Recent Developments in the Study of the Indus Civilization
New studies are beginning to reveal details of the complexity and character of this protohistoric urban society that were not appreciated by earlier scholars.
Ancient Indus civilization articles which can be downloaded and read as PDF files from this site.
Growing in a Foreign World: For a History of the "Meluha Villages" in Mesopotamia in the 3rd Millenium BCE
A fascinating article that gathers together all facts about Indus settlements and trading with ancient Mesopotamia around 2500 BCE.
Complementary Approaches to Late Harappan Subsistence: An Example from Oriyo Timbo
Understanding the interplay between subsistence systems and settlement patterns is crucial for interpretation of past economies and culture change. The Late Harappan (1900-1700 BCE) in Gujarat, India, witnessed a significant increase in the number of settlements in the arid regions.
Zahr-Muhra: Soapstone - Cutting in Contemporary Baluchistan and Sindh
This paper represents as introduction to the work of a contemporary soapstone-cutter living and working between Baluchistan and Sindh.
Statistical Analysis of the Indus Script Using n-Grams
Building on previous statistical approaches, the application of tools like n-gram Markov chains to analyze the syntax of the Indus script and form the basis for the development of a stochastic grammar to explore the syntax of the Indus script in greater detail.
First Evidence of Cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan
Mehrgarh is the gift that keeps on giving to archaeologists, this time as the location with the oldest known cotton in the Indian subcontinent. Pushing back the origin of major crops, like rice recently, or silk previously, suggests that while some agricultural practices may have spread east to the Indus valley, others, like rice and perhaps cotton and crops that could rotate with other crops may have spread westwards from the Indus region.
The Indus Script and Economics. A Role for Indus Seals and Tablets in Rationing and Administration of Labor
An insightful article that focusses on the clues in a seal and set of sixteen tablets found together at Harappa in 1997 to proffer that they may have been economic tokens.
Indus Copper and Bronze: Traditional Perspectives and New Interpretations
An excellent distillation of where we stand to the "Bronze" in the Bronze Age Indus Civilization. "Besides clay," writes the author, "there is no other raw material that Indus craftspeople worked into such a diversity of forms and types of artifacts."
The Indus Script: Origins, Use and Disappearance
"The contexts of script and changes in the writing over time indicate that the Indus script was versatile and that it was probably used to communicate complex ideas as well as multiple languages.
Carnelian and Agate Beads in the Oman Peninsula during the Third to Second millennia BC
A detailed look at carnelian and agate sources and manufacture throughout the Gulf region, and how many of the beads found show clear evidence of ancient Indus manufacturing techniques.