MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

S W №43

Abstract on the topic:

"ANCIENT INDIA"

Pupils 10 "B" class

Kutuzova Elena

Mogilev, 2002

Bibliography :

1.G.I. Dovgyalo "What is History?"

2. O.V. Perzashkevich and A.A. Prokhorov "Countries of the Ancient East"

Minsk

"People's Asveta"

1996
Content:

1. List of references……………………………………………2p

3. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………...4page

4. ANCIENT STATE OF INDIA…………………………….5str

4.1. Location and nature of Ancient India…………..5str

4.2. The formation of states in ancient India.………………6str

4.3. Economic life. ……………………………………...7page

5. CULTURE OF ANCIENT INDIA ………………………………………………………………9str

5.1. Languages ​​and writing of ancient India. …………………..9str

5.2. Literature. …………………………………………….……9str

5.3. Religion of Ancient India.…………………………………...10str

6. INTERESTING ABOUT INDIA……………………………………… 11str

6.1. Excavations in Mahenjo-Daro……………………..…………11str

6.2. The social structure of the Indian according to ancient laws ... 12str

7. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………….

Introduction

India is an ancient country about 8 thousand years old. The amazing Indian people lived on its territory. which were divided into several public classes. Where priests played an important role. Although historians do not know who ruled such an amazing state. The Indians had their own language and script. Their letters cannot be deciphered by scientists to this day.

The ancient Indians gave humanity such agricultural crops as cotton and sugar cane. They made a thin fabric of chintz. They have tamed the world's largest animal, the elephant.

They worshiped and believed in different gods. Animals were deified. Along with the gods, the Vedas, the Sanskrit language and the Brahmins were revered as the guardians of culture and sacred knowledge. Brahmins were considered living gods.

This is a very interesting state and people.

ancient state of india

Location and nature of ancient India .

In the south of Asia, behind the Himalayan range, there is an amazing country - India. Its history goes back almost 8 thousand years. However, modern India differs in size from the ancient country of the same name. In terms of area, Ancient India was approximately equal to Egypt, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Iran, Syria, Phenicia and Palestine combined.

This vast territory had a variety of natural conditions. In the west, the Indus River flowed, it rained relatively infrequently, but in summer there were large floods. Vast steppes spread out here.

In the east, the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers carried their waters to the Indian Ocean. It always rained heavily here, and the whole land was covered with marshy swamps and impenetrable jungle. These are dense thickets of trees and shrubs, where twilight reigns even during the day. The jungle was inhabited by tigers, panthers, elephants, poisonous snakes and a huge variety of insects.

The central and southern parts of India in ancient times were mountainous spaces, where it was always hot and there was a lot of rain. But the abundance of moisture was not always a blessing. Dense vegetation and swamps were a big obstacle for ancient farmers armed with stone and copper axes. Therefore, the first settlements appear in India in the less wooded north-west of the country. The Indus Valley had another advantage. It was closer to the ancient states of Western Asia, which facilitated communication and trade with them.

State formation in ancient India .

So far, scientists have little information about the social system and culture of Indian cities. The fact is that the writing of the ancient Indians has not yet been deciphered. But today it is known that in the III and the first half of the II millennium BC. e. in the Indus Valley there was a single state with two capitals. it Harappa in the north and mohenjo-daro on South. The inhabitants were divided into several public classes. It is not known exactly who ruled the state. But they played a big role priests.

With the decline of the Indian state, the public organization also collapsed. Writing has been forgotten.

Appearing in the middle II millennium BC. e., the arias brought with them their social organization. It was based on the division of society into "their own" (Aryans) and "strangers" (dasov). Using the right of the conquerors, the Aryans gave the Dasas a dependent position in society.

There was also a division among the Aryans themselves. They were divided into three classes - varnas. The first and highest brew were Brahmins - priests, teachers, guardians of culture. Second varna - kshatriyas. It was military nobility. In the third varna - vaishyas- included farmers, artisans and merchants. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. the fourth varna appeared - sudras. It means "servant". This varna included all non-arii. They were obliged to serve the first three varnas. The lowest position was "untouchables". They did not belong to any of the varnas and were obliged to do the dirtiest work.

With the development of crafts, the growth of population and the complication of public life, in addition to varnas, an additional division by profession. This division is called division into castes.

And in a certain varna, like a caste, a person fell by birthright. If you are born in a brahmin family, you are a brahmin; if in a sudra family, you are a sudra. Belonging to one or another varna and caste determined the rules of behavior for every Indian.

The further development of Indian society led in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. to the emergence of kingdoms headed by rajas. (In ancient Indian "raja" means "king".)

At the end of the IV century. BC e. a mighty empire is formed in India. Its founder was Chandragupta, who stopped the advance of the army of Alexander the Great. This power reached its highest power under the grandson of Chandragupta Ashok (263-233 BC).

Thus, already in the III-beginning of the II millennium BC. e. India had a state. It not only was not inferior in its development, but at times surpassed Egypt and Mesopotamia. After the decline of Indian culture and the arrival of the Aryans, the social structure of ancient Indian society became more complicated. Its culture was created by the Aryans with the participation of the local population. At this time, a caste system is formed. A mighty empire arose. changing, ancient Indian culture has survived to the present day.

Economic life.

Already in the III millennium BC. e. The main occupation of the inhabitants of the Indus Valley was agriculture. They grew wheat, barley, peas, millet, jute and, for the first time in the world, cotton and sugar cane.

Animal husbandry was well developed. The Indians raised cows, sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys, elephants. The horse came later.

The Indians were well acquainted with metallurgy. The main tools of labor were made of copper. Knives, spear and arrowheads, hoes, axes and much more were smelted from it. Artistic casting, masterful stone processing, alloys, among which bronze occupied a special place, were no secret to them. The Indians knew gold and lead. But iron at that time they did not know.

The craft was also developed. Spinning and weaving played an important role. The craftsmanship of the jewelers is impressive. They worked precious metals and stones, ivory and shells.

Maritime and land trade reached a high level. In 1950, archaeologists found the first port in history for anchoring ships at low tide.

The most active trade was with the Southern Mesopotamia. Cotton and jewelry were brought here from India. Barley, vegetables, fruits were brought to India. There were trade links with Egypt and the island of Crete. Probably, the Indians also exchanged with neighboring nomadic peoples and even built a city on the Amu Darya River.

With the decline of Indian culture, economic life came to a standstill. Appeared in the middle of the II millennium BC. e. The Aryans were nomads and lagged far behind the Indians in economic development. The only thing in which the Aryans were ahead of the Indians was in the use of the horse.

Only at the turn of II - I millennia BC. e. the new population of India - the Indians - again switched to agriculture. Crops of wheat, barley, millet, cotton and jute appeared. The farmers of the Ganges River valley gathered especially large crops.

Along with the horse and cattle, the elephant occupied an important place in the economy. With its help, people successfully fought the impenetrable jungle.

Metallurgy is developing. Having quickly mastered bronze, already at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Indians learned how to mine iron. This greatly facilitated the development of new lands previously occupied by swamps and jungles.

The craft is also being revived. Again, a prominent place in the economy is occupied by pottery and weaving. Indian cotton fabrics were especially famous, products from which could be threaded through a small ring. These fabrics were very expensive. In honor of the goddess of arable land Sita they were named chintz. There were also simpler cheap fabrics.

Only trade remained at a low level. It was limited to the exchange of goods between neighboring communities.

Thus, the ancient Indians gave humanity such agricultural crops as cotton and sugar cane. They have tamed the world's largest animal, the elephant.

CULTURE OF ANCIENT INDIA

Languages ​​and writing of ancient India.

At the end of the III millennium BC. e. India was a major power with a highly developed culture. But it is not yet known what language the inhabitants of the Indus Valley spoke. Their writing is still a mystery to scientists.

Section - I - Brief Description of Ancient India
Section - II -Culture and religion

Ancient India is one of the first civilizations in the world, which brought the world culture the largest number of various spiritual values. Ancient India is quite the richest subcontinent with a turbulent and complex history. It was here that the greatest religions were once born, empires appeared and collapsed, but from century to century the “enduring” identity of the Indy culture was preserved. This civilization built large and very well-planned cities with bricks with running water and built a pictographic script, which to this day cannot be deciphered.

India got its name from the name of the Indus River, in the valley of which it is located. "Indus" in the lane. means "river". With a length of 3180 kilometers, the Indus originates in Tibet, flows through the Indo-Gangetic lowland, the Himalayas, flows into the Arabian Sea. Various finds of archaeologists indicate that in Ancient India there was a human society already during the Stone Age, and it was then that the first social relations arose, art was born, permanent settlements appeared, prerequisites arose for the development of one of the ancient world civilizations - the Indian Civilization, which appeared in Northwest India (today almost the entire territory of Pakistan).

It dates back approximately to the XXIII-XVIII centuries BC and is considered the 3rd civilization of the Ancient East in time of appearance. Its development, as well as the first two - in Egypt and Mesopotamia - was directly connected with the organization of high yields of irrigated agriculture. The first archaeological finds of terracotta figurines and pottery date back to the 5th millennium BC, they were made in Mehrgarh. From this it follows that Mehrgarh can already be considered a real city - this is the first city in Ancient India, which we became aware of through excavations by archaeologists. The primordial deity of the indigenous population of ancient India - the Dravidians, was Shiva. He is one of the 3 main deities of Hinduism - Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva. All 3 gods are considered a manifestation of a single divine essence, but each is assigned a specific “field of activity”.

So, Brahma is considered the creator of the world, Vishnu was his keeper, Shiva was his destroyer, but it is he who recreates it. Shiva among the indigenous people of Ancient India was considered the main god, was considered a model who had achieved his spiritual self-realization, the ruler of the world, the demiurge. The Indus Valley extends to the NW of the subcontinent in the neighborhood of ancient Sumer. Between these civilizations, of course, there were trade relations, and it is quite possible that it was Sumer who had a huge impact on Indian civilization. Throughout Indian history, the northwest has remained the main route for the invasion of new ideas. All other routes to India were so closed by the seas, forests and mountains that, for example, the great ancient Chinese civilization left almost no traces in it.

Nature and population of ancient India

India occupies part of the Asian continent and a huge peninsula in the south of Asia - Hindustan, washed by the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. In the north of India, the Himalayas mountain range passes, separating India from other countries.
The nature and climate of India are very diverse. Almost the entire Hindustan peninsula is occupied by a plateau with a hot, arid climate. Between this plateau and the Himalayas there is a vast lowland, where two mighty rivers flow: the Indus and the Ganges. Both originate in the Himalayas
and together with their many tributaries form fertile valleys separated from one another by tropical forests and deserts. In the river valleys there is a lot of land suitable for cultivation and pastures.
The fauna of India is very rich and varied. The population had to wage a continuous struggle with predators - tigers, panthers, bears, destroying people and livestock, as well as with elephants, trampling crops.
India has been inhabited since ancient times. In various parts of India, crude stone tools have been found that were used by the most ancient people. In the third millennium BC. e. in the Indus Valley, slave-owning states with a peculiar culture arose. Scientists have unearthed in the desert the ruins of cities with large buildings made of brick and stone. The population of these cities was engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. Skillful artisans made various utensils and luxury items from stone, ivory and metal. Trade was developed, both internal and external. In the cities there were covered markets. Trade relations were maintained with Indochina and Mesopotamia. The ancient population of India had a letter that has not yet been read.

In the second millennium BC. e. from the northwest, numerous tribes penetrated into India, calling themselves the Aryans, which in the language of the ancient Indians means “noble”. The Aryans were nomadic herders. Their main wealth is cattle, and their main food is dairy products. Subsequently, the cow was considered a sacred animal by the Indians. The Aryans knew a horse that appeared in India at the same time as them. Horses were harnessed to wagons and chariots, adapted for fast driving and combat with enemies. At the head of the tribes of the Aryans were tribal leaders - rajas. Their power was limited by the council of elders.
From the end of the second millennium, with the spread of iron tools, the Indians began to develop the Ganges valley, clearing the jungle, draining the swamps. They sow barley and rice and cultivate cotton. Semi-nomadic pastoralism is giving way to agriculture.

Formation of slave states.

The development of agriculture and crafts, as well as aggressive wars, led to the appearance of property inequality among the Aryans. The rajas who led the predatory campaigns accumulate a lot of wealth. With the help of warriors, they strengthen their power, make it hereditary. The Rajas and their warriors turn the captives into slaves. From the peasants and artisans they demand the payment of taxes and work for themselves. Rajas are gradually turning into kings of small states. During wars, these small states are united into one, and then the ruler becomes a maharaja (“big king”).
Over time, the council of elders loses its significance. From the tribal nobility, military leaders and officials are recruited who are in charge of collecting "taxes, organizing deforestation and draining swamps. Brahmin priests begin to play a significant role in the emerging state apparatus .. They taught that the king is higher than other people, that he is "like the sun , burns eyes and heart and no one on earth can even look at him.

Castes and their role.

In the slave-owning states of India in the first millennium BC. e. The population was divided into four groups, called castes. The first caste consisted of Brahmins. Brahmins did not engage in physical labor and lived on income from sacrifices. The second caste, the Kshatriyas, was represented by warriors; they also controlled the administration of the state. Power struggles often took place between Brahmins and Kshatriyas. The third caste - the Vaishyas - included farmers, shepherds and merchants. All the local population conquered by the Aryans made up the fourth caste - the Shudras. Shudras were servants and did the hardest and dirtiest work. Slaves were not included in any caste.
The division into castes broke the old tribal unity and opened up the possibility of uniting people who came from different tribes within the same state. Caste was hereditary. The son of a brahmin was born a brahmin, the son of a sudra was born a sudra. To perpetuate castes and caste inequality, the Brahmins created laws. They say that the god Brahma himself established inequality between people. Brahma, according to the priests, created Brahmins from his mouth, warriors from his hands, Vaishyas from his thighs, and Shudras from his feet, which were covered with dust and dirt.
Caste division doomed the lower castes to hard, humiliating work. It closed the way for capable people to knowledge and state activity. Caste division hindered the development of society; it played a reactionary role.

Mauryan state in ancient India

In the middle of the first millennium BC. e. important changes took place in the economic life of the country. By this time, the main part of the Ganges valley had been developed. Artificial irrigation is widely used in agriculture. Trade and usury flourish; cities grow and prosper.
There was a need for a single strong state capable of organizing irrigation or other works on a large scale and pursuing an aggressive policy in the interests of the ruling class. In the 5th century BC e. in the course of a long and stubborn struggle between small states, the state of Magadha acquires the predominant influence. It extends its dominion over all the regions between the Ganges and the Himalayas. At the end of the IV century. BC e. all of northern and part of southern India united under the rule of King Chandragupta. He was the founder of the Mauryan dynasty. The state of Chandragupga and his successors had a strong army, consisting of infantry, cavalry, war chariots and elephants. The king ruled the country, relying on officials and military leaders.
The upkeep of troops and officials was a heavy burden on the working population of the country. The exploitation of communal peasants, artisans and slaves increased. Slaves were not only foreigners captured, but also Indians who were indebted to rich people.
Large cities are becoming centers of life in Indian society. Officials, priests, merchants, artisans, as well as servants and slaves of rich people live in cities. The life of the townspeople begins to differ greatly from the life of the rural population.
The Mauryan state reaches its greatest prosperity under the grandson of Chandragupta, King Ashoka (273-236 BC). Continuing the aggressive policy of Chandragupta, Ashoka annexes a number of neighboring regions to his possessions.

The Gupta state and its fall.

In the first half of the 4th c. Magadha again becomes the center of a large slave state - Gupt. The kings of this state made a number of successful campaigns of conquest in the Ganges valley and in Central India. The rulers of small kingdoms paid tribute to them.
In IV-V centuries. the development of agriculture, crafts and trade continues. The Indians have mastered new lands formerly occupied by the jungle; artificial irrigation was used more widely than before. They grew cotton and sugarcane. From India, the cultivation and processing of cotton spread to other countries.
Artisans have achieved great success in the manufacture of jewelry, weapons, dressing the finest cotton and silk products. India carried on extensive land and sea trade with other countries.

The rise of the economy in India in the IV-V centuries. associated with the use of the labor of free farmers, who were given plots for temporary use on the terms of their payment of a share of the harvest. The slave-owning nobility is gradually refusing to use the labor of slaves in its economy.

The final fall of the slave order in India is facilitated by an invasion in the middle of the 5th century. northern tribes of the Huns, who formed their state in India.

At the beginning of the XX century. in archaeological science, there is a strong opinion that the Middle East is the birthplace of the productive economy, urban culture, writing, and civilization in general. This area, according to the apt definition of the English archaeologist James Breasted, was called the "Fertile Crescent". From here, the achievements of culture spread throughout the Old World, to the west and to the east. However, new research has made serious adjustments to this theory.

The first finds of this kind were made already in the 1920s. XX century. Indian archaeologists Sahni and Banerjee discovered civilization on the banks of the Indus, which existed simultaneously from the era of the first pharaohs and the era of the Sumerians in the III-II millennia BC. e. (the three most ancient civilizations in the world). Before the eyes of scientists, a vibrant culture appeared with magnificent cities, developed crafts and trade, and a kind of art. First, archaeologists unearthed the largest urban centers of this civilization - Harappu and Mohenjo-Daro. By the name of the first she received name - Harappan civilization. Later, many other settlements were found. Now there are about a thousand of them. They covered the entire Indus Valley and its tributaries with a continuous network, like a necklace covering the northeastern coast of the Arabian Sea in the territory of present-day India and Pakistan.

The culture of ancient cities, large and small, turned out to be so bright and original that the researchers had no doubts: this country was not the outskirts of the Fertile Crescent of the World, but an independent hotbed of civilization, today forgotten by the world of cities. There is no mention of them in written sources, and only the earth has preserved traces their former glory.

Map. Ancient India - Harappan Civilization

History of Ancient India - Indus Valley Proto-Indian Culture

Other mystery of ancient indian civilization- its origin. Scientists continue to argue whether it had local roots or was brought from outside, with which intensive trade was conducted.

Most archaeologists believe that the proto-Indian civilization grew out of the local early agricultural cultures that existed in the Indus basin and the neighboring region of Northern Balochistan. Archaeological discoveries support their point of view. In the foothills closest to the Indus Valley, hundreds of settlements of ancient farmers of the 6th-4th millennium BC were discovered. e.

This transitional zone between the mountains of Baluchistan and the Indo-Gangetic plain provided the first farmers with everything they needed. The climate favored the cultivation of plants during the long, warm summers. Mountain streams provided water for irrigation of crops and, if necessary, could be blocked by dams to retain fertile river silt and regulate irrigation of fields. Here the wild progenitors of wheat and barley grew, herds of wild buffalo and goats roamed. Flint deposits provided the raw material for making tools. A convenient position opened up opportunities for trade contacts with Central Asia and Iran in the west and the Indus Valley in the east. This area, like no other, was suitable for the emergence of an agricultural economy.

One of the first agricultural settlements known in the foothills of Balochistan was called Mergar. Archaeologists have excavated a significant area here and identified seven horizons of the cultural layer in it. These horizons, from the lower, the most ancient, to the upper, dating back to the 4th millennium BC. e., show the complex and gradual path of the emergence of agriculture.

In the earliest layers, hunting was the basis of the economy, while agriculture and cattle breeding played a secondary role. They grew barley. Of the domestic animals, only the sheep was tamed. Then the inhabitants of the settlement did not yet know how to make pottery. Over time, the size of the settlement increased - it stretched along the river, the economy became more complicated. Local residents built houses and granaries from raw bricks, grew barley and wheat, raised sheep and goats, made earthenware and painted it beautifully, at first only in black, and later with different colors: white, red and black. The pots are decorated with whole processions of animals walking one after another: bulls, antelope with branched horns, birds. Similar images have been preserved in Indian culture on stone seals. Hunting still played an important role in the economy of farmers, they did not know how to process metal and made their tools from stone. But gradually a stable economy was formed, developing on the same foundations (primarily on agriculture) as the civilization in the Indus Valley.

In the same period, stable trade relations with neighboring lands were established. This is indicated by decorations made of imported stones, widespread among farmers: lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise from the territory of Iran and Afghanistan.

Mergar's society became highly organized. Public granaries appeared among the houses - rows of small rooms separated by partitions. Such warehouses acted as central points for the distribution of products. The development of society was also expressed in an increase in the wealth of the settlement. Archaeologists have discovered many burials. All residents were buried in rich attire with jewelry from beads, bracelets, pendants.

Over time, agricultural tribes settled from the mountainous regions to the river valleys. They mastered the plain irrigated by the Indus and its tributaries. The fertile soil of the valley contributed to the rapid growth of the population, the development of crafts, trade and agriculture. Villages grew up in cities. The number of cultivated plants increased. A date palm appeared, in addition to barley and wheat, rye, rice and cotton were grown. To irrigate the fields began to build small canals. They tamed a local species of cattle - a zebu-like bull. So gradually grew ancient civilization of the northwest of Hindustan. At an early stage, scientists identify several zones within the range: eastern, northern, central, southern, western, and southeastern. Each of them is characterized its own characteristics. But by the middle of the III millennium BC. e. differences are almost erased, and in the heyday the Harappan civilization entered as a culturally unified organism.

True, there are other facts. They bring doubts to the slim theory of the origin of the Harappan, Indian civilization. Studies by biologists have shown that the ancestor of the Indus Valley domestic sheep was a wild species that lived in the Middle East. Much in the culture of the early farmers of the Indus Valley brings it closer to the culture of Iran and South Turkmenistan. By language, scientists establish a connection between the population of Indian cities and the inhabitants of Elam, an area that lay east of Mesopotamia, on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Judging by the appearance of the ancient Indians, they are part of one large community that settled throughout the Middle East - from the Mediterranean Sea to Iran and India.

Putting all these facts together, some researchers have concluded that the Indian (Harappan) civilization is a fusion of various local elements that arose under the influence of Western (Iranian) cultural traditions.

Decline of Indian Civilization

The decline of the proto-Indian civilization also remains a mystery, waiting for a final solution in the future. The crisis did not begin at the same time, but gradually spread throughout the country. Most of all, as evidenced by archaeological data, the major centers of civilization located on the Indus suffered. In the capitals of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, it took place in the 18th-16th centuries. BC e. In all probability, decline Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro belong to the same period. Harappa lasted only a little longer than Mohenjo-Daro. The crisis hit the northern regions faster; in the south, far from the centers of civilization, the Harappan traditions survived longer.

At that time, many buildings were abandoned, hastily made counters piled up along the roads, new small houses grew up on the ruins of public buildings, deprived of many of the benefits of a dying civilization. Other rooms have been rebuilt. They used old brick, selected from the destroyed houses. New brick was not produced. In cities, there was no longer a clear division into residential and craft quarters. On the main streets there were pottery kilns, which was not allowed in the old days of exemplary order. The number of imported things decreased, which means that external relations weakened and trade fell into decline. Handicraft production was reduced, ceramics became rougher, without skillful painting, the number of seals decreased, and metal was used less frequently.

What appeared reason for this decline? The most likely reasons seem to be of an ecological nature: a change in the level of the seabed, the bed of the Indus as a result of a tectonic shock that led to a flood; change in the direction of the monsoons; epidemics of incurable and possibly previously unknown diseases; droughts due to excessive deforestation; salinization of the soil and the onset of the desert as a result of large-scale irrigation ...

A certain role in the decline and death of the cities of the Indus Valley was played by the enemy invasion. It was during that period that the Aryans appeared in Northeast India - tribes of nomads from the Central Asian steppes. Perhaps their invasion has become last straw on the scales of the fate of the Harappan civilization. Due to internal turmoil, the cities were unable to withstand the onslaught of the enemy. Their inhabitants went to look for new, less depleted lands and safe places: to the south, to the sea, and to the east, to the Ganges valley. The remaining population returned to a simple rural lifestyle, as it was a thousand years before these events. It adopted the Indo-European language and many elements of the culture of nomadic newcomers.

What did people look like in ancient India?

What kind of people settled in the Indus Valley? What did the builders of magnificent cities, the inhabitants of ancient India, look like? These questions are answered by two types of direct evidence: paleoanthropological materials from the Harappan burial grounds and images of ancient Indians - clay and stone sculptures that archaeologists find in cities and small towns. So far, these are few burials of the inhabitants of proto-Indian cities. Therefore, it is not surprising that the conclusions regarding the appearance of the ancient Indians often changed. Initially, the racial diversity of the population was assumed. The organizers of cities showed features of the proto-Australoid, Mongoloid, Caucasoid races. Later, the opinion was established about the predominance of Caucasoid features in the racial types of the local population. The inhabitants of the proto-Indian cities belonged to the Mediterranean branch of the large Caucasoid race, i.e. were mostly human dark-haired, dark-eyed, swarthy, with straight or wavy hair, long-headed. This is how they are depicted in the sculptures. The figurine of a man in clothes richly decorated with a pattern of shamrocks, carved from stone, was especially famous. The face of the sculptural portrait is made with great care. Hair caught with a strap, a thick beard, regular features, half-closed eyes give a realistic portrait of a city dweller,