This 4,000-year-old city defied the rules of history

A University of York study of Mohenjo-daro (4,000 years old, largest city of the Indus civilization) found that as the city matured and grew richer, the wealth gap between largest and smallest homes narrowed to levels typical of early farming villages. The city invested resources in shared infrastructure—brick-lined drains and organized streets—rather than monumental palaces or royal tombs, with trade seals distributed among ordinary households rather than concentrated in elite hands.