Mohenjo-daro
A 4,500-year-old planned city of the Indus civilization, and the subject of a popular but unfounded 'ancient nuclear blast' claim.
- Location
- Sindh Province
- Modern country
- Pakistan
- Type
- Bronze Age city (Indus or Harappan civilization)
- Period
- c. 2500–1700 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1920s (R. D. Banerji; John Marshall)
- Status
- UNESCO World Heritage Site (1980)
What is Mohenjo-daro known for?
Mohenjo-daro is one of the largest cities of the Indus, or Harappan, civilization. It was built around 2500 BCE on the Indus River in what is now Sindh, Pakistan, and abandoned by about 1700 BCE. Its baked-brick houses, grid of streets, drains and the so-called Great Bath make it the oldest known planned city on the Indian subcontinent. UNESCO listed it in 1980.
R. D. Banerji recognized the site's antiquity around 1919 to 1922, and John Marshall led major excavations from the mid-1920s. Why the city was abandoned is still studied; explanations include flooding, river shifts, worn-out land and the wider decline of Indus trade.
A popular claim says Mohenjo-daro was destroyed by an ancient nuclear explosion, with skeletons 'frozen' in the streets. The idea traces to a 1979 book. Archaeologists point out that the skeletons come from different periods and that there is no evidence of radiation or a blast.
The site lists the 'ancient nuclear blast' at Mohenjo-daro as a claim to leave out, because the evidence does not support it.
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro'Reference
- Wikipedia, 'Mohenjo-daro'Reference
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