mohenjo-daro pictures

7/27/2019 Mohenjo-daro pictures

1/32

Architecture of Mohenjo-Daro

By: Izhar kasi

4th Semester


2/32

The name ofMohenjo-daro

is widely

recognized asone of the

most important

early cities ofSouth Asia
http://www.mohenjodaro.net/mohenjodarostreet63.html


3/32

Some buildings in L area are constructed on top of a

massive mud brick platform that can be seen here as

grey-olive mud brick below the eroding red fired bricks.


4/32

The Great Bath is situated along a north-south street

with a drain covered with limestone blocks. In the

background is the so-called Granary, while in the

foreground are the walls of several domestic structures.


5/32


6/32

The "great bath" is without doubt the earliest public

water tank in the ancient world. Most scholars agree

that this tank would have been used for special

religious functions where water was used to purify andrenew the well being of the bathers.


7/32

At the foot of the stairs is a

small ledge with a brick

edging that extends theentire width of the pool.

People coming down the

stairs could move alongthis ledge without actually

stepping into the pool

itself. Small sockets at the

edges of the stairs could

have held wooden planks

or treads.


8/32

Great

Bath


9/32

This drain cuts through the edge of the so-called granary. If the entire

drain were constructed along with the Great Bath, this feature would

indicate that the original "granary" was built before the great bath


10/32

"Citadel" mound and Stupa in the mist

Local villagers cross the site in a donkey cart in the early

morning mist, with the Buddhist stupa perched on top of the

"citadel" mound. The modern road winds through the low-

lying area between the "citadel" and "lower town."
http://www.harappa.com/indus/72.html


11/32

Various factors

contributed to

the decline of

Mohenjo-Daro

There have been

some suggestions

that the entire

site wasdestroyed by

floods
http://www.harappa.com/indus/72.html


12/32

These two local boys

decided to hang out

in the ancient cityafter delivering a pot

of milk to their father

who is one of the sitewatchmen. The

distinctive decorated

hat worn by the older

boy is worn

throughout Sindh

province in Pakistan


13/32

The Indus River and "lower town"


14/32

The tops of eroding buildings have been capped

with a protective layer of mud brick


15/32

This general view of houses shows the color of

the brick walls prior to use of mud brick and clay

slurry for conservation. The lower parts of thewalls have the natural reddish color of fired brick.


16/32


17/32

One relatively

successful low costtechnique used to

combat the

destructive nature ofsalts in the fired bricks

is to cover the walls

with a thick layer of

mud and straw plaster

and to spray them

with clay slurry.


18/32

Some of the later houses were constructed on

top of massive deposits of garbage consisting of

brick rubble, broken pottery.

Cl i f th ill d h ll hi h h


19/32

Close-up view of the pillared hall, which may have

been a hall of assembly with paved walkways and

places for people to sit in ordered rows along each

aisle between massive brick pillars


20/32

A large open space or courtyard (10 meters square) is surrounded by a

wall that had 13 openings, possibly for windows. This unique structure is

situated in the northern part of an extremely large building complex

containing around 78 rooms and passageways, but no well. The buildinglies to the east of the Great Bath and was thought to be a "college" or

residence of priests.


21/32

Many houses had stairs

leading to upper

courtyards of the building

or to a second floor. This

house in HR area had a

double staircase thatwould allow people to

enter and exit the upper

courtyard in an orderly

fashion. Some scholarsfeel this may have been a

palace or a temple.


22/32

House A1 may have been a temple or palace of an

important leader. Two doorways lead to a narrow

courtyard at a lower level. A double staircase leads to

an upper courtyard surrounded by several rooms.


23/32

Toilets would have been an

essential feature in Mohenjo-

daro, but the early excavatorsidentified most toilets as post-

cremation burial urns or sump

pots. This brick structure had

a hole in the top that wasconnected to a small drain

leading out of the base into a

rectangular basin (not

reconstructed). Early

excavators suggested this

might have been a toilet.


24/32

In some neighborhoods, large courtyards were

connected to numerous smaller buildings built at

different levels.


25/32

This view into two smallrooms shows tapered

walls that were built to

support a second floor.

Later rooms were built

directly on top of these

walls because they

provided a strongfoundation.


26/32

The original walls in a large building complex referred to as

the Chiefos house have been repaired and conserved. This

view shows some reconstructed ground floor rooms and

steps leading to a second story room


27/32

Oxcarts could

not reach manyof the urban

neighborhoods.

Pack animals

and pedestrians

could have usedthis narrow lane.


28/32

The streets

and alleyways

wind through

the

neighborhoodand are

orientedalong a strict

grid plan.


29/32

Covered Drain emptying down slope on major

street leading to the Great Bath.


30/32

Wells were made with wedge shaped bricks to make a

strong circular structure. Some bricks were made with

special grooves to keep the ropes from sliding

sideways when drawing water.


31/32

This oval well is

located in room 19

northeast of Great

Bath. It is the only

well with an oval

structure and may

have been used to

draw water for

nearby bathingplatforms or for filling

the Great Bath.

Thi ll i d i h fi l


32/32

This well was associated with a finely

constructed bathing platform. A stairway leads

up to the well and platform from a lower room.

mohenjo-daro pictures

Documents