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INAA of agate sources and artifacts from the Indus, Helmand, and Thailand Regions

"Geologically speaking," write the authors, "agate is not a particularly uncommon rock . . .. However, good agate – i.e, that which ancient lapidaries would have found suitable for beadmaking – is not widely available. Nodules of the size and quality required to make Harappan-style long-barrel carnelian beads are, in fact, extremely rare" (p. 177).

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What Lay Beneath: Queen Puabi’s Garments and Her Passage to the Underworld

Rita P. Wright

"The reconstruction of Puabi fully adorned provides insights into the fabric that lay beneath the sumptuous ornaments. The queen’s spectacular accessories, though important, have diverted our attention away from the cloth that lay beneath the eye-catching ornaments, which deteriorated (or de-materialized) long ago and so has been mostly invisible to us in the present day."

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Archaeological Field Research in Pakistan since Independence: An overview

M. Rafique Mughal

This 1990 article from the Deccan College Bulletin's Memorial volume for H.D. Sankalia, an eminent Indian archaeologist, is a summary in one place of the archaeological work done in Pakistan after 1947. Much of this is relevant to wider than national boundaries.

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New radiocarbon dates of human tooth enamel reveal a late appearance of farming life in the Indus Valley

Benjamin Mutin

This is an extremely important paper, just published in Nature. It completely scrambles timelines around South Asia and the development of agriculture in the region.

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How did the ‘great god’ get a ‘blue neck’?

Iravatham Mahadevan

A remarkable bilingual clue to the Indus script is examined.

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Potential Steatite Sources for the Indus Civilization

Randall Law

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.

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New Evidence for Early Silk in the Indus Civilization

Irene Good

Recent work at Harappa by the Harappa Archaeological Research Project shows that a new study of artifacts recovered from the 1999 and 2000 seasons at the site has revealed the presence of silk.

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Measuring the Harappan World: Insights into the Indus Order and Cosmology

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

An overview of the types of artifacts that inform us about ancient Harappan measurement systems in order to gain insight into their concepts of order and cosmology.

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The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

The origins and character of the Indus urban phenomenon, presenting current interpretations but not burdening the nonspecialist with ceramic sequences and other details.

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Stone Beads and Pendant Making Techniques

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

The large number and great variety of stone beads on the Bead TImeline make their origins and manufacture of special interest. Two factors define the process: the characteristics of the raw material being used; and the effort that a beadmaker wishes to expend.

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