"In a city like Mohenjo-daro, the excavators have said that the thick-walled houses could have taken an upper storey; there were several rooms and courtyards to a house, but whether each of these was the space for specific activities, we don’t know."

What in your view are the most exciting, significant or illuminating insights gained? What avenues would you like to explore in future asssuming absolutely no practical or financial constraints whatsoever? Submitted by Paul Toth and Gharial Abramnova from school student questions

Another answer from our panel of ancient Indus experts to a question posed by site visitors.

Harappan Civilisation is often characterised (for example by the Director of the British Museum on a Radio 4 series) or even idealised as peaceful and without warfare or conquest, (in comparison with all other First Civilisations) with its cities linked across vast regions and unified (variously) by trade and/or religion. Rulers have even been said to be priests or a theocracy. These interpretations are often presented as facts in books or articles for general consumption.

Three experts respond to a question from one of our users.

What and how much is known about it?

How much of the area that we now see as desert was actually forested in those times?

Or were there any mediators in Iran (which had a civilization in ancient periods which was located in the southwestern part of fertile cresent region)? As you know, the Rosetta Stone was issued by Ptolemy \/ - which was due to interactions between the Greeks and Egyptians. This interaction started with settling of Ionians and Cretans as per by Herodotus. Could it be that these mediators would have used both the cuneiform and Indus valley script? What are the possibilities of finding a bilingual according to you? Submitted by Arthur Evans

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