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Ancient Indus civilization articles which can be downloaded and read as PDF files from this site.

Peaceful Harappans? Reviewing the evidence for the absence of warfare in the Indus Civilisation of north-west India and Pakistan (c. 2500-1900 BC)

Whether or not the ancient Indus civilization was peaceful or not has intrigued a number of scholars and led to books like Jane McIntosh's A Peaceful Realm (2001). The apparent lack of weaponry and depictions of warfare, possibly ideas on the supposed egalitarianism of Indus civilization have led to a preponderance of this hypothesis.

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The Levalloisian Assemblages of Sindh

Paolo Biagi

and their importance in the Middle Paleolithic of the Indian subcontinent

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Regional Interaction in the Prehistoric Indus Valley

Randall Law

The exchange and communication systems that connected distant parts of the Indus Civilization (c. 2600 to 1900 BC) and beyond had roots beginning in the early Neolithic period.

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Ancient Textiles of the Indus Valley Region

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

A brief overview of the major cultural traditions of the Indus region is presented along with a discussion of the current state of research on the most ancient textiles used by ancient peoples of this region.

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Shell Working at Ancient Balakot, Pakistan

George F. Dales

Balakot is one of four known ancient coastal sites in Pakistan dating to the period of South Asia's earliest civilization -- the Harappan (or Indus) -- that flourished in the centuries just before and after 2000 B.C.

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Chaîne Opératoire in the Study of Stratified Societies

Massimo Vidale

This paper discusses some theoretical questions and present some observations on the role of ethnoarchaeological studies of craft production in contemporary stratified social contexts, in the study of protohistoric societies.

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Sidis in the Agate Bead Industry of Western India

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

In this paper, historical records about the Sidis and their own oral traditions will be critically examined to gain new perspectives on their complex history, beginning with their origins in Africa and with a special focus on their role in the agate bead industry.

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Ethnoarchaeological Excavations of the Bead Making Workshops of Khambat

Massimo Vidale

Archaeologists interested in ancient craft production, both those aided by ancient historical sources and those bound to the interpretation of material residues, are currently involved in major critical efforts to improve the quality of their interpretation of the archaeological record.

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An Archaeological Survey in the Neighborhood of Thari in the Thar Desert (Sindh, Pakistan)

Paolo Biagi

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.

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Urban Palaeoethnobotany at Harappa

Heather M.L. Miller

A broad range of the questions that can be asked of macrobotanical plant remains from an urban site are highlighted, using the site of Harappa as an example. The topics addressed include the uses of domesticated and wild plants, the nature of agricultural and cooking technologies, types of fodder and fuel, and the use of plant products in manufacturing processes.

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