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

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Two cities and their far-off partners (cards A to D). Card A, Harappa, in our words: Harappa lies in Punjab, Pakistan, and covered more than 150 hectares. It gave the civilization its other name, Harappan. The Ravi River, which once flowed beside it, now runs about 8 kilometers to the north. Card B, Dholavira, in our words: Dholavira lies in a dry part of Gujarat, India, and covered about 100 hectares. It had channels and large reservoirs for storing water. Card C, Mesopotamian clay tablets, in our words: tablets written from about 2300 BCE mention ships bringing goods from a land called Meluhha. Many scholars think Meluhha was the Indus region. Card D, finds in Mesopotamia, in our words: seals carved with Indus signs have been found at Mesopotamian sites, including Ur. The big Indus cities flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE.

2. 1.

   Card C dates the Meluhha tablets from about 2300 BCE, and card D says the big Indus cities flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE. Do those times overlap, Bo asks?

   • No: 2300 is greater than 1900, so the tablets came after the cities
   • Yes: 2300 BCE falls between 2600 BCE and 1900 BCE
   • Yes, but if the tablets were written in the year 1900 BCE
   • No: the cities had ended before the year 2300 BCE arrived
3. 2.

   Card C names Meluhha in tablets and card D reports Indus seals at Ur. How do the two cards strengthen each other, Esme asks?

   • Together they settle that Meluhha was the Indus region, with no doubt left
   • Together they show that the Indus cities were ruled from Mesopotamia
   • Two kinds of evidence from two places both point to contact
   • Together they are one source told twice, by the same group of writers
4. 3.

   Card C comes from tablets written by Mesopotamian scribes. What can it show about the Indus region, and what can it not show, Jun asks?

   • The exact size of the Indus cities, taken from the scribes' measuring
   • How Indus people described their own cities, in their own words
   • Nothing useful, because the scribes were people from another place
   • That outsiders knew of the land, not how Indus people saw it
5. 4.

   Card A says the Ravi River once flowed beside Harappa and now runs about 8 kilometers north. Which claim does the card best support, Kira asks?

   • The river dried up completely and no other river took its place
   • Harappa itself moved about 8 kilometers south to follow the water
   • The river's course changed, so the city's water supply may have changed
   • The river changed course, and that is what brought Harappa to an end
6. 5.

   Card D says the big Indus cities flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE. About how many years is that, Milo asks?

   • About 70 years
   • About 4,500 years
   • About 700 years
   • About 800 years
7. 6.

   Card A says the Ravi River now runs 8 kilometers north of Harappa. What does a moved river show about the places where cities stand, Noah asks?

   • Rivers stay put once a city has been built right beside them
   • Moved rivers show which of the two cities was the larger one
   • The land around a city can change over thousands of years
   • A city's site is chosen to be far away from any river
8. 7.

   Card B says Dholavira had reservoirs, and card A says Harappa's river moved. What do the two cards suggest about water, Pia asks?

   • Harappa built reservoirs like Dholavira's because the cities traded
   • Both cities used exactly the same water system, built from one plan
   • Water supply shaped how the two cities lived, in different ways
   • Water was no problem for either city, which had plenty year round
9. 8.

   Card D reports Indus seals found at Ur, and nobody can read their signs. Why is a seal still good evidence, Ren asks?

   • Seals found abroad show that the traders who carried them came from Ur
   • Where it was found shows that objects traveled, even if the signs are unread
   • A seal that cannot be read is not evidence of anything
   • The signs on the seal name the traders who carried it to Ur
10. 9.

    Card D says the big Indus cities flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE. Which claim is best supported, Tala asks?

    • The cities lasted several centuries, but card D does not say why they ended
    • The cities lasted a few decades before people moved on
    • The cities ended suddenly in the year 1900 BCE, within one season
    • The cities ended when the Ravi River moved north of Harappa
11. 10.

    Card C says ships brought goods from Meluhha, and card D says Indus seals reached Ur. What step might link the two, Zee asks?

    • Mesopotamian kings ordered the seals to be carved in their own cities
    • The seals were carved at Ur to show the names of Indus traders
    • Indus scribes wrote the tablets while living in the cities of Mesopotamia
    • Traders who carried goods by ship could have carried seals as well