Indus River Valley Civilization

The Indus River Valley Civilization or Harappan Civilization was a possibly anarchist society in ancient times (3300BCE - 1300BCE) in what is now Southern Asia. It was noted for its staunch egalitarianism, large population, technological advances, great cities and contributions to mathematics. Due to the untranDecision-Making

Given the relatively equal size of housing and equal access to water supply and drainage, number of communal buildings (notably public baths and granaries), drastic differences in technology and urban design compared to hierarchical civilizations of the same time period (eg Egypt and Sumer) and the lack of any centralized political buildings such as courts, palaces, military barracks or parliaments it can be safe to assume that the most likely method of decision-making was some kind of confederation rooted in local assemblies. The entire society was composed of more than 1,000 cities and towns, with many more smaller villages and hamlets in between.

Economy

The first known urban sanitation systems - where waste water from houses was directed by gravity to covered drains running through the city streets were developed in the Indus River Valley Civilization, these systems were more advanced than any other in the world and are still more well-developed than current urban areas of India and Pakistan.

The region also witnessed the first applications of hydraulic engineering, impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, public bathes, canals, irrigation, accuracy in measuring length; mass and time, the development of a uniform system of weights and measurement across the entire area, the production of metals (copper, bronze, tin and lead), and the first use of dentistry and wheeled transport.

The trade network around the civilization appears to extend from as far as Crete and Egypt, through the Arabian Peninsular, the coast of Persia, Central Asia and into Central India. Trade was managed via animal-powered wheeled carts and an extensive maritime network composed of docks and ships.

In terms of modern anarchists theory, the economy mainly resembled a mutualist one with elements of anarcho-communism.

Collapse

The Indus River Valley Civilization appeared to enter a 600-year long period of decline beginning in 1900BCE, with the progressive moving of the population from cities followed by a distinct loss of signs culture despite people still living in the same area. Several theories have been proposed:

Invasion

The first theory proposed to explain the decline, supporters point to skeletons uncovered in cities with damage indicating military combat. This theory was eventually debunked, showing the damage the skeletons had faced was caused by erosion from wind and water.

Climate Change and Drought

The '4.2 kiloyear event' theory hypothesizes that a significant period of drought and cooling occured across the world. This altered the course of rivers and led to less rainfall, making water supplies more difficult to access and eventually leading to the abandoning of the city model into smaller, self-sufficient villages.

Earthquakes

There is geological evidence showing damage from major earthquakes around the time of the decline beginning, it has been speculated that these earthquakes not only caused massive physical damage but changed the structure of the coastline and waterways, rendering much of the civilizations dependence on infrastructure unusable.

Disease

Skeletons dated towards the end of the civilization show an increase in infectious diseases such as leprocy and tuberculosis, suggesting a massive plague swept the region and rapidly destroyed much of the urban population. Whilst the more isolated rural and village population was able to survive.