'Harappans avoided conflicts with proper water, sewage treatment'

Ensuring good water system and proper sewage treatment for every city can lessen conflicts, according to Indus Valley Civilisation expert Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, who says the strategy is an important lesson to be learnt from the Harappans.

"If every city has a good water system and proper sewage treatment and good drainage, then there will be less conflict. That is what the Harappans did," Kenoyer told the media here.

He was at the Indian Museum here for a special lecture on recent research on the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Kenoyer, an American who was born and raised in India, is a professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Explaining through photographs of sump pots and latrines built one above the other at Harappa, Kenoyer highlighted the significance of drainage and cleanliness in the ancient cities that flourished from 2600 BC to 1900 BC, located in what's now Pakistan and western India.

"The concept of cleanliness and wells and drains is not so much about hygiene but conflict avoidance. So this is a strategy (of the Harappans) to keep people from fighting each other. So if everybody has clean, proper toilets and drainage, then people won't be fighting about these kind of things," he added.

--IANS

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