The people of the Indus valley seem to have exported many more goods than they seem to have imported. Moreover, imported items like silver (found mainly in Harappa and Mohenjodaro) did not seem to have been distributed beyond the main cities suggesting that there was little demand for the goods in the smaller centres. Does this suggest that, if, as has been suggested, the Indus people took the initiative for the trade, this was a centralised effort that profited only the cities? Submitted by Apoorva Bhandari

Or ever two distinct artifacts with the same sets of fingerprints on them? Is there anyone studying indus valley artifacts with this approach and is there anything we can tell from it? Submitted by Ezb

Jane McIntosh
I am not aware of any studies specifically dealing with fingerprints on Harappan pottery. Kenoyer notes that some of the Ravi-period (pre-Harappan) beads at Harappa were decorated with finger marks.

Why (as far as I know) was all the chert obtained from the Rohri Hills and distributed everywhere else? What does this tell us about the nature of the Harappan economy and society? Submitted by Gharial Abramnova from school student questions

A stark contrast between the features of human figurines and masks of IVC period strikes me. Men have a narrow sloping forehead like a Neanderthal, whereas women exhibit a prominent vertical forehead with a much higher hairline. If my observation stands scrutiny, one possibility that comes to mind is that: Feminine beauty was exemplified by women of a race other than the one inhabiting the IVC. Somewhat like all Barbie dolls possess long limbs irrespective of which race they are supposed to represent. Does that hypothesis make sense? Submitted by Vasant Dave

Submitted by Manzoor

Jane McIntosh
I don't think that there was a single cause of the Indus civilization's end; rather it was the cumulative effect of a number of factors:

Last year I visited gallery of Harappan Civilization at the National Museum, New Delhi. Among the artifacts, I saw a small 'chillum' (hand-held twin pipe) similar to that 'sadhus' (wandering Hindu monks) use in smoking 'charas' (hand-made hashish) and 'ganja' (marijuana). Discussing the history of cannabis, the Wikipedia quotes that charred cannabis seeds were found in a 3rd millenium BC grave in Romania. Submitted with illustration by Vasant Dave

Trade between Indus Valley and Mesopotamia appears rather skewed in IVC's favour. IVC exported Gold jewelery, Ivory seals & boxes, Timber, Cotton textiles, Copper & bronze fish-hooks, Carnelian & precious stone beads, Live chicken, Shell & bone inlays, and even Water buffaloes. Mesopotamia exported only Silver, Tin and Copper ingots, Woollen textiles and Bitumen. Could it have been be sex trafficking from Ur, Dilmun and Magan to Sutkagen Dor, Sokhta Koh, Balakot and Allahdino?

Jane McIntosh
Decipherment of the Indus script would be helpful – if nothing else, it should conclusively settle the non-Aryan/Aryan dispute – but the amount of information this would yield is severely limited.

Jane McIntosh

There is an image common to the Indus, Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian river cultures of a female deity standing with arms outstretched, holding two apparently deadly animals at bay. In the case of the Indus, the animals have been identified as 'tigers', in Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian they are crocodiles. What are the current theories on the iconography(ies) of these images; the reasons for their presence in three civilizations and what their presence might indicate in terms of the interrelationships between these cultures? Submitted by Ian Whitney