PART I
Fate of the Harappan (Indus Valley) Civilization
By 3,200 years before the Common Era, an Asian breed of Mediterranean people (Baker 1974, 511–12) created the Indus Valley or “Harappan” Civilization. During its Mature Period (2500–1700 BCE), it comprised Pakistan and parts of northwestern India. Its leaders were the most advanced hydraulic (water control) engineers in the world before the Romans, and they created a written script and invented the decimal system (Kostman 1995–6, 1; Feuerstein 2001, 73). In the cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, there were large granaries, a public bath, and paved streets aligned north-south and east-west. Houses were built with standard-size and modern-looking bricks, and each dwelling had a bathroom and was connected to a public sewer like that in Minoan Crete (Whitaker, “Mohenjo Daro” 2–7 and “Harrapa” 5; Kostman 1995–6, 1).
However, over the centuries, the region’s monsoon climate shifted eastward into India, leaving behind drought in the Harappan lands. Meanwhile, a tectonic shift caused the rivers to change course and frequently overflow and flood crops and even cities (Kostman 1995–6, 3–5; Schug et al. 2013, 2)). Although the early Harappan engineers could have built reservoirs and canals to both control the flooding and solve the drought conditions, by this later period, the creative elite and their culture seem to have gradually lost control to genetically alien intruders (Kostman 1995–6, 5–6). As a result, buildings declined in quality. The sewer system and even the written script fell into disuse (Ibid, 4, 6). Diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis greatly increased, primarily among the newcomers. There was also a massive upsurge of crime and violence which was committed very disproportionately among the alien intruders (Schug et al. 2013, 2–5, 10–12). Under the weight of this degeneration, during the seventeen hundred’s BCE, the cities themselves were largely abandoned. (Kostman 1995–6, 3–5; Schug et al. 2013, 2).
During the so-called Late Harappan Period (1700-1200–BCE), the original Harappan people seem to have dwindled to a tiny minority in the region, and by then the cities were nearly empty except for a very sparse intruder presence (Kostman 1995–6, 5). These newcomers were not the Indo-European people called “Aryans,” as many writers believed up to a few decades ago. In fact, the Indo-Aryan migration into distant northern India did not even begin until at least 1500 BCE (Ibid, 2–3). Some scholars believe the Harappan intruders were actually Mediterranean-Australoid hybrids. However, regardless of who they were, these climate-and-economic refugees apparently appeared at first to be worthy of some compassion. Then they became a source of dangerously high crime, new deadly diseases, incompatible cultural values, and conflicting national identities. And finally, their numbers overwhelmed and replaced this advanced ancient civilization and the people who created it.
References
Baker, John. 1974. Race. London: Oxford University Press.
Feuerstein, Georg, Subhash Kak, and David Frowley. 2001. In Search of the Cradle of Civilization: New Light on Ancient India. Wheaton, II.: Quest Books.
Kostman, Chris J. D. “The Demise of Utopia: Contexts of Civilizational Collapse in the Bronze Age Indus Valley.” JAGNES, 1995–1996 (fall-winter). Retrieved February 1, 2014 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmn/articles/PMC3866234. pp.1–7.
Schug, Gwen Robbins, K. Elaine Blevins, Brett Cox, Kelsey Gray, and V. Mushrif-Tripathy. 2013 (Dec. 17 online). “Infection, Disease, and Biosocial Processes at the End of the Indus Civilization.” Edited by Michael D. Petraglia. PLOS ONE. pp. 1–36.
Whitaker, Alex. n. d. “Harrapa: Indus Valley City.” Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk.pakistanharappa. pp.1–8.
__________. n. d. “Mohenjo Daro: Indus Valley City.” Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk.pakistanmohenjo. pp.1–11.
