Its name means “Mound of the Dead.” For centuries, nobody knew a city had ever stood there. A Buddhist stupa on top of the mound led an archaeologist to dig underneath it in 1922. A Bronze Age metropolis came back into view.
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Mohenjodaro
A planned Bronze Age city, rediscovered under a Buddhist stupa
c. 2600–1900 BCE
A planned city thrives on the Indus
Home to an estimated 40,000 people, laid out on a strict street grid with covered drains, across roughly 250 hectares.
1922 CE
R.D. Banerji digs beneath a stupa
Excavating a Buddhist stupa mound, he finds a Bronze Age city underneath. John Marshall leads the ASI’s large-scale digs that follow.
1980 CE
UNESCO World Heritage status
Mohenjodaro becomes the first site in South Asia to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2026 CE
New radiocarbon dates push the timeline back
Fresh dating of the stupa mound’s mudbrick wall suggests occupation may have begun as early as 2700-2600 BCE.
One city, two questions
How a Bronze Age city planned its streets and drains this precisely is only half the puzzle. Why it was abandoned, slowly and without a single clear cause, is the other.
What Mohenjodaro Was Need to Know
The Site Itself
Name, Location, and Scale
- Meaning Mohenjodaro means “Mound of the Dead” in Sindhi. It sits on the Indus river, in present-day Sindh, Pakistan.
- Scale It was one of the largest cities of the Harappan Civilisation, covering roughly 250 hectares at its peak.
Population and Discovery
Dating, Excavation, and World Heritage Status
- Population Its estimated population was around 40,000 people, occupied through roughly 2600 to 1900 BCE.
- New Dating Radiocarbon dating, reported in 2026, suggests the site may have first been occupied as early as 2700-2600 BCE, about two centuries earlier than previously thought.
- Excavation It was excavated from 1922, led by R.D. Banerji, under John Marshall of the Archaeological Survey of India.
- UNESCO Status It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, the first site in South Asia to receive that status.
- Wider Context For where Mohenjodaro fits among the wider Harappan world, see AncHist0004 — Harappan Civilisation: Sites and Discovery, which maps all the major sites.
The Citadel and the Great Bath Good to Know
Layout of the City
City Layout
- Two Parts Mohenjodaro was divided into two parts: a raised, fortified Citadel, and a larger, lower-lying Lower Town.
- Citadel Housed the city’s main public and administrative structures, including the Great Bath and the Great Granary.
- Great Bath Measures about 12 metres by 7 metres, with a maximum depth of 2.4 metres. Its floor was sealed watertight with layers of brick and bitumen, and it was fed by a well in an adjoining room.
- Great Granary Close by, it measured about 45.7 metres by 15.2 metres, built on a raised platform to guard against floods.
- Street Grid Streets outside the Citadel followed a strict grid, intersecting at right angles, with covered drains running alongside them.
- Daily Life For how this administrative layout supported daily life and trade, see AncHist0005 — Harappan Civilisation: Life, Economy and Decline.
Its Most Famous Finds Good to Know
Iconic Artefacts
Three Iconic Objects
- Dancing Girl This bronze figurine was found here in 1926, about 10.5 centimetres tall, made using the lost-wax casting technique.
- Priest-King This bust, carved from steatite, was found here in 1927 and now sits in the National Museum of Pakistan.
- Pashupati Seal Found here in 1928-29, carved from steatite, it shows a horned figure seated in a yogic posture, surrounded by animals.
- Proto-Shiva Theory That seal is central to this theory, which links this Harappan image to later Hindu depictions of Shiva.
Previous Year Question
Asked as: “The famous female figurine known as ‘Dancing Girl’, found at Mohenjo-daro, is made of.” (UPSC CSP 2025, GS Paper I). View this question.
Test Yourself
Why It Was Abandoned Great to Know
A Gradual End
Environmental, Not Sudden
- No Single Cause There was no single catastrophic event behind Mohenjodaro’s decline.
- Environmental Factors Evidence instead points to repeated flooding, a shifting Indus, and prolonged drought, acting together over time.
- Older Theory An older theory blamed an “Aryan invasion” for the city’s end, following Mortimer Wheeler’s reading of the evidence.
- Revised View That theory has since lost favour, since excavations show little evidence of large-scale violence at the site.
- Gradual Abandonment The city was abandoned gradually, starting around 1900 BCE, over roughly a century, not in a single sudden collapse.
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