Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

Ancient Indus questions answered by Dr. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is Co-Director of HARP (the Harappan Archaeological Research Project), author of Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization and The Ancient South Asian World. He has numerous articles on this website, and the slideshows Around the Indus in 90 Slides, and Around the Indus in 90 Slides 2 among others.

94. Is there any link between the words "indus" and industry?

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

57. Have any ship wrecked Indus ships been discovered? There should have been many due to the extensive trade with Sumeria over many centuries.

Dennys Frenez

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

Massimo Vidale

Paolo Biagi

Randall Law

Dennys Frenez

Textiles and Basketry of the Indus Tradition: Archaeological Evidence and Historical Legacy

1:04:03

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer's Deccan College Lecture on April 10 2021 goes into the earliest evidence of textiles in the greater Indus Valley, from Mehrgarh in 7000 BCE through Indus times, digging into the specific varieties of cotton, linen, flax, silk and other plant fibers and even colours used. >

58. Why has the language of Harappa not been deciphered?

Asko Parpola

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

Massimo Vidale

Nisha Yadav

What are the difficulties which makes it impossible to decipher the Harappan language? Aren't there any similarities with other languages?

Scholars answer another question from site visitors.

Textiles of the Indus Civilization: with a special focus on cotton

26:57

Dr. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer discusses the oldest evidence of cotton in the world, at the site of Mehrgarh in Balochistan, and early uses of cotton and other fibres in the ancient Indus civilization. Examples of textile use compared with similar patterns and usage in modern times. >

61. Is there any research going on in analysing DNA of human remains to identify their origins? If not why not?

Gwen Robbins Schug

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

Massimo Vidale

Mayank Vahia

Paolo Biagi

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

62. How old is the oldest ancient Indus writing?

Asko Parpola

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

Massimo Vidale

Mayank Vahia

Nisha Yadav

Another question answered by expert ancient Indus scholars.

56. What has been the basis for determining the age of the Indus valley civilization by archeologists?

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

Another question from site visitors answered by an ancient Indus civilization scholar, this time with a comprehensive timetable situation the ancient Indus civilization with others epochs.

77. Was the diet of the Indus valley inhabitants vegetarian or non-vegetarian?

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer

Massimo Vidale

Mayank Vahia

Did the Indus valley civilization people cultivate paddy or wheat? Was their diet vegan or vegetarian? 3 scholars reply.

78. Was the abandonment of the cities and eastern migration tied to failure of the monsoon?

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.