Mohenjo-daro is an archaeological site located in the Larkana District of Sindh, Pakistan. It was built around 2500 BCE and was one of the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. It was also one of the world's earliest major cities, existing at the same time as the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoa, and Norte Chico.
The city had an estimated population of at least 40,000 people and thrived for several centuries. However, it was abandoned around 1700 BCE, along with other large cities of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Mohenjo-daro was rediscovered in the 1920s. Since then, many excavations have taken place at the site. In 1980, the site was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, making it the first site in South Asia to receive this designation. Today, the site is threatened by erosion and improper restoration efforts.
Etymology
The original name of the city is not known. Iravatham Mahadevan thinks the city's ancient name might have been Kukkuṭārma, which means "the city of the cockerel" in an ancient language. Cock-fighting may have been important in religious or ritual activities in the city. Mohenjo-daro might have been where domesticated chickens spread to Africa, Western Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
The modern name, Mohenjo-daro, is thought to mean "Mound of the Dead" in the Sindhi language.
Location
Mohenjo-daro is located on the west bank of the lower Indus River in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan. It is found on a natural hill formed during the Pleistocene era in the flood plain of the Indus River. The site is about 28 kilometers (17 miles) away from the town of Larkana.
Historical context
Mohenjo-daro was built around 2500 BC. It was one of the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, which began around 3000 BC from the early Indus culture. At its peak, the Indus Civilization covered parts of modern-day Pakistan and northern India, reaching west to the Iranian border, south to Gujarat in India, and north to an outpost in Bactria. Major cities included Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Lothal, Kalibangan, Dholavira, and Rakhigarhi. Mohenjo-daro was the most advanced city of its time, with very advanced civil engineering and city planning. When the Indus Civilization quickly declined around 1700 BCE, Mohenjo-daro was abandoned.
Rediscovery and excavation
The ruins of the city were not recorded for about 3,700 years until R. D. Banerji, an officer from the Archaeological Survey of India, visited the site in 1919–1920. He identified what he believed to be a Buddhist stupa (150–500 CE) already known to exist there. He also found a tool made of flint, which helped him understand the site's very old age. This discovery led to large-scale excavations of Mohenjo-daro, led by Kashinath Dikshit in 1924–1925 and John Marshall in 1925–1926. In the 1930s, major excavations were carried out under Marshall, D. K. Dikshitar, and Ernest Mackay. Additional excavations happened in 1945, led by Mortimer Wheeler and his trainees, Ahmad Dani and F. A. Khan. The last major excavations occurred in 1964 and 1965, led by George Dales. After 1965, excavations were stopped because weathering damaged the exposed structures. Only salvage excavations, surface surveys, and conservation projects have been allowed at the site since then. In the 1980s, German and Italian survey teams led by Michael Jansen and Maurizio Tosi used less harmful archaeological methods, such as architectural documentation, surface surveys, and localized probing, to learn more about Mohenjo-daro. A dry core drilling in 2015 by Pakistan's National Fund for Mohenjo-daro showed that the site is larger than the area already uncovered.
Architecture and urban infrastructure
Mohenjo-daro was built with a planned layout, featuring straight and angular buildings arranged on a grid pattern. Most buildings were made of fired and mortared brick; some also used sun-dried mud-brick and wooden structures. The total area of the city is estimated to be about 300 hectares. The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History suggests that the city may have had a peak population of around 40,000 people.
The large size of Mohenjo-daro, along with its public buildings and facilities, shows that the people had a well-organized society. The city was divided into two parts: the Citadel and the Lower City. The Citadel was a large mud-brick mound about 12 meters high and included public baths, a large residential building for about 5,000 people, and two large assembly halls. The city had a central marketplace and a large well. Smaller wells provided water for individual homes or groups of homes. Waste water was directed into covered drains that ran along the main streets. Some homes had rooms for bathing, and one building had an underground furnace, possibly used for heating water. Most homes had inner courtyards with doors opening onto side-lanes. Some buildings had two floors.
In 1950, Sir Mortimer Wheeler identified a large building as a "Great Granary," suggesting it stored grain. However, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer later noted no evidence of grain there, leading him to suggest it might have been a "Great Hall" with an unknown purpose. Near the "Great Granary" was a large public bath, sometimes called the Great Bath. Steps led from a colonnaded courtyard down to a brick pool lined with bitumen to keep it waterproof. The pool was 12 meters long, 7 meters wide, and 2.4 meters deep. It may have been used for religious rituals.
Other large buildings included a "Pillared Hall," possibly used for meetings, and the "College Hall," a complex with 78 rooms, possibly used by religious leaders. Archaeologists found the remains of mud-brick walls that once surrounded the city. It was also protected by guard towers to the west and defensive structures to the south. Scholars believe Mohenjo-daro may have been an administrative center, similar to other Indus Valley cities like Harappa. These cities shared similar layouts but were less heavily fortified than other Indus Valley sites.
Mohenjo-daro was built quickly, with water systems and wells among the first planned structures. Over 700 wells have been found there, along with drainage and bathing systems. This number is much higher than in other ancient civilizations, such as Egypt or Mesopotamia, with one well for every three homes. The large number of wells suggests the people relied on rainfall and the nearby Indus River for water. The circular brick well design used in Mohenjo-daro and other Harappan sites is believed to be an invention of the Indus civilization, as no similar designs are found in Egypt or Mesopotamia. Waste water was removed through a centralized drainage system that ran along the streets, likely directing it toward the Indus River.
The city had large platforms that may have been used to protect against flooding. Some archaeologists believed the city was flooded and rebuilt multiple times, possibly six times. Others, like Gregory Possehl, suggested the site was abandoned due to repeated small floods and overuse of the land for farming and building materials, rather than a single major flood.
Notable artefacts
Archaeologists found many items during excavations at Mohenjo-daro, including seated and standing figures, copper and stone tools, carved seals, balance scales, weights, gold and jasper jewelry, and children's toys. Many bronze and copper items, like figurines and bowls, were discovered, showing that the people of Mohenjo-daro knew how to use the lost wax technique to make metal objects. Furnaces at the site were likely used for working with copper and melting metals, not for smelting. There is also evidence of a special area in the northeastern part of the city where people made items from shells. Some important copper objects found include tablets with examples of the Indus script, which has not been translated yet. Though the script remains undeciphered, some images on the tablets match other tablets and share the same writing, such as three tablets with a mountain goat image and matching inscriptions.
Pottery and broken pieces of clay (terracotta sherds) were found at the site. Many pots had ash inside, leading archaeologists to think they might have been used to hold ashes or to heat homes. These items, called heaters or braziers, could also be used for cooking or straining.
At first, items from Mohenjo-daro were stored in the Lahore Museum, but later moved to the ASI headquarters in New Delhi. A new museum was planned for the British Raj’s capital, and some items were displayed there. As India gained independence, Pakistan asked for the return of artifacts found on its territory, but India refused at first. Eventually, an agreement was made to split the 12,000 objects (mostly pottery sherds) equally between the two countries. Some items, like necklaces, were divided into two piles. Pakistan received the "Priest-King" statue, while India kept the smaller "Dancing Girl" statue and the Pashupati seal.
Most items kept by India are in the National Museum of India in New Delhi, and those returned to Pakistan are in the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi. Some items are also displayed at the Mohenjo-daro museum itself. In 1939, a small group of artifacts was sent to the British Museum by the Archaeological Survey of India.
In 1931, John Marshall discovered a statue that resembles the Mother Goddess, a figure common in early Near Eastern cultures. Harappan culture had many female sculptures, which Marshall found during his digs. These figures were not clearly categorized, so their exact locations in the site are unknown. One statue, 18.7 cm tall, is now in the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi. Marshall noted that the exaggerated female features on these statues may have been offerings to a goddess, not just representations of her. Because of their unique hairstyles, body shapes, and jewelry, some scholars, like Shereen Ratnagar, think these figures might represent ordinary women who used them in rituals or ceremonies.
A bronze statue called the "Dancing Girl," about 10.5 cm tall and 4,000 years old, was found in Mohenjo-daro in 1926. It is now in the National Museum of India in New Delhi. Mortimer Wheeler, a British archaeologist, called it his favorite piece, describing it as a confident young girl. John Marshall described her as standing with one hand on her hip and legs slightly forward, as if dancing. Gregory Possehl noted that while the statue may not have been a dancer, it shows the civilization’s skill in metalworking and their appreciation for dance.
In 1927, a seated male soapstone figure was found in a building with ornate brickwork and a wall niche. Though no evidence shows priests or kings ruled Mohenjo-daro, archaeologists named this figure the "Priest-King." The statue is 17.5 cm tall, showing a bearded man with pierced ears, a headpiece, and a cloak with decorative patterns. His eyes may have originally been inlaid with precious materials.
A seal found at Mohenjo-daro shows a seated, cross-legged figure surrounded by animals. Some scholars think the figure is a yogi, while others believe it represents a three-headed version of a god, possibly an early form of Shiva. Sir Mortimer Wheeler believed this artifact was at least 4,500 years old. The seal has a necklace with an S-shaped clasp made of bronze beads, each strand over 4 feet long. The necklace has about 1,600 beads and weighs 250 grams. It is currently in a private collection in India.
The Indus Valley civilization used ivory rulers to measure length around 1500 BCE. The Mohenjo-daro ruler was divided into units of 34 millimeters, with precise decimal subdivisions. A similar ruler found at Lothal (2400 BCE) was even more accurate, measuring to 1.6 millimeters. These measurements used a unit called the "angula" (about 17 mm). A shell found during excavations had lines spaced 6.7 mm apart, showing the precision of ancient measurements. Ancient bricks found in the region also match these units.
Conservation and current state
In 1980, an agreement to fund the restoration of Mohenjo-daro was made through the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris on May 27. Other countries also contributed to the project.
Preservation work at Mohenjo-daro stopped in December 1996 when funding from the Pakistani government and international groups ended. Conservation efforts began again in April 1997, using money provided by UNESCO. A 20-year plan gave $10 million to protect the site and buildings from flooding. In 2011, the responsibility for preserving the site was given to the government of Sindh.
Today, the site faces challenges from salty groundwater and poor restoration efforts. Many walls have already collapsed, and others are breaking down from the bottom up. In 2012, Pakistani archaeologists warned that without better protection, the site might not exist by 2030.
In January 2014, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari from the Pakistan People's Party chose the site for the Sindh Festival's opening ceremony. This could have caused damage through activities like digging and drilling. Farzand Masih, head of the Department of Archaeology at Punjab University, said such activity is not allowed under the Antiquity Act, stating, "You cannot even hammer a nail at an archaeological site." A case was filed in the Sindh High Court to stop the Sindh government from holding the event. The festival was held at the historic site despite protests from historians and educators around the world.
Climate
Mohenjo-daro has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) with very hot summers and cool winters. The highest temperature ever recorded there was 53.5 °C (128.3 °F) in May 2010, and the lowest temperature was −5.4 °C (22.3 °F) in January 2006. Rainfall in Mohenjo-daro is very low and mostly happens during the monsoon season, which occurs from July to September. The average yearly rainfall is 100.1 mm, with most of it falling during the monsoon season. The highest yearly rainfall ever recorded was 1023.8 mm in 2022, and the lowest yearly rainfall was 10 mm in 1987.