 The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) which was centred mostly in the western part of the Indian Subcontinent and which flourished around the Indus river basin.
Primarily centered along the Indus and the Punjab region, the civilization extended into the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley and the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, encompassing most of what is now Pakistan, as well as extending into the westernmost states of modern-day India, southeastern Afghanistan and the easternmost part of Balochistan, Iran.
The mature phase of this civilization is known as the Harappan Civilization, as the first of its cities to be unearthed was the one at Harappa, excavated in the 1920s in what was at the time the Punjab province of British India (now in Pakistan). Excavation of IVC sites have been ongoing since 1920, with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999. Mohenjo-Daro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is another well-known IVC archeological site. |