In history class on Tuesday, we were put into groups of three and given the assignment of answering this question though a thesis statement and a "T" chart comparing the two civilizations. We had just finished two readings as homework, one about Mesopotamia and the other about Mohenjo- Daro. We were given sites to look at to help us find information and also we could use our notes that we took on the previous readings.
Why did the Mesopotamian civilization thrive for thousands of years and the Indus Valley civilization disappear relatively quickly.
We thought about this and decided that the main reason that Mesopotamia lasted a lot longer was because it was more of a location to settle in, apposed to a civilization. Mohenjo- Daro, however, was a civilization, or nation as I should call it after that one history class, therefor it had more of an opportunity to be a) taken over or b) just end because of societal flaws. In out T chart, we said that some similarities between the two were that they were both located near a water source and had some type of irrigation system. Also they both had some form of pictographic language. Those were the only major similarities that we found but I am sure that there are probably more similarities. But also, since Mesopotamia wasn't an actual civilization, it didn't have just one language, but thousands of forms of a similar language. An interesting thing that we found about Mesopotamia and also put in out T chart was that it has tons of information about it on the internet and throughout other sources as well. We determined that this is because it lasted a lot longer then Mohenjo- Daro civilization and frankly, a lot longer then a lot of civilizations. But I guess that is because it wasn't even a Civilization at all, but a place for tons different societies to locate themselves. When we researched Mohenjo- Daro, there were very little sources and also very little information if we did find a source. This is because this civilization didn't last for nearly as long as Mesopotamian. The fact that Indus Valley has very little info and lasted for not that long, there isn't any proof on religion or leaders, so we don't know if there was or wasn't a religion. There also isn't any evidence on what ended this civilization but we are lead to believe that the civilization ended due to floods. There were statues found that could possibly depict religious leaders or also society leaders. But the city lacks palaces, temples or any obvious central government. We learned that Mesopotamia's written language is called Cuniform while the Mohenjo- Daro written language is called indus- script.
Our two options for thesis statements:
1)While Mohenjo-Daro was a civilization with a rise and a fall, Mesopotamia was an ongoing city-state that lasted countless societal changes. Mesopotamia never fully declined, which is why historians know so much about it.
2)Mesopotamia lasted for thousands of years because it was a city-state inhabited by various cultures, and underwent numerous societal changes, while Mohenjo-Daro was one civilization with a rise and a fall.
We chose to go with "Mesopotamia lasted for thousands of years because it was a city-state inhabited by various cultures, and underwent numerous societal changes, while the Indus Valley was one civilization with a single culture." So it is kind of a mix between both.
Our essay, if we were to write one, would mostly consist of and talk about the comparisons between the Mesopotamian and Indus Valley Civilizations. I feel like that is what the thesis conveys but would be something that would require a lot of research because the Mesopotamia and Mohenjo- Daro are both very different. I think that also the paper would talk about how Mesopotamia was more of a city- state because is was inhabited by many different civilizations. And also it would talk about the possible ways Mohenjo- Daro could have ended and why Mohenjo- Daro ended.
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