印度河文明(前2500年～西元前1700?年)

Indus civilization

印度次大陆已知的最早的城市文化，亦是世界上范围最广泛的三个古文明之一。西至今日阿拉伯海的伊朗-巴基斯坦边界附近，东至德里附近，向南延伸800公里，向东北延伸1,600公里。其中有两座大城市，哈拉帕和摩亨约-达罗（在今巴基斯坦境内），由其规模可推测是两个大邦的政治中心或是一个大帝国轮流以两地为京城，但也可能是哈拉帕继摩亨约-达罗之後成为京城所在地。印度河文明是个有文字、语言的文明；其语言被归入达罗毗荼语族。种植小麦和大麦，已驯养许多动物（包括猫、狗和牛），也已栽培棉花。最着名的工艺品是图章，通常雕刻了一些真实或想像的动物。印度河文明何时结束及为何结束仍未能确知；西元前第二千纪摩亨约-达罗受到攻击及洗劫而灭亡，但在南部，仍然可见晚期印度河文明与铜器时代文化间的实际文化衔接，此种文化衔接也是西元前1700～西元前1000年印度中、西部文化的特徵。

English version：

前2500年～西元前1700?年

Indus civilization

Earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent and the most extensive of the world's three earliest civilizations, stretching from near the present-day Iran-Pakistan border on the Arabian Sea in the west to near Delhi in the east, and 500 mi (800 km) to the south and 1,000 mi (1,600 km) to the northeast. It is known to have included two large cities, Harappa and Mohenjo Daro (in what is now Pakistan), whose large size suggests centralization in two large states or one state with two capitals. Alternatively, Harappa may have succeeded Mohenjo Daro. It was a literate civilization; the language has been tentatively identified as Dravidian. Wheat and barley were grown, many animals (including cats, dogs, and cattle) were domesticated, and cotton was cultivated. The best-known artifacts are seals depicting real and imaginary animals. How and when the civilization came to an end is unclear; Mohenjo-daro was attacked and destroyed in the mid-2nd millennium BC, but in the south there was continuity between the Indus civilization and the Copper Age civilizations of central and western India.

参考文章

• 架空背景－印度河文明素材