[Arm_Bears]

If they were so friggin’ perfect, why did they die out?

[MrEdd]

An extension of the peaceful native tripe.
No place had war unless Europeans arrived.

[fantail 1952]

ping

[RoosterRedux]

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. If they were humans, there was war.

[Ken522]

Every city was surrounded by a wall, but once inside, residents would find themselves walking past several more walled enclosures.

Sounds like a police presence wasn't very strong in the city - residents were on their own to protect their property.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[Raycpa]

What were walls for?

[PapaBear3625]

Sometimes archaeologists call the Harappan architectural style "nested" because they loved to build walls within walls. Every city was surrounded by a wall, but once inside, residents would find themselves walking past several more walled enclosures. We're not entirely sure why the Harappans designed their cities this way, but it's possible that these inner walls protected sacred areas or the estates of particularly high-status citizens.

It's called "defense in depth". If an enemy has gotten through the outer wall, defenders have someplace to retreat to, rather than being overrun.

[Right Wing Assault]

I broke one of the FR rules and read to the end of the article. It seems the people probably moved out of the area due to crop failures (climate change) and disease.

"...there was a rather brutal climate change that began in the early 1000s BCE. Monsoons came irregularly, and the once-fertile valley became parched..."

Now we need to find out why the climate changed, since we can't find their cars, power plants, and oil refineries.

[Steamburg]

Sounds like they were plagued by a Snowflake generation that wiped out their history and statues shortly before diversity wiped them all out.

[Balding_Eagle]

Every city was surrounded by a wall, but once inside, residents would find themselves walking past several more walled enclosures.

Walls don't work, it must have been something else.

Women in leadership roles perhaps?

Just in case....../s

[Mr Rogers]

“Every city was surrounded by a wall, but once inside, residents would find themselves walking past several more walled enclosures. We’re not entirely sure why the Harappans designed their cities this way...”

Here is a hint: You build walls to keep things out (or in). You don’t invest in massive labor and construction costs just because walls look pretty. Walls around cities suggest...what? That they were worried about illegal immigration, or...attackers?

[COBOL2Java]

Thanks for posting this. Archeology has always been an interest of mine.

This is an absolutely fascinating read. An extinct culture, and thus far we are unable to decipher their language and writings, so the best that archeology can offer are educated guesses at their society, based on what evidence they can unearth (no pun intended LOL).

What would it have been like for a child growing up in this civilization? One can only wonder.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

But there is no evidence that any Harappan city was ever burned, besieged by an army, or taken over by force from within.

Perhaps they fought them over there so they did not have to fight them here?

If you looked at any city in Canada, New Zealand and Australia using these criteria you would say they had not been in a war in 200 years.

Sparta was not invaded for hundreds of years. They were not peaceful.

[BobL]

That’s all good and fine, but were they, gay?

[Wuli]

At least these investigators admit when they are making guesses and they try not to project more than the evidence can accurately identify. That’s refreshing compared to the very many highly speculative archaeological reports that are produced with many speculations written as if definite facts.

[RightGeek]

What is clear is that Harappan society was not entirely peaceful, with the human skeletal remains demonstrating some of the highest rates of injury (15.5%) found in South Asian prehistory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harappa

[Spruce]

“Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines

[blam]

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Since most of it is in Pakistan, we’ll probably never know.