Photo, left:  Indus Valley bricks with incised seals. The site of the ancient city of Harappa contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization, centered in Sindh and the Punjab. The city is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents and to have covered over 100 hectares (250 acres) at its greatest extent during the Mature Harappan phase (2600–1900 BC); that population is considered large for its time. Following the archaeological convention of naming a previously unknown civilization by its first excavated site, the Indus Valley Civilization is also called the Harappan Civilization. See Hour 1 & 4, Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River, by Alice Albinia
        Indus Valley civilization was mainly an urban culture sustained by surplus agricultural production and commerce, the latter including trade with Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. Both Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa are generally characterized as having "differentiated living quarters, flat-roofed brick houses, and fortified administrative or religious centers."  Although such similarities have given rise to arguments for the existence of a standardized system of urban layout and planning, the similarities are largely due to the presence of a semi-orthogonal type of civic layout, and a comparison of the layouts of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa shows that they are in fact, arranged in a quite dissimilar fashion.  [more]
        Mohenjo-daro has a planned layout based on a street grid of rectilinear buildings. Most were built of fired and mortared brick; some incorporated sun-dried mud-brick and wooden superstructures. The covered area of Mohenjo-daro is estimated at 300 hectares. A "weak" estimate of peak population is at around 40,000. [more]
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block A: Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River, by Alice Albinia  (1 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block B:  Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River, by Alice Albinia  (2 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block C: Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave, by David Fiske and Clifford W Brown Jr. (1 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block D: Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave, by David Fiske and Clifford W Brown Jr. (2 of 2)
 
Hour Two
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block A:  Cornell Iron Works: The History of an Enduring Family Business, By Katharine Cornell Gorka (1 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block B:  Cornell Iron Works: The History of an Enduring Family Business, By Katharine Cornell Gorka (2 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block C:  The Murder of the Middle Class: How to Save Yourself and Your Family from the Criminal Conspiracy of the Century...   by Wayne Allyn Root (1 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block D:  The Murder of the Middle Class: How to Save Yourself and Your Family from the Criminal Conspiracy of the Century...   by Wayne Allyn Root (1 of 2)
 
Hour Three
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block A:  Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force 151 Off Somalia, by RADM Terry McKnight USN (Ret.) and Michael Hirsh (1 of 4)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block B:  Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force 151 Off Somalia, by RADM Terry McKnight USN (Ret.) and Michael Hirsh (2 of 4)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block C:  Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force 151 Off Somalia, by RADM Terry McKnight USN (Ret.) and Michael Hirsh (3 of 4)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block D:  Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force 151 Off Somalia, by RADM Terry McKnight USN (Ret.) and Michael Hirsh (4 of 4)
 
Hour Four
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block A:  Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River, by Alice Albinia  (1 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block B:  Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River, by Alice Albinia  (2 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block C:  Shifty's War: The Authorized Biography of Sergeant Darrell "Shifty" Powers, the Legendary Sharpshooter from the...  by Marcus Brotherton (1 of 2)
Sunday 11 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block D:  Shifty's War: The Authorized Biography of Sergeant Darrell "Shifty" Powers, the Legendary Sharpshooter from the...  by Marcus Brotherton (2 of 2)
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