Harappan Civilization and Decipherment
Behistun Inscription
Monumental inscription 100 meters up on a rock face in modern-day Iran. It contains three languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian Akkadian.
Mycenaean Linear B
Remained undeciphered until Michael Ventris successfully deciphered it in 1952 on the assumption that it represented an archaic form of Greek
Karakorum
a mountain range that is apart of the Hindu Kush, lies west of the Himalayas, much higher than the Hindu Kush and it house the mountain of K2
Bilingual
a person who is fluent in two or three languages
Peninsula
a piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water, that means "almost an island" in Latin
Kalibangan, Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa
three of the largest cities found through archaeological means along the Indus and its tributaries
Decipherment
you can decipher a writing system by having another inscription to compare or you make a really good guess about what language it could be, unreadable to readable
Indus River
a river located in India that flows southwest from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, makes farming possible in areas close to the riverside, mainly fed by snowfall
Ganges River
a river that create an enormous flat and fertile plain, joins the Brahmaputra river and the Bay of Bengal, considered one of the least sanitary rivers in the world. People believe that the river is holy, and is why so many rituals are performed
Brahmaputra River
a river that flows into the Bay of Bengal
Eastern & Western Ghats
a series of low mountain ranges that border the Deccan Plateau and keeps the moist air from reaching the plateau, a ghat is a stairway down to a holy place, and got used in these terms.
Hindu Kush
a wall of the highest mountains in the world including the Karakoram, the Himalayan ranges, they separate this region from the rest of the asian continent.
Harappan Civilization
another name for the Indus Valley civilization that arose along the river characterized as sophisticated city planning
Winter Monsoon
blow dry air westward across the country
Summer Monsoon
blow eastward from the southwest and carry moisture from the ocean in great clouds
Rosetta Stone
A stele commissioned in 196 BC by King Ptolemy V. It has three parallel texts: one written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, one in Demotic Egyptian, and one in ancient Greek
True or False: We know a lot about Harappan civilization from their writings.
False
Describe Harappan city planning.
Harappan city planning was similar to a grid system. The people that lived in this ancient civilization, divided residential districts from each other. Houses varied in size, some could have been three stories high. Narrow lanes separated rows of houses, which were laid out in block units. Houses had bathrooms, where wastewater flowed out into the street and then to sewage pits that laid outside the city walls.
Indus Valley script
Used by the Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley from ca 3000 - 1800 BC. Most "inscriptions" are very short, and there are no parallel texts (bilinguals), No one has been able to connect the underlying language to a known language, and so the script remains undeciphered
Subcontinent
a large landmass that forms a distinct part of a continent
Monsoon
seasonal winds that dominate India's climate
Bay of Bengal
the bay located to the east of India, the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers flow into it
Thar Desert
the desert that occupies most of the Indus Valley creating very little opportunities to farm, provided a barrier for the people living in the Indus Valley
Indo-Gangetic Plain
the land located in between the Indus and Ganges river with fertile farmland, contains a large amount of silt from the rivers surrounding it
Himalayas
the main mountain range the separates India from the rest of Asia, houses the tallest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest
Indian Ocean
the ocean that surrounds India
Deccan Plateau
the region in the center of the Indian peninsula that is a high plateau sut by twisting rivers
Arabian Sea
the sea located to the west of India