World History- Indus River Valley DBQ
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-4. (The documents
have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.)
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents.
Write an essay that:
o Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.
o Uses all of the documents.
o Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible. Does not
simply summarize the documents individually.
o Takes into account the sources of the documents and analyzes the authors’ point of view.
o Identifies and explain the need for at least one additional type of document.
Your may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
Prompt: Using the following documents and the space below, determine how the people of the Indus
River Valley used human ingenuity (invention) to shape their civilization.
Document 1
Source: Map of Indus Valley Civilization from textbook.
Document 2
Source: “Man from Mohenjo-Daro” one of several figurines found in Mohenjo-Daro site. Each standing about 7” tall.
Note: The most intriguing features of Indus Valley
civilization involve what is missing, at least in comparison
with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. No grand temples
or palaces; no elite burial places filled with great wealth;
no images of warfare, conquest, or the seizing of
captives; no monuments to celebrate powerful rulers.
These absences have left scholars guessing about the
social and political organization of this civilization. The
great cities were likely controlled not by a single ruler, but
by “a small group of elites, comprised of merchants,
landowners, and ritual specialists.”
Document 3:
Source: Seal from Mohenjo-Daro
Note: Such seals have been among the most numerous artifacts found in the Indus Valley cities. They generally carried
the image of an animal—a bull, an elephant, a crocodile, a buffalo, or even a mythic creature such as a unicorn—as well
as a title or inscription in the still undeciphered script of this civilization. Thus the seals were accessible to an illiterate
worker loading goods on a boat as well as to literate merchants or officials.
Source: “Dancing Girl” dates back to 2500 BCE.
Document 4: