1. INDUS RIVER CIVILIZATION: WHAT DO WE KNOW? * They existed around 3,500 B.C. * There were at least two city-states, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, with up to 80,000 people living in H. *Besides living in a fertile river valley (= good food supply) their location put them on trade routes used for copper, lapis lazuli, and shells. * They traded with Mesopotamia and Egypt.

2. * They had a writing system which emerged by 3300 B.C. * It is a mix of pictograms and phonetic symbols. * So far, it has not yet been translated. * It read from right to left (opposite way of ours).

3. * They had well-planned cities with streets laid out in a grid like today. * They were the only ancient civilization with a bathroom (including toilet) in every home. * They apparently built no monuments or temples. * They did not seem to bury people with their wealth.

4. * They had no evidence of weapons or war. * They had good jewelery. * Women were buried near their mothers and grandmothers.

5. * Their cities were mysteriously abandoned, without any evidence of fighting or destruction. * There is evidence of extensive flooding of the Indus River over a period of about 700 years. * Some scholars theorize that disease killed them (because it would not destroy the buildings, etc.).