Ancient Indus Civilization Blog

"I saw a herd of unicorns today. I write this in full possession of my senses." So begins the short story The Unicorn Expedition by the great Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray. A Professor Shanku story from the early 1960s, one of a series which reflect "my love of [Jules] Verne and [H.G.] Wells and [Sir Arthur] Conan Doyle whose works I read as a schoolboy," wrote Ray. Like anything by him, it is charming and effortless and rich and rich and starts in Mohenjo-daro. >

The Punjab Archeology Department has completed 85 per cent conservation work at remains of Harappa site according to a story in Pakistan Today. >

Fired steatite button seal with four concentric circle designs from the Trench 54 area found at Harappa in 2000 (H2000-4432/2174-3). >

"In January 1927, Mackay began working in L-Area, ca. 28 meters south of the Stupa on the Mound of the Great Bath. He uncovered the so-called 'Assembly Hall' and other architectural remains that are not well understood, even today. He also found three pieces of limestone sculpture: a seated torso (L-950), a reasonably well-preserved bust (L-898) and a very poor, abraded head, possibly of a woman (L-127)." >

Asko Parpola writes: "Akinori Uesugi has shown that the spread of the Kot Diji culture all over the Indus Valley is connected with the spread of a new type of stamp seal, which continues to exist in the following Harappan period. The basic figure in these Kot Diji seals consists of “concentric circles,” usually four of them placed into the four corners of a square or cross-shaped seal." >

Mohenjo-daro!, a 103 slide series by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, was first put up on Harappa.com in 2005. It offers a comprehensive walk around the current site, with key areas and discoveries, as well as an illustrated 6 page essay on the site. >

"'Every village has its own special guardian mother, called Mata or Amba' - some 140 different 'mothers' in all. 'Generally there is also a male deity, who protects like the female from all adverse and demoniacal influences. But the mother is the favorite object of adoration' (Monier-Williams 1885:222). The same held true in India at large, not least in the Dravidian-speaking south India." >

Touching Mounds at Harappa, one of the oldest inhabited places on earth, and one of those real world images that makes you think about the relationship between past and present. >

A workman handing over the Priest King at the time of excavations in I, Block 2 of DK-B Area during the John Marshal led 1925-26 excavations at Mohenjo-daro. Possehl writes "many classic Harappan style artifacts came to light at this time, including the so-called Priest King which emerged from Dikshit's excavations in DK-B Area, in a building that the excavators thought may have been a hammam or hot bath." >

The first sesame seeds were actually found at Harappa. About.com's Archaeology Guide K. Kris Hearst discusses the importance of sesame to cooking. >

"The Lothal craftsmen exhibited originality of thinking and great resourcefulness. As an example we may mention the new style of earthenware with animal motifs which are more realistic than those on the Indus valley pottery," writes excavator S.R. Rao. >

1. "The word 'Lothal' in Gujarati formed by combining the words Loth and thal (sthal) means 'the mound of the dead'. The word 'Mohenjodaro' in Sindhi also conveys the same meaning." (S.R. Rao, Lothal, p. 18). 2. "Wheeler had also observed that even during the occupation of the citadel [of Mohenjo-daro] the rising water-table had posed a problem and necessitated protecting the platform by a mud-brick embankment or bund, 13 metres-wide, at an early date of the occupation of the city. It is interesting to find that far south of Mohenjo-daro [in Lothal] the Harappans built simu… >

"The main purpose of undertaking excavation at Lothal was to decide whether it could be considered as a true Harappan settlement where the people observed the same urban discipline and enjoyed the same material prosperity as in the metropolitan centres of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro." >

In 1996, we unveiled this 90 slide tour by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. It has since been viewed by millions of people. Many have been kids in schools around the world. For the new version of Harappa.com, a new interface has been added, as well as taxonomies and links to related items. >

When did inhabitants use the first tools in the Indus Valley? The Neolithic Period (6500-4500 BCE) period? The Chalcolithic Period (4500-3500 BCE) period? The Bronze or Indus Period (3500-1800 BCE) period? Or 2 million years ago? Only 20% of the 1,573 respondents to this poll got it right - 2 millions years ago. As Mark Kenoyer writes in Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, "The earliest inhabitants of South Asia belonged to the hominid species Homo erectus, the ancestor of modern Homo sapiens. These stone tool-using hominids lived in the Potwar plateau region… >