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In Sindh, Pakistan, in the Larkana District, is Mohenjo-daro, a city of the Indus Valley Civilization. Around 4,500 B.C., this city was a major urban center. It is considered to be one of the larger cities of its time, possibly even larger than Jerusalem or Rome at the time. Evidence suggests the city had a population of 25,000 to 30,000. In 1922, excavation of the site began and continued into the following years. Mohenjo-daro gained recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980.
Tour packages consist of coverage from a major city, such as Karachi, to Mohenjo-daro, including an overnight stay at a hotel near the excavation site or in Larkana. A site guide who is licensed and has an excavation background is also provided. The packages cover the visit of the excavation zones and the on-site museum. At the end of the visit, guests are provided transportation to their next destination.
More extensive heritage tours often include other archaeological sites of Sindh, for example, the Indus Valley, Sukkur and surrounding areas, Kot Diji fort, and Mohenjo-daro. These tours are designed for visitors who wish to gain a more in depth understanding of the Indus Valley Civilization.
You will need a full day to see everything here. The early morning visits are better as the excavated structures are better highlighted with the right lighting and the heat of the day has not yet set in. Flights to Moenjodaro are available from Karachi and will cut your travelling time, however, these are intermittent and not as regularly scheduled as the more popular international and inter-city routes. If Moenjodaro is your final destination, travelling overland from Karachi and breaking the long journey with an overnight stay in Hyderabad may be preferable.
The highway through interior Sindh has a recently paved road surface. The interior of Sindh has very high temperatures in the summer. Most travel to this area happens in the cooler season from October to February. The road travel at this time is much more comfortable than in the summer. The heat can be so intense in the summer that it is a major endurance test to travel by road.
Many travelers from Lahore and Islamabad fly to Karachi where they continue their travel by road. There are also trains from Islamabad and Lahore that go to Larkana. You should contact Pakistan Railways to find the schedules for these trains before you make travel plans that include these trains.
The Great Bath
The Great Bath is probably the most famous and photographed archaeological site in Pakistan. It was a large, stone-lined, permanent pool measuring 12 by 7 meters and 2.4 meters deep. It was surrounded by a set of rooms and was waterproofed with bitumen. It has been suggested that this pool was used for religious ceremonies. It required a lot of social and organizational effort for the community to build and use this pool.
B) Residential Quarters and City Planning
The residential quarters of Mohenjo-daro are another remarkable feature of the city, reflecting the advanced urban planning of the people of the Indus Civilization. Like the other elements of the city, the residential quarters of Mohenjo-daro reflect an advanced, sophisticated level of urban planning. Streets run in a rectilinear pattern and intersect at right angles. Side lanes lead off the main streets. Many houses had their own access to the city's well-developed drainage system.
C) Granary
The citadel of Mohenjo-daro is home to the Great Bath and the remains of what was once the largest granary of the Indus Civilization. Debate remains on the various functions of this building, although it is agreed that the presence of a large structure on the citadel supports the notion of a centralized control.
D) The on-site museum
Mohenjo-Daro's on-site museum displays some excavation finds including pottery, tools, and ornaments. Mohenjo-Daro's on-site museum also displays seals. Mohenjo-Daro's most notable finds including a bronze figurine of a dancing girl and a soapstone bust of a priest-king are not displayed on-site. The bronze figurine of a dancing girl is displayed in the National Museum, New Delhi and the soapstone bust of a priest-king is displayed in the National Museum, Karachi. Visitors should expect to not see notable finds of a site on display at the site museum.
The on-site museum gives a brief display of the workings of a notable ancient urban center. Before visiting the excavation sites, the on-site museum gives an idea of the commercial and residential quarters of Mohenjo-Daro.
It has no huge royal tombs and victory monuments like other ancient civilizations. No palaces have been found. There are no known royal tombs. No records have been found. The city was likely managed in a different way than other cities of that time, maybe in a more uniform way.
What is known: The excavations of the 1920s and following decades provided knowledge of the urban plan, public and private architecture, and a wet (water) and drainage systems. Thousands of artifacts were discovered, including animal motif steatite (soapstone) seals with unread texts.
What remains to be known: The relationship between this civilization and later South Asian cultures is still to be defined. Deciphering the writing system is the key to understanding this civilization. Mohenjo-daro’s civilization remains a mystery due to soil and water salinity erosion, as the unfired bricks used in construction have a low chemical bond.
Larkana is the nearest city to Mohenjo-daro, and the starting point of most tours. From Larkana, Mohenjo-daro is approximately a 27 to 30 kilometers drive.
Located in Sindh province, Pakistan, Larkana is a relatively larger urban center with modern facilities. The town is the seat of the Bhutto family and has many other historical sites associated with Pakistan’s ancient civilization. The remains of Mohenjo Daro, one of the oldest sites of the Indus Valley civilization are located about 40 kms from Larkana. The food and bazaar in Larkana provide opportunity to the visitors to experience the Sindhi culture.
It takes about an hour to reach Mohenjo Daro from Larkana.
The optimum time to visit Mohenjo-daro is between October and February. The site is situated in the plains of Sindh and has very little shelter from the sun. During the summer, the temperature in Sindh can be over 120°F and the exposed sites provide no refuge from the heat. The ruins of Mohenjo-daro are over 4000 years old, but a tour during the summer months makes them next to impossible to appreciate, due to the extreme conditions.
November through January offer the best tour conditions. The mornings are cool and the heat is mild during the day. Because of the mild heat, the ruins can be toured for extended periods of time.
The summer monsoons (July and August) bring heavy rains and floods to Sindh. During these times, Mohenjo-daro can be very difficult to reach. Many of the artifacts that have been discovered at the site are stored in a museum in Larkana, which can also be reached as part of a tour of Mohenjo-daro.
Because of its status on the World Heritage list, Mohenjo-daro is of great interest to the international community, including students and scholars. As such, the site sees a considerable number of discerning tourists from around the world.
For visitors from outside of Pakistan, tour packages from Karachi include a flight to Moenjodaro, overnight or same day stays in Larkana, a site guide (who is allowed to explain the excavation sites only up to the level of the Harappan civilization), a visit to the excavation museum in Larkana, and further transport to other sites in Sindh.
The Sindh Culture and Tourism Department has a formalized guide certification process for Mohenjo-daro. Therefore, it is recommended that you request Mohenjo-daro site guides that have a formal certification from the Department, and preferably request a guide who has site-specific training for Mohenjo-daro, as opposed to a general Sindh guide.
Because the site represents multiple specialized themes (i.e. ancient urban settlements, water systems and the erstwhile Indus Civilization) and since the focus of school visits is usually aligned with curriculum concerns, it should be possible to arrange guided visits to the site based on the academic interests of school groups.
B) Check
Before traveling, confirm the flight schedule from Karachi to Moenjodaro. Smaller, domestic routes and schedules are subject to change.
Driving conditions from Larkana to the site. The access road is subject to seasonal flooding.
Local weather conditions, especially heat index, for the shoulder months.
Avoid
Summer. There are extended periods of outdoor exposure and high heat index conditions.
Entering the site without a guide. There are many mounds and without a guide to provide context, it looks like unorganized rubble.
Take a brief tour of the bath. The main excavations and the museum take time to thoroughly visit.plan
Mohenjo-daro is the site of one of the major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization and is located in the Larkana District of Sindh. The site dates from about 2500 to 1900 BCE, and was excavated in the 1920s and 1930s. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the most important archaeological sites of South Asia.
The site is in Larkana District, Sindh, about 27-30 km from Larkana and about 450-500 km from Karachi. Moenjodaro airport, located near the site, has flights to Karachi.
Mohenjo-daro is significant as it represents one of the first cities of an early civilized society. It provides information about ancient urban planning and engineering through its grid-like streets, drainage, and architectural remains of houses and a large bath.
The site is best visited from November to February. The site offers no shade and the Sindh region can get very hot from March to October. For the best comfort, visiting in the morning is suggested.
E) Are there any restrictions on the international visitors for Mohenjo-daro?
Foreign visitors are free to visit Mohenjo-daro, with a standard tourism visa to Pakistan. To organize a complete tour to Pakistan, with a visit to Mohenjo-daro, international visitors can contact HospitalityTours.com.pk. They can help organize the logistics for a visit to Mohenjo-daro, including transport and guide, as well as other arrangements for the Sindh heritage circuit.
F) Which areas of Mohenjo-daro should visitors focus on?
The main attractions are the Great Bath, Residential quarters with drainage, the Citadel, the Granary, and the Museum. It is best to visit the Museum first to understand the site and excavations. It is important to note that the Dancing Girl figurine and other important artifacts excavated from Mohenjo-daro are located in different museums outside of Pakistan.
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