Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about the earliest civilizations, the Indus and the Shang.

So, shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain what archaeologists think they know about the Indus Valley civilization and why.

Before we start, I'd like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords will be using today are archaeologists, civilization.

I'm going to say those again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Archaeologists, civilization.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

People who dig in the ground for clues about people who lived in the past are archaeologists.

A group of people who live together and follow the same ways of life, and the same set of rules are a civilization.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords and their definitions.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

From farming to cities, and what do archaeologists think they know? In the first learning cycle, we'll explore from farming to cities.

Archaeologists have found lots of city ruins and objects in the Indus Valley.

These have shown us that there was an ancient civilization living in the Indus Valley around 5,000 years ago.

Have a look there at the map that shows the Indus River Valley.

You can see the Indus River, which runs through Pakistan and India, and you can see where some of those cities are.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

Can you remember why these people decided to live in the Indus Valley? Maybe the photo is a bit of a clue.

Well, the River Indus floods the Indus Valley, and that might seem like a bad thing, but it's actually not.

This makes the land around it very fertile and good for growing plants and food for lots of people.

What happened after the farmers got better and better at farming in the Indus Valley? Well, they needed space for more people to live and eventually began building great cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

Have a look at that photo there of the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro, which you can still see today if you visit.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Sort these events into chronological order using number one for the earliest event.

People began to build cities in the Indus Valley.

People got better and better at farming in the Indus Valley.

People began to farm in the Indus Valley.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner about these events, and can you sort them into chronological order using number one for the earliest event and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Shall we take a look at the order? So firstly, people began to farm in the Indus Valley.

Secondly, people got better and better at farming in the Indus Valley.

And thirdly, people began to build cities in the Indus Valley.

Well done if you were able to sort these events into chronological order.

These cities were so well built that parts of them have survived until today.

Do you remember how they built their cities? Hmm.

Have a moment to think.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to continue.

Did you remember? Well, they used a grid pattern for streets and they used bricks made from mud and clay.

Having a look at that photo of the ruins there, you can see where those bricks have been used and how they created that grid pattern.

How amazing that we still get to see that today.

What do these cities in the Indus Valley tell us about the people who built them almost 5,000 years ago? Hmm.

Well, they tell us they were good at building.

They tell us they were good at planning.

They tell us they were very clever.

So they tell us a few things about the people who built the in this valley 5,000 years ago.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

The people from the Indus Valley civilization were not very good at building cities.

Is that true or false? Hmm, what do you think? The people from the Indus Valley civilization were not very good at building cities.

Is that statement true or false? If you said that that's false, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer.

The ruins of the cities show us they were excellent at building.

The ruins of the cities show us they were terrible at building.

Hmm.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? Press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the ruins of the cities show us they were excellent at building, you are absolutely right, well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to tell your learning partner the answers to the following questions.

Why did the people of the Indus Valley civilization build cities in the Indus Valley 5,000 years ago? And how did they build these cities? So pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to tell your learning partner the answers to these questions.

Why did the people of the Indus Valley civilization build cities in the Indus Valley 5,000 years ago? And how did they build these cities? And press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at some answers? For the first question, why did the people of the Indus Valley civilization build cities in the Indus Valley 5,000 years ago? Your answer could include the River Indus flooded the Indus Valley to make the land fertile for growing food.

Over time, people farming there got better at it and started to build cities.

For the second question, how did they build these cities? Your answer could include, they made bricks from wet clay and mud, and they used them to build streets in a grid pattern.

Well done for completing that learning task.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

What do archaeologists think they know? When an object is found in the ground by an archaeologist, do they always know exactly what it was used for? Hmm.

No, they don't.

They have to think of lots of questions to try and work out what it was used for.

What an exciting job.

I think it would be.

Now, what questions could you ask if you wanted to find out more about the Indus Valley from this object? Have a good look at it.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

What questions did you ask? Well, you could think, what does it show us? What is it made of? Why was it made? How was it made? And who made it? So all questions to help us find out more about this object.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding here.

What things do archaeologists do? Dig in the ground.

Fly planes.

Ask lots of questions.

Hmm.

Pause the video here.

Have a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

If you said that archaeologists dig in the ground and ask lots of questions, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, what might these ruins tell us about the people of the Indus Valley civilization? Hmm, have a think.

What could they tell us? Got a photo of covered drains and a photo of a well.

Hmm.

Well, they could tell us that they had clean water in their cities because that's what you find in a well.

They were good at planning and building and they were also clean people.

So they were able to build and plan where those wells went and where those drains went.

And that also made sure that they were very clean.

Got rid of that dirty water through the drains.

What might these objects tell us about the people of the Indus Valley civilization? Take a good look.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

What do you think they might tell us about the people of the Indus Valley civilization? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What do you think they tell us? Well, they tell us they could make different things from clay, that they liked to decorate things, that they were skilled at painting, and that they used jugs and plates.

Interesting, to look at those objects and think about what those people used them for and why they were there.

What might these objects tell us about the people of the Indus Valley civilization? They're different objects to the clay jug and plate.

It's a photo of gold jewellery found at Mohenjo-Daro.

So have a think.

Pause the video here.

Have another discussion with your partner.

What might these objects tell us about the people of the Indus Valley civilization? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think then? Well, they tell us they were very skilled, similar to when they make the clay objects.

They were also very nice to look at, and they also had lots of gold.

So some people were obviously very rich.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Read Aisha and Jun's statements below.

Who is correct? Aisha says, "Archaeologists can't guess anything about the Indus Valley civilization from objects." Jun says, "Archaeologists can guess lots about the Indus Valley civilization from objects." So pause the video here.

Have a moment to think.

Who do you think is correct here? And press play when you are ready to continue.

Who did you think was correct? If you said Jun is correct, you're absolutely right.

Archaeologists have found so many objects and used them to make lots of guesses about the Indus Valley civilization.

Well done if you got that correct.

Even though archaeologists ask lots of questions and make guesses about the objects they find, sometimes they cannot find the answers for everything yet.

Can you remember which things are still a mystery about the Indus Valley civilization? Hmm.

Can you remember? Their religion and their writing.

Those are still two things that archaeologists and historians are still not sure about.

The clay seals from the Indus Valley are still a mystery too, because no one can read the writing on them.

We do know that they were used as little stamps to make clay tags like this one.

Then historians guess that they use the tags to attach them to items they were buying or selling.

So those guesses are based on the evidence that they found, but they're still not sure completely because they can't read the writing that are on those clay seals.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding here.

Which objects could help archaeologists to make guesses about the lives of the people in the Indus Valley civilization? Bead necklace, a clay statue, a clay seal.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about this question.

Which of these objects could help archaeologists to make guesses about the lives of the people in the Indus Valley civilization? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the bead necklace, the clay statue, and the clay seal, you are correct.

All of these objects could help archaeologists make guesses about the lives of the people in the Indus Valley civilization.

Well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to design and draw an Indus Valley civilization city.

Label it in as much detail as possible with what archaeologists think they know about the Indus Valley civilization.

You could include details about the buildings, the objects found, the clean water, the streets, the dirty water, jewellery, clay seals, people and their jobs.

So pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time.

Make sure you have a pen and some paper to design and draw an Indus Valley civilization city.

And be sure to label it as in as much detail as possible with what archaeologists think they know about the Indus Valley civilization.

And press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So, remember we saw an image of an artist's illustration, which is here of what an Indus Valley civilization might have looked like.

The labels could be streets wide enough for two elephants, tall walls, clay bricks, wells, brick toilets, drains, taking dirty water out to the fields, buildings on platforms away from flood water, grid patterned streets, well-planned city, artisans making jewellery, clay seals.

So lots of different labels there.

Well done if you are able to design and draw an Indus Valley civilization city, and were able to label it.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about what archaeologists have found out about the Indus Valley civilization.

Archaeologists have found lots of city ruins and objects in the Indus Valley that tell us there was once a civilization there.

The cities were well-planned and well-built by the people of the Indus Valley civilization almost 5,000 years ago.

Archaeologists ask lots of questions and make guesses about what they find to try to work things out about the civilization.

There are many things they know and still many mysteries because archaeologists cannot understand the Indus writing.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

We've certainly learned a lot about what archaeologists have found out about the Indus Valley civilization.

I hope to see you in the next lesson.

See you next time.