen in their respective artistic styles, symbols, technologies and social organization. The Indus Valley Civilization is also the largest of the four other ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, and China. However, out of all these four ancient civilizations, least is known about the Indus Valley civilization. This is because of the fact that the script of Indus people has not been decoded yet.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the two much planned civilized cities with similar planning technique, and layout in construction of this civilization.

Living standard or town planning
An Indus city was made of mud-brick buildings. It had walls and roads. Water was very important to Indus people, so the builders started by digging wells, and laying drains. Main streets were up to 10 meters wide, wide enough for carts to pass. Side streets were narrow, more like alleys. Houses were built with standardized baked bricks and many had spacious courtyards. Some of the bigger houses even had multiple stories (levels) and paved floors. Some cities had a citadel high on a mound. In the citadel were bigger buildings. Perhaps the city’s rulers lived there. Most people lived and worked in the lower part of town. Most Indus people did not live in cities at all. Perhaps 9 out of 10 people were farmers and traders who lived in small villages.
Art and craft
This ancient civilization had marvelous craftsmen, skilled in pottery, weaving, and metal working. The pottery that has been found is of very high quality with beautiful designs. They have found bowls made of bronze and silver, and many beads and ornaments. Various sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry and bronze have been found at excavation sites.
Trade and Economy
Indus Valley civilization was mainly an urban culture sustained by surplus agricultural production and commerce, the latter including trade. It was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. Aside from the subsistence of agriculture and hunting, the Indus people supported themselves by trading goods. Through trade, the Indus Civilization expanded its culture, coming into regular contacts with faraway lands.
Water and irrigation system
Remains from the ancient city of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro show that the city used to have a well designed and proper water drainage and irrigation systems. Farmers made good use of water from the rivers. They were probably the first farmers to take water from underground wells. They may have used river water to irrigate their fields.
Language
The language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain. The main body of writing dated from the Indus Civilization is in the form of some two thousand inscribed seals in good, legible conditions. These seals and samples of Indus writing have been floating around the scholastic. So contention for being the language of the Indus civilization is dim. The Harappan people were literate and used to Dravidian language. Only part of this language has been deciphered today, leaving numerous questions about this civilization unanswered.
Conclusion:
Although Indus Valley civilization has its importance, but we may not know anything more about this civilization, the reason is this language does not exist anymore. The historians, the scholars and generally for all of us, this leads to acknowledge of an important civilization, which was the basis for several features of the current lifestyle. It was this rigorous devotion to craftsmanship and trade that allowed the Harappan culture to spread widely and prosper greatly.

References:

1. Ancientscripts
2. Bizland
3. Timemaps
4. Wikipedia
5. Wikipedia