The Indus Civilization, often denoted by its major city Harappa, spanned almost two

millennia from 3200 to 1300 BC 1. Its tradition reaches back to 7000 BC: a 5000-year long
expansion of villages and towns, of trading activity, and of technological advancements
culminates between 2600 and 1900 BC in the build-up of large cities, writing, and political
authority; it emerges as one of the first great civilizations in history. Harappans
demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms,
and protective walls. Harappans were among the first to develop a system of uniform
weights and measures that conformed to a successive scale. The smallest division,
approximately 1.6 mm, was marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal, a prominent Indus
Valley city in the modern Indian state of Gujarat. It stands as the smallest division ever
recorded on a Bronze Age scale. Another indication of an advanced measurement system is
the fact that the bricks used to build Indus cities were uniform in size. 2

Looking at bricks in a new and improved scientific light is very crucial, as there isn’t enough
scientific research on Indus Valley Civilization’s usage and the type of bricks they had, in
comparison to Mesopotamian bricks. This is important because the civilization was one of
the very earliest to use fired bricks and is thus believed to have had an influence on
subsequent brickwork in other countries.

Brick making is thought to be one of the world's oldest vocations, dating back to the early
Indus Valley Civilization, potentially as far back as 10,000 years ago. Clay originating in The
Indus River deposits were combined with straw, sun-dried and molded into brick units.
Bricks would deteriorate with time. As it proved the durability of the stone, its popularity as
a building material grew due to its ability to survive fire and the harsh forces of nature. As
The usage of brick grew in popularity, as did the technique of sun drying, kiln drying and
finally, kiln firing has taken their place. As a result of this brick making has grown from
humble beginnings to a vibrant industry 3. The Indus cities are known for their urban
planning, which is a technical and political process concerned with land use and urban
design. This places bricks and the Indus Valley Civilization at the pedestal for the modern
urban way of designing, building and planning of spaces and architecture. They are the core
benefactors of how a larger site should be developed to accommodate distinct spaces
dedicated to varied amount of purposes and the living. We took on from the remains of
that civilization and the use of their methods and finished pieces to move our technological
understanding of spaces and architecture further to benefit our different social, political and

1
 "Archeological Site of Harappa". World Heritage Centre. UNESCO. Retrieved 19 February 2013.

2
Boundless, Mortimer. “Boundless World History.” Lumen. Accessed March 5, 2022.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-indus-river-valley-civilizations/.

3
Aurangzeb Khan and Carsten Lemmen, “Bricks,” Harappa, 2005, https://www.harappa.com/content/bricks-and-
urbanism-indus-valley-rise-and-decline.
economic dynamics.  The city of Mohenjo-Daro contains the “Great Bath,” which may have
been a large, public bathing and social area.

For example, the journey from public, communal bathrooms to the private bathrooms we
have today, is an understanding of a single human life, its connections to the varied life
around it and the transformation of it to benefit and fulfil a single human life is endearing.
Similarly, the advanced drainage system of Indus Valley Civilization again with the use of
bricks, is an excellent example of how our modern drainage system was birthed and how we
are consistently influenced by it to take simple building block and multiply its abilities to
suit our needs.

the Indus Valley Civilization also used mudbrick extensively, as can be seen in the ruins of
Buhen, Mohenjo-Daro, and Harappa, for example. In the Indus Valley Civilization, all bricks
corresponded to sizes in a perfect ratio of 4:2:1, and made use of the decimal system. The
ratio for brick dimensions 4:2:1 is even today considered optimal for effective bonding. The
reason why bricks are so pivotal and so integral in the building processes of human
settlements today is because they have basically remained the same even after centuries
with nominal changes all over the world. Architecture is almost impossible without building
materials and the core of building materials today is bricks. Coming from the department of
architecture the bricks are the fundamental aspects of it. They have been there for the most
monumental, iconic and timeless buildings throughout the history, throughout the world
and are here to stay for a long time to come. The entire idea of a taking a cuboid and
making it a multifaceted asset to cater to the basics of building of a space, and opening up
the doors for architects to use it as a design technique and even for the creation of a
façade is really moving. It has given me a new lens to look at the historical achievements of
the human race as much more than a history book marvel and has actually ground me to
my rich heritage and culture and to look to the ancestors of my land and their insights to
birth new ideas and opportunities, to both design and own.

Javerya Shahid

AR-2873-2021
Bibliography

Boundless, Mortimer. “Boundless World History.” Lumen. Accessed March 5, 2022.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-indus-river-
valley-civilizations/.
Khan, Aurangzeb, and Carsten Lemmen. “Bricks.” Harappa, 2005.
https://www.harappa.com/content/bricks-and-urbanism-indus-valley-rise-and-decline.
Wikipedia article: Harappa

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Saylor.org%27s_Ancient_Civilizations_of_the_World/
New_Civilization_in_the_Indus_Valley:_Harappa