The Indus Civilization c5.9

c5.9

Another road, apparently wider than the first, crosses it at right angles at its southern limit, but as only a small part of this second street has been cleared, it is impossible to give the average width. A third road, also cutting the first, averages eighteen feet in width at the higher levels, which here are the only ones that have been excavated. The most important thoroughfare in the Stupa mound is about thirteen and a half feet wide, and runs from north to south, while the smaller streets range from nine to twelve feet in width, and the lanes and alleys from four feet upwards. Not one of these streets or lanes is paved, and the people who used them were probably ankle-deep in dust or mud, according to the season of the year. An attempt had been made to protect the surface of one of the main roads by using a mixture of broken bricks and potsherds, which were thrown down, probably on the wet earth, and trodden in; this method cannot have been a success, as it was only tried on one occasion in a single street.