5) Cities: The Indus Valley Civilization is famous for its sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture. The streets of major cities such as Mohenjo-daro or Harappa were laid out in perfect grid patterns. The houses were protected from noise, odors, and thieves. The municipal governments placed a high priority on hygiene. Found at one city was an enormous well-built bath, which may have been a public bath. The world’s first urban sanitation systems were found in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
6) Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. From a room, which appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets. Today, the house-building in some villages in the region still resembles in some respects the house-building of the Harappans. The ancient Indus systems of sewage and drainage, which were developed and used in cities throughout the Indus Empire, were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East and even more efficient than those in some areas of Pakistan and India today.
7) The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective walls. There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples – or of kings, armies, or priests. The massive citadels of Indus cities protected the Harappans from floods and attackers. Nevertheless, the purpose of the citadel remains debated. In sharp contrast to this civilization’s contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, no large monumental structures were built. Although the citadels were walled, it is far from clear that these structures were defensive. They may have been built to divert flood waters.
8) Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans. Materials from distant regions were used in the cities for constructing seals, beads and other objects. Among the artefacts discovered there were beautiful beads of glazed stone called faience. The seals have images or animals, gods and other types of inscriptions. Some of the seals were used to stamp clay on trade goods and most probably had other uses.