Contrasts between First Civilizations

As I mentioned in my last post I thought that it was interesting how there has been a switch in focus from the Mesopotamians and Egyptians to digging for new "first civilizations." When I was looking at my text again the map on page 59 of Strayer's Ways of the World shows the Indus Valley civilization to be located in NW India on the brinks of current day Nepal and Pakistan. While obviously it is not what we would consider as "close" today to other civilizations it is located the closest out of the rest of the first civilizations highlighted in this chapter to the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. This made me wonder, why has the Indus Valley civilization only been recently investigated?

Other first civilizations like the Olmec or China have been studied in past history classes that I've taken however this is the first time that I have began to learn about the Indus Valley civilization and since it's new I'm finding I have more intrest in what their civilization is all about, where it came from, why and how it ended. In the text it shows a picture on page 63 of a discovery of an Indus Valley city. This city looked structurally sound and planned for. The text also goes on to say that the place where this city was discovered, the city of Mohenjo Daro, had a population of around 40,000, an awfully large number for a civilization. 40,000 people is bigger than my home town of Foster City by 10,000 people and to think that in 3500 years no one would know that a small civilization lived there is unbelievable.

Also another thing that struck me was how well planned the Indus Valley civilization was. Their cities were mapped out in a grid fashion, with indoor plumbing, and luxurious houses of two to three stories. It's also unbelievable to think that people 3500 years ago had the brainpower and advanced technology to accomplish all of these tasks. I know that if I was asked to build a temple or small city I would have absolutely no idea where to even begin. It's astonishing that these first civilizations all link back to have one thing in common, they all gained their start from the Agricultural Evolution.

The Agricultural Evolution really sparked and gave beginnings to all of the first civilizations highlighted in the chapter. In order to sustain a large civilization of 40,000 like the Indus Valley you need a surplus of goods, commerce, economy, and workers. From just the development of growing and creating a surplus from agriculture goods it is impressive that these civilizations could figure it all out. I know that now I would not be able to figure out how to get a donkey or horse to plow my field. Their advancements of technology back then is very similar to our advancement in technology now. They invented and developed items to aid their needs and today our society has done the same.. Maybe it's a humanistic quality to developed technology for your needs and wants.