Mohenjo-daro, the “Mound of the Dead”, Pakistan

Mohenjo-daro  meaning ‘Mound of the Dead Men’ an archaeological site in the province of  Sindh in Pakistan.

Built around 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and one of the world’s earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of  Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Minoan Crete. It is  the only ancient civilization whose script has resisted decipherment up until now, leaving a significant hiatus in our understanding of the culture and society .

It was one of the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization also known as the  Harappan Civilization, which developed around 3,000 BCE from the prehistoric Indus culture. At its height, the Indus Civilization spanned much of what is now Pakistan and North India, extending westwards to the  Iranian border, south to  Gujarat in India and northwards to an outpost in  with major urban centres at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Lothal, Dholavira , Rakhigarhi etc, with new sites being excavated to this day. Mohenjo-daro was the most advanced city of its time, with remarkably sophisticated civil engineering and urban planning. When the Indus civilization went into sudden decline around 1900 BCE, Mohenjo-daro was abandoned

The site of Mohenjo- Daro was not rediscovered until the 1920s. Significant excavation has since been conducted at the site of the city as late as 1965 , only one tenth of the city has been excavated.  Parts of the exposed sites have actually been re-buried to prevent decay due to atmospheric exposure  and neglect although it was  designated a  UNESCO World Heritage Centre in 1980