Indus River Basin, South Asia · Bronze Age
Indus Valley Civilization
Cities with drainage systems but no deciphered words
3,300 BCE – 1,300 BCE · 2,000 years
A Bronze Age civilization of remarkably uniform, well-planned cities whose script remains undeciphered today.
Where it sits on the calendar
Government
City-state
Writing system
Indus script (undeciphered)
Estimated peak population
5,000,000
How it ended
Climate shift or drought
Traits
Monumental architecture Bronze metallurgy Irrigation agriculture Long-distance trade Urban planning Seafaring Iron metallurgy Standing army Codified law Astronomical record-keeping
How Indus Valley Civilization ended
Weakening monsoon patterns and river shifts likely drove gradual urban decline and dispersal.
See other civilizations that fell the same way →Notable for
- Standardized brick sizes across cities
- Advanced urban drainage and sanitation
- Undeciphered seal script
Who else was alive at the same time
8 other civilizations in this dataset overlap with Indus Valley Civilization's 2,000-year span.
See every overlap involving Indus Valley Civilization →