All language subtitles for Civilisation 3 Indus

The ruins of great cities do not tell us
everything about the people who built them.

ln these mud-walled streets
a mystery 5000 years old still lingers.

The key to it
may lie with the River lndus

a mystical silver serpent
that rises in the Himalayas

and uncoils
through an immense landscape.

People settled on its banks
despite the floods.

They tamed the rivers
and transformed desert into gardens.

But what do we really know
about them?

A century of archaeological digs
still hasn't solved the mystery.

This civilisation flourished for 500 years

then vanished into historical limbo.

But it left behind a sacred heritage -

water.

At the end of a hard day in 1920

Professor M.S. Vats
gazed over the remains of Harappa

the key site in the lndus civilisation.

The light of the setting sun
fell on walls, pavements, columns.

At the same time
several hundred kilometres away.

Professor R.D. Banerjee was excavating
the ruins of a gigantic city -

Mohenjo-Daro.

ln Europe, archaeologists reacted
with astonishment or incredulity.

European scholars
had always downplayed

the extent
of early Asian civilisations.

Since then, no less than
a thousand sites have been discovered

in a region covering
a million square kilometres.

The lndus, born of the Himalayan snows
and bounded by Pakistan and lndia

is 3000 kilometres long.

lts valley was home
to a flourishing civilisation.

( BlRDS CHlRP )

For a long time, our image
of this civilisation was blurred.

The first archaeologists thought
they had discovered cities of children.

They unearthed toys, dice,
whistles. marbles...

( CHlLDREN'S LAUGHTER )

The people seemed oblivious
of death and war.

They appeared
a carefree, happy population

the Arcadians of the lndus.

(Speaks French)
ln the 19th century

lndia was regarded
as the mother of civilisations

But the great civilisations
could only be Middle Eastern, Egyptian.

Mortimer Wheeler, one of the great
British archaeologists in lndia

called lndia "the Cinderella civilisation"
because it was the last born.

Some even thought it a pale copy
of Mesopotamian civilisations

before it was realised
that it was in fact unique

When archaeologists started to dig

they found nothing resembling
the Mesopotamian civilisations.

But they soon realised
they were uncovering huge cities.

Some sites cover 200 to 300 hectares.

ln area, Mohenjo-Daro is probably
the largest of all ancient cities.

Mohenjo-Daro
lay on the banks of the lndus

in the Sind province
of southern Pakistan.

2000 years before Christ

this land was settled by newcomers
from the border regions of ancient Persia.

Today, it is desert.

But on this spot, they founded
the largest city of the lndus civilisation

with 40000 people
and an area of a square kilometre.

The streets reflect
the genius of their builders.

The city layout is a model
of ancient town planning.

Residential blocks are defined by long
straight arteries crossing at right angles.

The main street is never less
than 9 metres wide.

lt's easy to imagine it
filled with colourful crowds.

lmagine the archaeologists' surprise
when they discovered

that the entire city had
a complex water-management system.

lt had 80 public toilets

ln the residential areas
every house had a tiled bathroom

and its own well.

Sewers serviced the whole city

ln a unique system
for a centre 4000 years old

drains for waste water
gutters and water collectors

were dug in the main streets.

ln cul-de-sacs and smaller streets

waste water was poured
into bottomless jars.

Some crossroads had brick containers
for rubbish disposal.

The most spectacular discovery
was made at the top of the city

On a huge brick platform

the last refuge from
the devastating floods of the lndus

the people of Mohenjo-Daro
built a great bath.

For their daily ablutions
they came to this pool.

Round about it
was a gallery with fountains.

The thousand cities
of this civilisation

were scattered over a territory
twice as large as France

One of them
was on the island of Khadir Bet

Desertification has now made it
a narrow strip in a sea of salt

The city was Dholavira

a junction for the trade routes
crisscrossing the marshy region of Kutch.

The lndus builders mostly used brick -

unfired bricks for walls
and fired bricks for foundations.

ln Dholavira, archaeologists also
discovered monumental stone walls

15 metres high.

The walls testify to the mastery
and science of their masons

who must already have been familiar
with plumb-lines and water-levels.

Dholavira's carpenters
used Himalayan cedar

in columns that fitted perfectly into
the finely cut and polished stonework.

Here too, a complex water system
serviced the city.

Water was used to clean the streets.

lt ran off into underground conduits.
which carried it beyond the city walls.

Since it was discovered in 1989.

an entire city
has gradually been unearthed

from sediment over 8 metres deep

But Dholavira has also been
an endless source of questions

Archaeologists are particularly interested
in the city's outskirts

For Professor R.S. Bisht and his team

Dholavira brought a fresh perspective

on the technological knowledge
of the people of the lndus.

The dig showed that the city's builders
had burrowed right to the bedrock.

As the archaeologists
dug deeper and deeper

they uncovered strange structures
like deep pits.

For a long time.
they couldn't explain their purpose.

(Speaks English)
Look at this. It's going deeper, deeper...
We don't know how deep it is there.

You see, we have aIready
gone down 8 metres from the surface.

And it's still going deeper.

The kind of rock cuts
you've aIready seen here.

Was this structure
part of a defence system?

Or perhaps an underground dwelling?

How were these walls built?

They were constructed with great care.

The stones fit exactly
and the wall stands on solid rock

which also makes up
the floor of the pit.

I'm standing
in a Iong and deep reservoir

cut through the limestone rock.

In fact...

this is the first example
of rock-cut architecture...

by the Harappans.

It is continuing further eastward
on that side.

Further westward on that side.

We have aIready confirmed
the western end of this reservoir

which lies 85 metres away
further west.

Dholavira finally yielded up
some of its secrets.

Professor Bisht believes that
the city had 16 reservoirs all around it.

Thanks to his work. the city plan
can be recreated after 5000 years.

Dholavira was surrounded by
250 000 cubic metres of precious water.

The city covered 48 hectares
and had a population of 20 000.

ln its centre was a citadel
with solid walls.

Another wall separated the upper part
of the city from the lower.

The city had many gardens,
warehouses and granaries.

Dholavira's wealth came
from the wheat and barley trade

and its people soon turned
to the nearby sea.

Even after the general plan
of the city was recreated

it still took archaeologists
some time

to work out how the reservoirs
surrounding it were filled.

Drinking water has always been scarce
in the Kutch marshes.

Today, the sea has retreated
leaving behind a salty desert.

The remaining villages have
just a few wells of brackish water.

And yet the people of the lndus
survived in this hostile environment

5000 years ago, in a land alternately
burnt by the sun and swept by floods

a civilisation grew up
because it knew how to manage water.

Big rivers were vital to the growth
of the lndus civilisation

as they are
to all agrarian civilisations.

The rivers facilitate agriculture.
which then feeds cities

where a new,
non-peasant population appears,

a population of labourers
and craftsmen.

ln the past, the lndus
spread across a huge plain

which was cultivated

at the risk of one's fields
disappearing every year.

Every year in July

the monsoon covers the Pakistani
countryside in a blanket of rain.

That's when the lndus.
swollen by the melting Himalayan snows

breaks its banks.

lt spreads everywhere,
covering the earth with a coat of clay.

But the floods
are not considered a calamity.

People welcome and respect them
as a godsend.

Their properties are mainly
out of reach of the rising waters.

How did the people of the lndus manage
to tame the devastating floods

5000 years ago?

The archaeologists found the answer
in the ground around Dholavira.

ln dry riverbeds, which become torrents
during the monsoon.

they found traces
of stone structures.

These were the remains of dams
built to control the flow of water.

That was the answer!

The people of Dholavira
changed the course of rivers

to fill gigantic reservoirs,

the largest of which was 79 metres long
and more than 7 metres deep.

Nor was that all.

For the water to flow
from one reservoir to another,

the architects had to use
the natural incline of the terrain.

The upper city,
into which the water flows initially

is situated 13 metres higher
than the lower side.

That was how they retained the water.

Aqueducts carried it
to the heart of the city.

The stored water also made it possible
to irrigate the fields

for most of the year.

The plan of the city was entirely devised
to collect the precious water.

Dholavira, mistress of the river,
seemed to float on mirrors of silver.

The ruins of Dholavira are now silent,

The relentless heat splits the stone,

Water no longer flows in the streets.

And yet, a strange atmosphere
surrounds the visitor.

For this city worshipped water
more than any other.

The citadel, at the top of the city.

also had an ingenious system
for collecting rainwater.

(THUNDER)

Gutters channelled rainwater
into a large reservoir outside Dholavira.

For years, archaeologists
pondered the question,

what distinction did the Dholavirans make
between water from the rivers

and water from the sky?

For the people of Dholavira,

water was the fundamental element
in their survival.

lts marriage with the earth
made crops possible.

lts alliance with man
allowed souls to be purified.

ln the heart of the citadel
was a sacred place.

There, in the middle
of a paved esplanade,

the Dholavirans had placed
two tanks and a well,

whose mouths
gaped toward the heavens.

But the men who dug them
were thinking of the depths of the earth.

The archaeologists have discovered
the place of worship.

lt was a well 4 metres in diameter
and 20 metres deep.

Women came here to draw water.

The edge of the well
still has the grooves

where the women drew up
their waterskins with ropes.

For the people of Dholavira,

the purest water was that drawn
from the depths of the earth.

The blessed liquid
filled two small pools

in which worshippers
performed their ablutions.

When descending these steps,

they were encountering the power
of the earth, the universal mother,

and the purifying power of water.

Dholavira is no longer
in the path of any river.

No splash or trickle
disturbs the silence of the ruins.

Another mystery
has long haunted this region.

Civilisation developed
along the River lndus.

So why are most
of the rediscovered cities

in the middle
of inhospitable sand deserts?

Why do they dot desert valleys?

To answer these questions,

archaeologists point
to an lndian folk song.

(SlNGlNG CONTlNUES)

The Ghaggar Hakra, a river
long thought to be a mere legend,

once flowed through the Thar Desert.

The river has now disappeared,
but not without trace.

(Speaks English)
The stiII water is stagnating.

There is satellite imagery.

Secondly, the kind of earth
we have here

is clearly a dried-up riverbed
where we are standing.

Water from the past is still there
Otherwise none would lie there.

lt's not a pond

it's part of the riverbed.

So this is clear evidence

4500 years ago, a powerful river
flowed through this plain.

So the Ghaggar Hakra
said to have risen high in the Himalayas

was not a myth after all.

While excavating
some unusual earthworks

archaeologists discovered dikes
that protected fields from flooding.

They found the same brick walls,
the same system of water management,

the same dams...

Today, geologists have even
found the water.

4000 years ago, a powerful earthquake
changed the course of the river.

lt shifted further east,
towards the Ganges basin.

But the groundwater artery was still there
just a few metres beneath the surface.

From 1990, new wells were dug

and the precious water
began to flow again

Over 4000 years after it disappeared

the Ghaggar Hakra resurfaced
from the depths of the earth.

With it,
a whole region came back to life.

Fields reappeared in the landscape and
abandoned villages were repopulated.

Much time had passed

but the same methods of cultivating land
and making it fertile were rediscovered.

Once again, water emerged
as the mother of civilisation.

2000 years before Christ

fields of wheat and barley
surrounded the cities

between the lndus
and the Ghaggar Hakra.

Traces found on pottery
show that cotton was cultivated.

The peasants also grew
peas and sesame seeds.

They kept buffaloes and zebu cattle,
sheep and goats.

A diverse, bountiful agriculture
fed the cities and kept them prosperous.

Soon villages appeared in the most
remote regions of the vast country.

Civilisation was spreading.

ln the walled cities,
artisans were able to perfect their skills.

Every city had its craftsmen's quarter.

ldeas, methods and inventions
spread together with trade.

ln the markets, in jewellers' workshops,
scales and weights appeared.

The streets teemed
with hardworking populations.

Stonemasons fashioned new tools
such as jasper drills or polishing stones.

The city dwellers mastered the art
of making ornaments from cornelian.

They made weapons
mirrors and razors

and they excelled in woodwork.

Their ceramics reached
every corner of the East.

They mastered the art
of working copper and bronze.

Artists carved ivory

and set semi-precious stones in gold
to make jewellery.

The level of production was such

that the civilisation seemed
on the verge of an industrial era.

We have a fairly good idea
of the strength of their economy.

The great cities of the lndus.
especially Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.

had well-developed crafts

that produced items
only this civilisation could make

like particular types
of near-industrial ceramics

not to mention
all that's been lost.

The lndus civilisation must have
produced a lot of textiles.

of food processed
using the technologies of the time.

No traces remain of all that
it s all disappeared.

But today, some of its products
would qualify as industrial-quality

and they were widely exported
from the Gulf to Mesopotamia.

With their first trading journeys.

the people of the lndus
took care to mark their products

with clay stamps or copper plates.

But their favourite method
was seals made of steatite

a material that hardens when heated.

Merchants hung them around their necks
and they were widely used.

The development of long-distance trade
led the lndus merchants to forge alliances

and to invent the concept
of the contract.

To seal a contract
they used finely carved stone cylinders

similar to those in Mesopotamia.

More than 2000 of these seals
have been found.

They're carved with animal profiles -
zebu, buffalo, crocodiles -

or with more intricate
and mysterious motifs.

lnscriptions accompany the images.

Archaeologists have identified
over 400 recurring signs.

One problem with the lndus civilisation

is that its people wrote

We know that

we have thousands of documents

But they wrote on perishable media

so we don t have their writings

only what we'd call street signs

signs on key rings

everything that remained solid

while the other media disappeared.

So we don t know. We have no texts.

So we saw a civilisation emerge
that had writing

but we thought
it was just for magic rituals

when in fact it probably had
a political and administrative system

like Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Clearly, so long as we can't
decipher the writing

which means finding
a text that is long enough

to decipher
with the classic techniques

we won t even know
what language they spoke.

ln 1999, a wave of excitement
ran through the Dholavira site.

At the foot of the northern entrance

the archaeological team
had made a discovery.

Their brushes uncovered
what looked like an inscription.

After several minutes of careful work
symbols finally emerged.

All the workers gathered to watch.
Everyone held their breath.

lt could be an historic moment.

lf the text was long enough

the lndus script
might finally be deciphered.

One after another
the symbols were uncovered.

Made of inlaid quartz
they were over 30 centimetres high.

Originally they were probably
set in a wooden tablet

long since rotted away.

The team was on tenterhooks

to recover a message
composed over 4000 years ago.

After several hours, the archaeologists
had to accept the inevitable.

Once again, they had uncovered
only a handful of signs.

The lndus script has yet to find
its Rosetta Stone.

What do these signs mean?

What do they tell us about the structure
of a civilisation that, for a long time,

was thought to be ruled
by a single man, the priest-king?

I think this is the oIdest
signboard in the worId.

Going back to Harappan times.

WhiIe excavating we found...

a wooden frame all around it.

And those letters must have been
pasted or laid in that wooden board.

I don't think this is the rightful place
for this inscription to lie here.

I beIieve it shouId have been supported
on the facade of this majestic north gate.

I don't think we should broaden
the concept of priest-king.

One doesn't know.

But the kind of situation
we see here...

We see that...

We think the Harappan Empire
was not ruled by one person.

It was an economic empire.
It was a cultural empire.

We envisage
there were several rulers.

Some were mightier than the rest.

One might have been
the mightiest, who knows?

There were several kings
severaI princelings.

ruling over
larger and smaller kingdoms.

(EXPLOSlON)

Will these nine stone figures
keep their secret forever?

Did the northern entrance
of the Dholavira citadel

bear the name of the sovereign
who ruled the region?

Some experts think so.

But others, pointing to the wheels
in the inscription,

think it represents
the first example of a traffic sign

put up at the entrance of a city.

The archaeologists can only dream.

Perhaps, somewhere,
the miraculous treasure awaits them -

the find that will solve the mystery
of a civilisation whose thought eludes us.

Did it have poets and writers?

What were its legends?

What was its concept of the world?

Without these texts, we will never
really understand this civilisation...

which soon set its eyes
on faraway lands.

4000 years ago.

the people of the lndus set out to find
the mineral resources they lacked.

They needed copper, tin,
silver and lapis lazuli.

Their caravans took the road west
towards Baluchistan and today's lran.

They founded colonies over
1500 kilometres from their homeland

on the borders of Afghanistan.

Soon they were looking beyond
the Kutch marshes and the lndus delta.

Beyond were lands that attracted them,

lands where
they could establish harbours.

A strategy of exchange and trade
was taking shape.

Up until then, the people of
the lndus valley had only been boatmen.

Their craft went up and down the rivers

carrying passengers and goods
over hundreds of kilometres.

These small craft
live on in Pakistan.

Flat-bottomed boats suited for
shallow waters still ply the rivers.

Their design has hardly changed
in 4000 years.

Cautiously, the first navigators followed
the shores of the Sea of Oman westward.

Sea transport soon proved its value.

lt was faster than the long
and vulnerable overland routes

and, above all,
boats carried far more cargo.

But where were
the merchant vessels making for?

The maritime trade
of the lndus civilisation

has been studied
over the past 20 years or so.

We knew the rivers were used
for trade between the lndus cities.

lts maritime trade is more tricky.

We know that items from the lndus
reached the Oman peninsula.

that is, today's United Arab Emirates
and Oman

as well as Bahrain and Mesopotamia.

More than that
we have Mesopotamian texts

a text by Sargon of Akkad
from around 2300 BC

saying that in his harbour
were ships from Dilmun

which is the Kuwait-Qatar region
centred on Bahrain...

boats from Magan
today's Oman peninsula

and from Meluhha
the land of the lndus.

lt was probably a multilateral trade

involving people
from the whole region.

lt seems that the first people
to take to the sea

were not people from the lndus.

We must bear in mind
that today's lndus delta

is subject to huge tides.

lt's extremely difficult to navigate.

And its sea coast
is also very difficult to navigate.

But at some stage
everyone took to the sea

And at that time

in the middle
of the third millennium BC

a time of increased
international trade

like the trade in jewellery

for example
large carnelian beads

which only people from the lndus
knew how to make.

But also the trade in fabrics
including precious fabrics

produced and exchanged
in both the lndus and Mesopotamia.

And also all sorts of goods
that came from afar

like combs made of ivory
and all sorts of other items

from as far as the jungles
of the Ganges valley.

A fabulous odyssey began

The first navigators sailed toward
the unknown, and discovered...

the world.

Sailing from Harappa.
Mohenjo-Daro or Dholavira.

the boats reached
the Oman peninsula.

Then,
via the Strait of Hormuz

they sailed the Persian Gulf
all the way to faraway Mesopotamia

3500 kilometres
from the lndus valley.

Abu Dhabi, capital
of the United Arab Emirates

at the entrance of the Persian Gulf.

Today it is a bustling
commercial port

where fishing boats
jostle with freighters and tankers.

lt was here that the merchants
from the lndus landed.

With their totally different
culture and language

how did they make
their first contact?

How did these people communicate?

A Sumerian text
from Mesopotamia around 2000 BC

mentions a translator from Meluhha

who spoke the languages
of the lndus and Sumeria.

Pity he didn't leave a dictionary!

But we must imagine
that this whole ancient world

where people
constantly exchanged things

was multilingual.

lt's in our world

that people now speak
a single language plus English.

ln that ancient world

a language was often spoken
by just a few thousand people.

The neighbouring group
spoke a different language.

So all these people
had to be able to communicate.

The island of Umm al-Nar.

The influence of its civilisation spread
far and wide over the Arabian desert.

lts royal tombs tell the story.

ln them, archaeologists
have discovered cornelian ornaments

and ceramics
typical of the lndus valley.

(Man speaks English)
This hole or this burial
goes back to some time

between 2300 and 2000 BC.

So the material, anyway,
mainly the pottery, is under study.

but so far we have identified
at least, I can say

10% of the whole collection
that was imported from outside

mainIy from the Indus
and BaIuchistan.

Even further off
well inside the Persian Gulf

archaeologists are combing
the island of Bahrain

for proof of a cultural marriage
between the lndus and Mesopotamia.

lt's a huge task.

They have identified a thousand tombs
scattered across 695 square kilometres.

ln this burial complex, Dr Alsendi
is looking for the great prize

a text that would allow scholars
to translate the inscriptions

of the lndus civilisation.

ln the world of archaeology,
that would have the same impact

as Jean-François Champollion's
deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs

in the 1820s.

(Speaks English)
I hope that one day maybe
we will find in one grave

two inscriptions together.
Indus valley and Mesopotamia.

and we can find... we solve the probIem
in one grave and burial.

This is... we hope that.

And... don't forget that Bahrain here

we have thousands
and thousands of burial mounds.

And as there is two nations, two cultures
Mesopotamia, Indus valley

coming and sit together here
for a Iong time

we beIieve, we beIieve...

that one day we will find them.

History teaches that even the greatest
civilisations are destined to disappear.

The lndus civilisation was no exception.

From 1800 BC onward, it was no longer
mentioned in Mesopotamian tablets.

Little by little, the streets
of its cities emptied of people.

The craftsmen's quarters
no longer rang to the sound of tools.

The buildings and irrigation systems
were left to crumble.

The great cities were ravaged
by time and the elements.

How can we explain
this sudden decay?

Theories abound

Some experts think the empire
succumbed to invaders from Central Asia.

Others suggest that it was devastated
by floods or earthquakes.

What cataclysm brought about the end
of these magnificent cities?

And where did their people go?

Did they die? Did they flee?

Did the disappearance
of the Ghaggar Hakra River

force irreversible changes
to their way of life?

We have no texts
to shed light on all this

and we know too little of how
the lndus administration worked

to be able to pin down
the causes of their decline.

And can we really speak
of a decline?

What do we know of the world
that succeeded the lndus civilisation?

How did the lndus civilisation vanish?

First, it didn't suddenly disappear.

What we know
is that from a certain date

that can be established
at around 2000 BC

something we call
"regionalisation" occurred.

This vast cultural unity
was replaced by regional entities

that lasted quite a while.

The large cities were abandoned.
that's certain.

That happens quite often.

And the reason
the large cities are abandoned

is that the way society functions

can no longer
support them economically.

But that doesn't mean
the people just left.

lt means they started
to live differently

in a manner less visible
to archaeology.

The problem is
archaeologists can't see everything.

The empire literally fell apart.

The fertile lands around Harappa.
Mohenjo-Daro or Dholavira

formed independent states.

New crops appeared

and the peasants began to raise
horses, camels and donkeys.

Gradually, what had been one people
adopted a variety of cultures.

And yet, some have preserved
a part of this heritage.

Adalaj, a temple
in the heart of lndia.

At the foot of these steps carved
in the rock in the 16th century

there's a large well.

lt's a passage between two worlds -

between the entrails of the earth
and the heavens.

(OBJECT SPLASHES lNTO WATER)

Thousands of worshippers
still come here

to gaze at the smooth surface
of this water.

lt's thought to be
the purest water of all.

The elusive civilisation of the lndus
was a brilliant chapter in the human story.

Today, the banks of the Ganges
ring with the calls of the faithful

heirs to a long tradition.

(Prays)

That is the legacy.

lt was passed on
to medieval and modern lndia

and it reaches us
seemingly unchanged.

These gestures, these chants,
seem to have crossed the centuries.

Watching the rituals
of the lndian faithful

worshipping a benevolent god
in the River Ganges

we see the faces
of the people of the lndus.

A people who, to build their empire,
became the masters of the river.