It will also touch on the lack of religious monuments, the undeciphered Indus script and their largest structures, the great bath and the granaries.
Indus Valley graves are not very elaborate, and no obvious royal burials have been found. (Kenoyer, J. 1998: 59) This is despite many concentrated archaeological digs on the sites of the two primary cities. Such simple burial practices are very unlike Egypt where there are numerous highly elaborate royal and upper class tombs, where the bodies are mummified, their tombs large, decorated in hieroglyphs and paintings and filled with many treasures including gold, jewellery and human sacrifices (ie slaves) to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. (Scarre and Fagan 2003: 119) .
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Again, in Mesopotamia, graves, tombs and gravesites were an indicator of the status of the deceased. Commoners were buried in simple poorly furnished graves whereas elite or royal graves had impressive burial chambers built from brick which, similarly to the Egyptians, were filled with human sacrificial remains and a wealth of offerings, (Scarre and Fagan 2003: 88) even to figurines of cattle, horses, and household items. Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt both had elaborate buildings, statues and graves for the royals or elites. It is suggested that the rulers of the Indus Valley used other means to promote their authority which was not dependent on richly furnished graves and large monuments. (Scarre 2003) No graves have been discovered at the Indus Valley city of Mohenjo-daro, but some have been discovered at the city of Harappa. (Wolpert 1977: 21) This scarcity of elite or royal graves is evidence that the Indus Valley civilization lacks the indicators that commonly suggest glorification of people of high birth or status.
The graves not only provide evidence that there was a deficit of status symbols but demonstrate that the Indus Valley civilization appeared to be modest consumers in life.
