Dr. Shereen Ratnagar, one of India's most distinguished archaeologists, was interviewed in Bombay on December 18, 2018 and starts with her early life and career as an archaeologist and author of numerous important books on the ancient Indus civilization.
Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni (1879-1939) was a pivotal figure in the discovery of Harappa, familiar with the mysterious seals and earlier archaeologist and scholar's visits to the site. It was Sahni who, after a three-day visit in February 1917 began the process that led to his first excavations there in January 1921.
From the earliest bone seal fragment discovered at Harappa, from 4000 BCE to the varied, diverse seals of around 2500 BCE to the later, fewer ones after 1900 BCE, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer discusses styles and technologies in a long seal-making tradition.
A fascinating look at inscribed objects from a site near Rakigarhi, which goes from the inscriptions that likely belonged to spindle whorls used by weavers to more complex identity and other graffiti markers that may have designated ownership.
"In the year 2000," writes the author, "I initiated a large‐scale effort to identify the geologic sources from which peoples of the Indus Civilization (ca. 2600 to 1900 BC) acquired rock and mineral resources."
Dr. Randall Law gives in in-depth analysis of the steatite manufacturing debris used in ancient Indus seals to show how the bulk of it came from sources in the far north including Hazara and Jammu.
