Mohen jo Daro – An Archaeological site to visit in Sindh

Kosar Mavia
Mohen Jo Daro the city of the dead

Mohen jo Daro (The mound of the dead) is an estimable and mysterious place of Pakistan to signify. It is located on the right bank of river Indus and elevated in district Larkana of Sindh province in Pakistan.

Mohen jo Daro is spread on various mounds, great bath and a large building situated on the tallest mound which covers 250 acres or 100 hectares. Indus expert Gregory Possehl once said, “Mohen jo Daro is pretty faceless”. It is mysterious because no one can still discover its full history and do not know the language which was spoken in Mohen jo Daro as the city is identified as 5000 BC old. The city of the dead is a symbol of culture and heritage of Pakistan. This mound of the dead is signified among the oldest cities of the civilized nations.

Why visit OR explore Mohen jo Daro (The mound of the dead)?

There are many things which attract tourists to visit this Indus civilized city ‘Mohen jo Daro’. Some of the reasons are displayed below:

  1. This city is the far ancient civilization and ruins of the glorious city which have vast history attract the tourists
  2. Management system, Infrastructure and arts of building and houses of the mound of the dead left to wonder for people who are interested to visit because they will never be looked as far old architect, they always leave an impression of modern civilization, technology, and architecture.
  3. Museum of the mound of the dead also captures the mind of visitors; from which they can compare the modern culture and ancient culture.

Interesting facts and history of Mohen jo Daro:

The mounds of the dead was built in 26th century BC and at that time about 5000 people have residency in Mohen jo Daro. RD Banerji an officer of an archaeological survey of India first discovered the city of the dead in 1922. In 1980 Mohen jo Daro considered as first UNESCO world heritage place in South Asia. After a number of excavations archaeologist believe that the mound of the dead is divided into two sections. First citadel smaller in the area but very well developed and second lower town larger in the area but less developed.

Citadel: This area covers the top of the mound have bricks almost 12 meters high. The buildings of citadel used for public gatherings religious activities and administrative activities.

Lower town: This area is based on a grid system consisting of four avenues. These avenues are several meters wide and have a proper drainage system.

Mohen jo Daro also had a market place in its central region. 70 public and private wells have been identified in the mound of the dead. These walls were used to access water, dragged from the underground (Best known as mineral water). According to the archaeologist, there were no central government or royalty in the city of the dead. People of Mound had dominance and self-autonomy in society. They preferred order and cleanliness in the city. Their wealth show from aircraft which were made of gold and famous aircraft of priest-king statue and dancing girl. The famous great bath is used for special religious functions which have two large doors and edges of this great bath covered with gypsum plaster.

The other famous place of Mohen jo Daro is “great granary” which have a massive wooden structure with air ducts to store the grains.  The city of the dead destroyed in 19th century BC due to poor conservation, flooding and salinity in groundwater. Addition to help the visitors to locate the site is that this site is located just in between Larkana Airport and Cadet College Larkana. It is around 26 Kilometers at the distance from Larkana city.

Note: The author was supervised By Mr Farhan Ali Soomro (PhD Scholar) & Teaching Assistant Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.

GoFrixty is a News updates Pakistan and Academia Insights website. Read more here:

The Evolution of Tourism In Spain-The Case Study Of Benidorm