Harappan architecture

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Harappan architecture is the architecture of the Bronze Age^[1] Indus Valley civilization, an ancient society of people who lived during c. 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE in the Indus Valley of modern-day Pakistan and India.

The civilization's cities were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin).^[2] Its large urban centres of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa very likely grew to containing between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals,^{[3][note 1]} and the civilisation itself during its florescence may have contained between one and five million individuals.^{[4][note 2]}

South Asian Harappan culture was heavily formed through its rich integration into international trade, commerce, and contact due to its location along the Indus River.^[1] Signs of urbanization in the Indus Valley began as early as 6000 BCE, and by 3200 BCE the region expanded with towns and cities during the Early Harappan phase.^[5] The transition between Early and Mature Harappan phases took place in the sites of Amri, Nausharo, Ghazi Shah and Banawali.^[1] By 2500 BCE in the Mature Harappan phase, the Harappan Civilization became the eastern anchor of a network of routes including the Mesopotamian city-states, the Gulf, Iranian Plateau, and Central Asia, and its urbanization emerged as a clear marker of the sociocultural complexity of the Mature Harappan Civilization.^[1] Through its urbanization, the Harappan socio-cultural context became a set of intertwined features and processes that were centered on the city while bringing together many kinds of people of different ethnic and linguistic groups into a socio-cultural whole.^[1] Due to the Harappan Civilization's participation in the art of writing, engagement in long-distance trade, and studying of abroad in Mesopotamia,^[1] it became a complex ethnic and linguistic civilization that was further felt through its architecture and town planning.

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