Ancient Indus Valley Civilization Articles

The prehistory of Sindh and Las Bela coast (Balochistan) before and after partition, and the role played by Italian archaeologists since the 1980s. >

Surveys conducted along the southeastern coast of Las Bela in the following years have shown that shell middens with different characteristics and variable chronology exist in many places among which are Gadani and Phuari Headlands and the shores of Lake Siranda. Shell middens are places where the debris from eating shellfish and other food has accumulated over time. >

The results of the analysis of silver beads from Mohenjo-daro and Alladino and the possible origins of the silver in them. >

New finds from 2010 at one of the earliest flint mines in South Asia. >

Harappa’s rock and mineral assemblage from the perspective of the greater Indus Valley’s complex geology, the distance one would have to travel to acquire certain materials and a discussion of the differing motivations behind the acquisition and transport of rock and minerals in the greater Indus Valley region. >

The author's propose a method to analyze some of the largest artifacts recovered at Indus Civilization (ca. 2600 to 1700 BC) cities in Pakistan and northwestern India, the limestone “ringstones.” This later led to the determination that Harappa's ringstones came from near Dholavira. >

Results from the 2010 surveys of Paleolithic (before 10,000 BCE) assemblages among the limestone terraces of Jhimpir. >

The origins of manufacturing debris recovered from different periods of occupation between 3300 BCE and 1700 BCE at Harappa can now be identified with a high degree of certainty thanks to geologic source provenance studies. >

The exchange and communication systems that connected distant parts of the Indus Civilization (c. 2600 to 1900 BC) and beyond had roots beginning in the early Neolithic period. >

In November 2000 the authors conducted collaborative fieldwork to identify salt and mineral resources from the Salt Range in the Punjab, Pakistan used by the prehistoric site of Harappa over 200 kilometers away. >

Steatite (soapstone) artifacts have been found at nearly every excavated Harappan period (2600-1900 BC) site and were the primary element used to make seals. >

First published by the IEEE Computer Society in 2010, this paper by a University of Washington Professor analyzes the count of signs and combinations in the Indus script. >

Two leading ancient Indus archaeologists on the inscribed objects discovered over the past 20 years at the ancient site of Harappa in Punjab, Pakistan. >

A report on the largest archaeological site in South Asia, an industrial-scale enterprise that goes back hundreds of thousands of years: flint mining. >

A remarkable bilingual clue to the Indus script is examined. >

A Dravidian solution to the Indus script problem was presented as the Katalgnar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Research Endowment Lecture on June 25, 2010 in Coimbatore. >

Continuing work by the archaeologists at MSU University in Baroda including new seals and classical Harappan pottery finds. >

In 2004 Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat (University of Illinois) and Michael Witzel (Harvard University) stunned the world of ancient Indus scholarship with the claim that the Indus sign system was not writing. Asko Parpola's work was a target of their critique. This is his response. >

The first of a continuing series of articles by scientists at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) undertaking a scientific analysis of Indus sign patterns. >

Methods and results of a systematic attempt to decipher the Indus script as a logo-syllabic writing system with Proto-Dravidian as the underlying language are first outlined. >

Indus Script: Search for Grammar is based on a lecture first given at the Chennai Seminar The Indus Script: Problems and Prospects in 2006 with an update in Dec. 2007. >

A statistical analysis by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Team. >

The Spread of Levalliosian Mousterian (600,000 BP and 40,000 BP) in the Indian Subcontinent. >

A review of recent research and findings in Sindh, and a review of a book on the larger Paleolithic Settlement of Asia over the past 100,000 years. >

Results from new discoveries of flint sites dating back to the 7th millennium (7000-6000 BCE) suggestive of sea-faring in the Arabian Sea thousands of years before the Indus Civilization. >

Some 90 miles from Mohenjo-daro, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world is being destroyed after surviving for hundreds of thousands of years. >

The discovery of shell-middens (mounds) in Las Bela, Balochistan, from roughly 8000 BCE raises the possibility of trade across the Arabian Sea during Neolithic times. >

New radiocarbon dates from coastal sites in Lower Sindh and the adjoining Las Bela area in Balochistan from marine and mangrove shells and shell-middens at 11 sites. >

A first description of the chipped stone assemblage collected by A.R. Khan at the fortified Amri settlement of the Tharro Hills in Sindh. >

and their importance in the Middle Paleolithic of the Indian subcontinent >