Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

I was watching the 6 part BBC's 'Story of India' and had a thought about the abandonment of the Indus cities and migration eastward due to the failure of the monsoon. Could this failure of the monsoon be due to the eruption of the island of Theara north of Crete? The timing seems close. The ash cloud traversed Egypt, so it would have ended up in the Indian Ocean. Is there any evidence of ash deposits in the Indus river valley from the eruption? Is it possible the ash went too far south to show up and still affect the monsoon? Just curious if anyone has thought of this before.

Asked by Jayanta Baksi, Lewes, UK

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
The floods of 2010 in Pakistan did not impact the major Harappan sites since the Harappans tended to build their cities in areas that would not be flooded even with the most extreme floods. The site of Mohenjo-daro was protected by a massive embankment constructed by the Pakistan Government to protect the site from the river which was gradually eroding the edges of the settlement. In 2010 the floods came to the top of the embankment, but did not overflow into the areas of the site.

Massimo Vidale
We have no evidence, but they certainly had, because complex culture needs to transmitted by specialized institutions. The "Assembly hall" on the Citadel of Mohenjo-Daro might have been something similar, if the excavators were right.

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
So far we have not found any buildings that could be interpreted as institutions of education. Indus peoples undoubtedly had ways to teach their children, but they were probably done in small houses that do not look any different from other houses.

Paolo Biagi

Are there any structural remains in any of the Harappan sites to point to a marketplace or shop where goods were bought and sold? What do scholars have to say about the market system in those days, apart from the well-known theory of goods being stored in a storehouse and taken by boats for trade?

Asked by Biswajeet Rath

For arguments sake if we assume the people of IVC wrote manuscripts in such mediums as cotton, is it possible for those manuscripts to be still preserved? If so, under what conditions, would they be preserved?

Answer to question 52. from our panel of leading ancient Indus archaeologists.

Gwen Robbins Schug, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer and Rita P. Wright answer.

Another answer to a question from you by our panel of leading Indus archaeologists.