Ancient Indus Valley Civilization Articles

During the 2010 Italian Archaeological Mission to the area, an evaluation of plants and man in past and present times by looking at the wood fueling of kilns. >

An important new paper by one of the foremost figures in Indus script research who takes a popular four sign sequence and offers an interpretation. >

Excavations at the archaeological site of Harappa, Pakistan in 1987 and 1988 uncovered the remains of at least 92 individuals (84 adults and 8 juveniles), although only 19 were complete skeletons in primary contexts. >

An article by Dorothy MacKay, wife of Ernest J.H. Mackay, describing excavations in 1935-36 at the ancient Indus manufacturing site of Chanhu-daro, 80 miles south of Mohenjo-daro. This illustrated July 1937 article from the popular US magazine Asia is a nice summary of the finds at this sophisticated ancient Indus site where, among other things, long carnelian beads, toys, seals and weights were made. >

The study of archaeological textiles produced from plant crops in South Asia has advanced significantly in the past decade as a result of archaeo-botanical studies of seed remains and analyses of fibers. >

A spectacular exhibition opened on June 24, 2014 at the National Museum of Oriental Art (MNAO) 'Giuseppe Tucci' in Rome, Italy. Living Symbols presented a group of painted protohistoric objects from the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, illegally excavated in Balochistan and seized in 2005 by the Italian… >

A closer look at the mysterious Kulli culture of Balochistan that both pre-dated and was contemporaneous with ancient Indus culture, and apparently was part of an elaborate trading network that stretched west as far as the Jiroft culture in Iran. >

A brief discussion of the methodologies needed for the study of Indus ornaments is presented along with examples of how Indus artisans combined precious metals, stone beads, shell and faience to form elaborate ornaments. >

"The first radiocarbon date from charcoal included in the mortar of a collapsed pillar lying overturned in the riverbed at Sann (Eastern) Gate, Ranikot, confirms that at least this sector of the fort was built, or repaired, between the beginning of the XVIII and the beginning of XIX century AD, tha… >

An exhibition being held in New York and Madison, Wisconsin, in 1998 on the representational art of the Indus Valley reveals a highly developed artistic tradition with many styles and techniques of production. >

Passed from generation to generation as heirloorns, many beads link the past to the present, and over time, such antique beads gain incredible value because of their historical significance and in some cases, spiritual powers. >

A look at climate, river-basin and other geographic factors and their relationship to the possible east-ward evolution of the Indus Valley civilization. >

The famous article on the weights at Chanhi-darho by A.S. Henny, from Ernest J.H. Mackay original excavation reports. Chanhu-daro was an Indus manufacturing town in Sindh excavated by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston starting in 1929. >

The discovery of many Mesolithic (roughly 10,000 BCE and afterwards, many thousands of years before the height of the Indus Civilization) sites in the Thar Desert in the 1990s. >

The flint (chert) sites in Ongar, SIndh go back to the Paleolithic period, up to 2 million years ago. >

A statistical analysis of commonly found Indus weights, which seem to be in the ratio, 3000:1600: 300: 200: 150: 60: 32: 16: 8: 4: 2: 1. >

The geography and land use of the Little Rann of Kutch, a salt marsh area, is discussed as a possible source of raw material in ancient Harappan times. The author considers the different conditions in the area at the time, and writes that "overall, the argument is that the source of materials used … >

An analysis and interpretation of the so-called Harappan chimaera, one of the most peculiar and elaborate iconographies of Indus Civilization. >

An important new article compares the occurrence of seals in Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal, Kalibangan, Chanhudaro. >

Beads and pendants are important forms of ornament that have a very long history in the subcontinent. >

The purpose of this article is not to present a summary of all of the major discoveries made in the last 55 years, but rather to highlight those that have resulted in major shifts in research paradigms and interpretive frameworks. >

Results from a 2011 survey of Lake Siranda in Balochistan to locate prehistoric shell middens and study the Neolithic people who lived there in greater detail between the 8th and 6th milleniums BCE. >

This paper examines the nature of Indus seals and the different aspects of seal iconography and style in order to better understand their overall role in the Indus civilization. >

During the past two decades a variety of archaeological research projects focused on the Indus civilization have made it possible to refine earlier models regarding the origin and character of this distinctive urban society. >

Environmental Changes and Human Impact Along the Cost of Las Bela (Balochistan, Pakistan) Between the 8th and 5th Millenium BP >

An examination of traditional pottery methods and practices in light of an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. in 1987. >

A look at shell-midden and cemetery sites discovered in Oman that date back to the fifth millenium BCE, testifying to the levels of development in areas around the Indus Valley civilization thousands of years before it reached its peak. >

A fascinating, well-documented article on Indus city layouts and linguistic paradigms. >

One of the first articles to explore the significance of the Rohri flint mines near Mohenjo-daro, who use reaches back hundreds of thousands of years and which played an important role in the ancient Indus civilization as well. >

This paper will summarize the available literature and recent discoveries on the production and use of metals by peoples of the Indus Valley,Tradition of Pakistan and Western India. >