History - Civilisation: The Masters of the River

Around 2000 BC, a mysterious civilisation thrived along the Indus river, between todays India and Pakistan. The countryside surrounding the cities was successfully farmed providing ample food supplies to the cities where craftsmen produced intricate artefacts and everyday utensils on an almost industrial scale. Archaeologists began excavating the ruins of the Indus civilisation in the 1920s and although they have uncovered ample traces of its material culture, one big piece of the puzzle remains: no written text of sufficient length has been found yet making it impossible for researchers to decipher the Indus script. Therefore the disappearance of this thriving civilisation around 500 BC remains a mystery.