The ancient site of Mohenjo-daro is located in modern-day Pakistan. Its ruins stand in Sindh Province, in the Larkana District near the lower Indus River.
Mohenjo-daro was one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation, also called the Harappan Civilisation. The city flourished around 2500 BCE and featured carefully planned streets, fired-brick buildings, wells, drainage systems, and large public structures. Its scale and engineering show that urban life in South Asia was highly developed during the Bronze Age.
The city was part of a wider civilisation whose settlements extended across areas that are now Pakistan and northwestern India. This broader geography can cause confusion: the civilisation was not confined to one modern country, but Mohenjo-daro itself is in Pakistan.
The site was abandoned after several centuries, and the reasons remain debated. Archaeologists have proposed combinations of environmental change, shifting river systems, economic disruption, and changes in urban organization rather than one proven catastrophe. Mohenjo-daro became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.