Harappa

Books about excavations at the ancient mounds of Harappa (3500 BCE - present) in Punjab, Pakistan

Ahimsa : 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization

There is a lot to like about this well-written and engaging set of reflections on ancient Indus life and culture. It does not hesitate to examine its biases: "much of our acceptance of the past is a function of the present," writes the author, and "what I present are not arguments . . . these are not free of my prejudices. So approach this book in the spirit of curiosity, not combat." >

Indus Age: The Beginnings

Gregory Possehl

This volume tells the story of the modern discovery of the Harappan Civilization, starting in the early 19th century, when the city of Harappa was first visited by antiquarians. >

The Origins of Agriculture in the Bronze Age Indus Civilization

Jennifer Bates

This is a deeply researched and satisfying book, one that takes on the insightful point made by Marshall: "Great cities with teeming populations like Mohenjo-daro and Harappa could never have come into being save in a country which was capable of producing food on a big scale." >

Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions, Vol. 2

Sayid Ghulam Mustafa Shah

Volume 2 of the most comprehensive listing of ancient Indus seals covers collections in Pakistan, including many seals found in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro before Independence. >

Finding Forgotten Cities

Nayanjot Lahiri

How the Indus Civilization Was Discovered Events leading to the IVC's public recognition as a major episode in Indian history in 1924. Told in an accessible way and based on new research into original ASI documents by a well-respected scholar. >

Dasharajna: The Battle of Ten Kings (Harappa Book 3)

Shankar Kashyap

This is the story based on the main event within the seventh book of Rigveda. It is the story of an epic battle between Sudas of Bharatas and Cayamana of Anus leading confederacy of ten disgruntled k… >

The Indus Civilization An Interdisciplinary Perspective

D. P. Agrawal

It spreads over an area of more than a million sq km, an area much bigger than the Mesopotamian and the Egyptian Civilizations which are famous for their sepulchral splendor. Though technologically innovative, the Indus Civilization in marked by a modesty and the functionality of its architecture and artifacts. >

Rediscovering Harappa | Through the Five Elements

Tehnyat Majeed

This superb catalogue is available below as a free PDF (6.6 MB), and is described in greater detail in this blog post An Awesome Indus Exhibition Catalogue. >

The Social Lives of Figurines – Recontextualizing the Third–Millennium–BC Terracotta Figurines from Harappa

Sharri R. Clark

Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, vol. 86. Of all the untapped veins to mine in ancient Indus studies, none may be as rich as the thousands of figurines excavated from all sites. >

Early Indians : The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From

Tony Joseph

There is so much going on in DNA studies – even if pre-figured by linguistic studies – that having a solid guide to stitch it all together, including papers that landed with a giant thud in 2018, would be so very, very nice. Someone who could put it together for the layman or intelligent observer who finds it hard to sort through headlines and the latest pronouncements (and simplifications). >