More than 4,000 years ago, great civilizations thrived across the globe: the ancient Egyptians, the Mesopotamians, and another civilization that still is shrouded in mystery, the Indus. Our reporter visited some of their ruins in Pakistan and reports several factors have kept clues about the ancient Indus people buried and submerged under the mighty Indus River.

The Indus civilization spanned more than 680,000 square kilometers from western India to northern Afghanistan, doubling the total area of Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations combined.

The ancient cities of Harappa and Moenjodaro were the two largest centers of the civilization and were located in what is now Pakistan.

Indus artifacts there reveal some of the earliest writing, with one fragment of script in the Harappa museum at least 4,400 years old. But there are so few writing examples that even with today’s technology the ancient script’s meaning remains a mystery.

Archaeologists say the most striking thing about the sites is the Indus civilization’s city planning. They had wells, drainage systems and the bricks used in Harappa were the same size and weight as those used hundreds of kilometers away in Moenjodaro.

But the security situation in the country has hindered archeologists and preservationists like UNESCO’s Head of Culture in Pakistan, Fahrat Gul, from working at the sites.

“It has restricted our mobility, especially our monitoring missions have been restricted,” said Fahrat Gul. “We cannot go to these places to monitor the progress of our projects, which does have an effect.”

Even if the security situation around the Indus ruins improved, Gul says visitors simply have a hard time getting to them.

“It is rather inaccessible,” he said. “Even we do not have daily flights to Moenjodaro. You have to come either via Karrachi or via Sukkur. And then the airport in itself is not a proper airport, a very very small one.”

While millions of foreign tourists flock to Egypt to see the museums and ancient pyramids each year, a government employee at Harappa tells VOA he sees at most 1,000 foreign visitors per year.

Pakistan National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research Director Khurram Qadir says this difference is because of religion.

“The Pharaonic past is neither Jewish, nor Christian, nor Muslim, but it is a common tradition to all three of us,” said Khurram Qadir. “And because the Egyptian remains have that lure, it is so much more powerful.”

He says most locals are also disinterested in the ancient Indus due to the lack of a strong religious bond.

“Being pre-Islamic, it is not an area which is of, it would not take prime-time out of our viewership,” he said.

Experts say archaeologists have only excavated about 10 percent of the two ancient Indus centers. Qadir says there is a reason other than security.

“We have a great shortage of funds in our archaeology departments,” said Qadir. “We are barely able to do conservation work or maintain what work has already been done.”

This shortage causes preservationists like UNESCO to pick and choose its battles against deterioration caused by nature and man.

Gul says the ancient city of Moenjodaro receives UNESCO funding because it has been deemed a World Heritage site. But its sister city Harappa, which has yet to make the list of World Heritage sites, is in need of help UNESCO cannot afford.

Gul says the salt-filled topsoil in the region can ruin excavated artifacts uncovered in the river bed, and with no money available to protect them the best option is to do no new digs.

“Let them be, do not touch them, because they are better that way,” said Gul. “At least they are preserved underwater.”

Ancient clay figures of miniature people and animals, along with dozens of other artifacts, shed light on the daily life of the Indus. But much is still unknown about the Indus people’s communication, religion and their ability to stay amazingly organized across thousands of kilometers.

For now, many mysteries of the ancient Indus remain underground or underwater, waiting to be discovered. (VOA News)

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