Urban Process in the Indus Tradition: A Preliminary Model from Harappa
An examination of the city's settlement remains which changed with the onset of urban growth and development in Harappa.
Ancient Indus civilization articles which can be downloaded and read as PDF files from this site.
Stoneware Industry of the Indus Civilization: An Evolutionary Dead-end in the History of Ceramic Technology
An article examining the construction of ceramic stoneware in the Indus Valley Civilization with a focus on Mohenjo-daro.
The Aryan Homeland Debate in India
An incisive look at the debate around this issue by one of India's foremost archaeological thinkers. Ratnagar looks at the issue in light of Indian Independence and the various political issues and currents that affect archaeological discourse and interpretations.
Women in Ancient Sindh: Bronze Age Figurines of the Indus Valley Civilization
In this 2004 article from the quarterly publication Sindh Watch, Paolo Biagi synthesizes the evidence of female clay figurines from Bronze Age sites in the Indus Valley to highlight the social and cultural roles of women in that society. He draws on earlier evidence from the neolithic site of Mehrgarh, in Balochistan, as well as that from mature Harappan sites like Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Based on this analysis he offers the insights into the role of women as depicted in the figurines.
Stone Beads of the Indus Tradition: New Perspectives on Harappan Bead Typology, Technology and Documentation
The beauty of this paper is that it sets out very clearly the procedure needed to document bead types, the careful measurement and classification steps to start understanding a specific bead tradition.
Some Important Aspects of Technology and Craft Production in the Indus Civilization with Specific Reference to Gujarat
It is really nice in a paper to be able to speak both of what is happening now, at the cutting-edge of bead and shell-making Indus craftsmanship and continuing discoveries, and be able to relate each tradition back to its earliest appearance in the subcontinent and elsewhere.
A "Priest-King" at Shahr-i Sokhta?
"A small showcase of the Zahedan Museum keeps, among other finds, the fragmentary headless torso of a small statuette in a buff-grey limestone, with a strongly weathered surface. Without opening the showcase, I was allowed to take several pictures of the fragment, from various angles," writes the author.
New evidence for early 4th millennium BP agriculture in the Western Himalayas: Qasim Bagh, Kashmir
"The valleys of Kashmir and Swat in the Western Himalayan-Hindu Kush regions of India and Pakistan are home to an important prehistoric cultural complex beginning at around 5000 BP, loosely grouped as the “Northern Neolithic” (Coningham and Young, 2015), especially characterised by a rich agricultural tradition."
Mining Bronze Age Stone Resources: Some examples from the Caucasus (Georgia) and Sindh (Pakistan)
Archaeologists often assume that metals like bronze replaced the need for stone tools, but is this really the case given the evidence in these two areas not to mention select Mediterranean regions? In the Indus region, what was the use of these tools given their limited presence in Mohenjo-daro and Harappa?
The Harappan ‘Veneer’ and the Forging of Urban Identity
This thought-provoking paper explores the widespread similarity and standardization in material culture across the Indus Valley Civilization, termed by others as the ‘Harappan Veneer’.