Indus Valley Civilization: Technological and Social Superiority over Mesopotamia

Today, we will be talking about the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian society. We will be comparing and contrasting their technological advances along with their social and be able to identify which society had a better quality of life. The first thing we will discuss is which civilization was better off socially.

Indus Valley Civilization’s Social Triumphs

I think the Indus Valley society had a better quality of life socially because instead of having social classes determine what you can do and how you live, they used their time to better their trading.

They had excellent transportation, and because of that, they were thriving in trade. The second thing we will be talking about is Technology. Once again, the Indus Valley civilization had a better quality of life technologically because they had significant technological advances that pushed their society forward. More so than the Mesopotamians.

The reason for my opinion on the Indus Valley having a better quality of life socially is that instead of focusing on social classes like the Mesopotamians, they worked more on trade and, because of that, had a thriving trade system, which boosted the economy. To support my claim, the book World History talks about how great the trading system for the people of Indus was, ‘The Indus river provided a link to the sea. This access allowed Indus Valley inhabitants to develop trade with distant peoples…’ This quote talks about their transportation use and how it helped them live. The book also talks about where they got other stuff, such as gold and silver, from the north of Afghanistan.

The book also states, ‘ The Harappans conducted a thriving trade with peoples in the region.” This evidence from the book helps to support my starting topic sentence because it helps reinforce the idea of how great their trade was. While this happened, the Mesopotamians were working on Social classes. What I take away from social classes is not good. I did some research and found that social classes have a risk of environmental hazards, meaning low access to fresh produce and a higher risk of harmful diseases. These reasons can take a toll on populations and, ultimately, are more harmful than helpful.

Technological Superiority of the Indus Valley Civilization

Now, onto my second topic, Technology. Again, the Indus Valley Civilization had more technological advances than the Mesopotamians. While the Mesopotamians invented irrigation and arithmetic, even writing, the Indus, while still using irrigation, created plumbing, ovens, and even figured out a way to protect their buildings and people during a flood by building their structures on top of mounds so when the floods came they would not get damaged. Along with their advanced city planning.

The book World History says, “Houses featured bathrooms where wastewater flowed out to the street and then sewage pits outside city walls.” This is just another example of their advanced city planning. Concluding this paragraph, the win goes to the Indus Valley for Technology; they had more technological advances than the Mesopotamians, were also very useful, and we even use some today.

In the end, the society that had the better quality of life was the Indus Valley Civilization because they had more advances in Technology and better trade that helped their economy thrive, allowing time and room for more technological advances., while the Mesopotamians had some technological advances and social classes.

Reference

1. Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin. World History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018.

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