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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Discuss salient features of the Indus Valley Civilization. Mention important places from where relics of civilization have been recovered so far. Examine causes of its decline.

  • UPSC 1999
  • Indus Valley Civilization

Spread across an area larger than either Egypt or Mesopotamia, the Harappan (Indus) civilization, dated broadly to c. 2600–1900 BCE in its mature urban phase, presents a puzzle that later civilizations rarely pose so sharply: a culture whose material sophistication is beyond doubt but whose script remains undeciphered, leaving its political structure, religion, and eventual…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Urban Character Resting on a Rural Base
  • Town Planning: Unity of Conception, With Real Variation
  • Water Management, Sanitation, and Monumental Structures
  • Craft, Trade, Script, and Belief
  • Important Sites and Their Distinctive Contribution
  • Examining the Causes of Decline

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