by Krystle Hernandez

Created on: April 30, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

The Caucasoid migration was a primary contributor to the formation of the distinct civilization formed in the Indus River Valley in Pakistan and northwestern India that is known as the Indus-Indian Civilization. This original urban civilization was based out of the Indus Valley from 2800 to 1700 BCE. Although the region was first originally occupied much earlier, the Caucasoid migration to the Indus-Indian civilization arguably planted the seeds for many ideologies behind urban planning that are still in use today.

The Indus Valley included several major cities surrounded by lower-order cities. Some of the largest of these cities were Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Harappa was the first of the Indus Valley cities studied by modern archaeologists, including world renowned British researcher, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who conducted his field work in the area in the early 1950s.

At its peak, the civilization boasted over 50,000 residents, remarkable for its time. City neighborhoods were separated by massive mud-brick walls and it is the region's highly advanced urban planning which makes the Indus-Indian civilization a benchmark for all major city planning thereafter. Streets were laid out at right angles to each other, creating an overall grid pattern that included areas designated for residential communities and commercial or public events or activities such as public baths.

The crown jewel of the Indus-Indian civilization's advanced urban planning is the incorporation of drainage and water distribution systems. A reservoir was located at the center of the city and additional wells were dispersed throughout the surrounding neighborhoods. Additionally, many, if not most, homes contained toilet facilities that included drainage systems which allowed waste water to be channeled into the streets and carried away by larger underground drains which effectively moved waste outside of the city walls.

In the surrounding rural areas, there was an increased domestication of animals such as chickens, pigs, and cattle. Also, the Indus-Indian civilization was among the first in the world to grow domesticated cotton, a highly valuable commodity that would fuel slavery in the following centuries.

The people of the Indus-Indian civilization were highly stylized and produced a great deal of pottery that can be attributed to the region. Crafts were often traded, primarily through the city of Lothal, a smaller city used as a general trading port and located on the coast of the Arabian Sea. These

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