# Harappa at its Mature-phase peak (c. 2600–1900 BCE)

URL: https://allhistories.com/pakistan/timeline/-2550-harappa-at-its-mature-phase-peak
Location: Harappa, Sahiwal District, Punjab
Themes: Indus Valley, Urbanism

In its Mature Harappan phase, dated by the excavators to about 2600–1900 BCE, Harappa reached its greatest extent of around 150 hectares. Estimates of its population at its peak go up to about 23,500 people. Britannica describes it as second in size only to Mohenjo-daro, with a western citadel, a mud-brick rampart with bastions and a grid-planned workers' quarter to the east. Residents made wheel-turned pottery, standardised weights and small square steatite seals bearing animals and script. Crops included wheat, cotton and rice, and the city traded with Mesopotamia, Elam and regions of southern India for goods such as gold and copper. Skeletons show high rates of injury and diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis, mostly in later phases. The site was first noticed in 1826, and brick robbing for railway ballast in the 1850s caused serious damage. Systematic excavation began in the 1920s, and a Harvard-led project has worked there since. Harappa gave the whole civilisation its alternative name. Its bricks, seals and burials continue to be studied by Pakistani and international teams. At this point in the timeline (c. 2550 BCE), no rulers are known by name for the Indus Valley Civilisation: its Early, Mature and Late Harappan communities left a script that remains undeciphered.

## Why it matters
Harappa is the type site of the Indus civilisation, and its peak shows a large trading city whose bricks and burials still inform archaeology.

Ruler at the Time: [Indus Valley Civilisation (no named rulers)](https://allhistories.com/pakistan/rulers/indus-valley-civilisation-no-named-rulers)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Harappa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harappa)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Harappa](https://www.britannica.com/place/Harappa)