The Indus Valley: planned cities, drains and an unread script

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   What can we know, and what can we not? (cards A to D). Card A, the Indus script, in our words: by 1992 about 4,000 inscribed objects, mostly seals, had been found. The inscriptions are short, about five signs on average. Nobody has read the script, and the language is unknown. Card B, weights, in our words: stone weights found in different Indus cities follow a regular pattern and match from city to city. Some scholars think a central authority set the standard. Card C, the basin at Lothal, in our words: archaeologists at Lothal, in Gujarat, found a large brick basin. Salt, gypsum and tiny sea fossils were found inside it. Scholars disagree about whether it was a dock for boats or a tank for water. Card D, a comparison: the Rosetta Stone, found in 1799, carries one text in three scripts, including Greek, which scholars could read. Jean-Francois Champollion announced his reading of Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822.

2. 1.

   Card A says about 4,000 objects carry inscriptions of about five signs each. About how many signs is that in all, Ari asks?

   • About 4,005 signs
   • About 800 signs
   • About 20,000 signs
   • About 2,000 signs
3. 2.

   Card B says the weights match from city to city and some scholars think a central authority set the standard. What does the evidence show, Esme asks?

   • A central authority set the standard, and that is now fully proven
   • The weights match by chance, so there was no shared standard
   • A shared standard existed, but the weights do not say who set it
   • One city made the weights and shipped them to the others
4. 3.

   Card C says scholars disagree whether the Lothal basin was a dock or a tank. Which find would best support the dock reading, Kira asks?

   • More salt found inside the basin, beyond what card C reports
   • A channel that joined the basin to a river or the sea
   • A second basin of the same kind found in another Indus city
   • A modern drawing of how the basin might have looked as a dock
5. 4.

   Cards A and B come from Indus sites, and no Indus writing can be read to check them. How can scholars test a claim, Luz asks?

   • Wait until the script is read before saying anything about the cities
   • Compare it with other kinds of evidence, such as objects and outside records
   • Rely on the weights alone, because they are the clearest evidence we have
   • Accept whichever claim the largest number of scholars repeat
6. 5.

   Card B says the weights match across cities. If a central authority had set the standard, which result would follow, Milo asks?

   • Weights in each city would follow the same pattern
   • Each city would have a different system of weights of its own
   • The largest of the cities would have weights of any kind
   • The weights would carry readable writing naming the authority
7. 6.

   Card D says the Rosetta Stone was found in 1799 and Champollion announced his reading in 1822. How many years passed between the find and the reading, Noah asks?

   • 33 years
   • 2 years
   • 123 years
   • 23 years
8. 7.

   Card C says the basin held salt, gypsum and tiny sea fossils. Which claim does that find support, Pia asks?

   • The basin has been proven to be a dock for boats on the sea
   • The basin held fresh water from the nearby river
   • The basin was built long after the Indus cities had ended
   • The basin may have been linked to salty or marine water
9. 8.

   A museum label says "The Indus script remains unread." Why is that a careful sentence, Ren asks?

   • It hides the fact that scholars have not really tried to read it
   • It says clearly what is not known instead of guessing
   • It tells visitors that the script cannot be read by anyone
   • It shows that the museum does not own any Indus objects
10. 9.

    Scholars first saw the Rosetta Stone in 1799 and read hieroglyphs in 1822. What does that say about unread scripts, Tala asks?

    • An unread script may be read later if new evidence turns up
    • Reading a script needs just more seals of the same kind to study
    • A script that stays unread for decades cannot be read later
    • The Indus script has already been read in the same way as hieroglyphs
11. 10.

    Cards A to C report what archaeologists concluded, not what Indus people wrote. How should Zee treat those statements?

    • As eyewitness reports from people who lived in the Indus cities
    • As guesses to be ignored, because the writers are modern people
    • As reasoned claims from evidence that new finds could change
    • As settled facts that cannot change, because experts wrote them