10 Things Mohenjo Daro Had 4,500 Years Before Modern Cities

Mohenjo Daro is known to be one of the most advanced and largest settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization. Located in present day Sindh Province of Pakistan, Mohenjo-daro became a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the extensive planning left behind 4500 years ago

Mohenjo dDaro has elaborate civic engineering, sanitary developments in the form of sewer systems, indoor plumbing and similar advancements in terms of architectural designs, doors, windows, multi storey buildings. Let us find out more about these advancements in detail. 

 10 Things Mohanjo-daro Had Before Modern Cities

Here are the top 10 things Mohanjo-daro had in terms of infrastructure, drainage planning and their economic development way before any modern city in the world: 

1. Advanced Drainage System 

Mohenjo Daro was known to have one of most refined drainage systems way before modern cities existed. Every house was connected to an elaborate street drain which had lids and roads built over them to cover the sewage. 

2. Indoor Bathrooms 

A lot of smaller modern cities do not have this provision which the Mohan-daro citizens enjoyed 4,500 years ago! Each house had its own bathroom ensuring privacy to every individual. 

3. Great Public Bath 

One of the most famous features of Mohajo-daro was the Great Bath. It was a communal water tank rumoured to be used for rituals. Archaeologists believe that the Great Bath was used by the entire community during special occasions only. 

4. Grid Planned Streets

Researchers have noted that every street of Mohanjo-daro was planned in a way which avoided any chance of congestion or traffic. Each block was meticulously divided into smaller lanes for easy access to inner courtyards directly. 

5. Elaborate Public Wells 

Mohenjo daro had a total of over 700 wells. These wells were planned evenly across the city to create a proportionate access to clean water facilities to all citizens. 

6. Multi-Storey Houses 

Many houses of Mohenjo daro had double or triple stories built with durable baked bricks. The doors opened inwards instead of the streets to avoid outside noise and disturbances. 

7. Uniform Weights and Measures 

Archaologists have discovered several standards of weights and measures from Mohenjo daro like an ivory ruler of 1.32 inches, copper, bronze balance scales and weights and balances cut in uniform shape of cube. 

8. Public Access to Granaries 

The granary of Mohenjo daro was built on a huge mud brick platform to protect the city against floods. Researchers predict that huge quantities of grain supply must have been unloaded here for the public. At times of need, citizens had free access to the commodities of granary. 

9. Courtyard Houses 

Most houses had rooms designed around an open central space, showing the architectural peak of Mohenjo daro. These courtyards provided natural sunlight, breezy air into the houses during the hot summer season. 

10. Equal Access to Resources 

Researchers have confirmed that Mohenjo daro does not show any signs of economic disparities in terms of access to wealth and resources. Every utility was evenly distributed across the city with no significant demarcations between the citizens based on status.