Mohenjo-daro

Asko Parpola presents a wide-ranging investigation of the evidence of crocodiles in the Indus Civilization and later traditions. He draws on zoological, material, ethnographic, epigraphic, etymological and historical evidence to offer an impressively detailed narrative on the role of the crocodile … >

This article is a great example of the investigative work that is required when archaeological evidence and its analysis face mysterious disappearances. Chitra Balasubramaniam has written about how she followed the case of a piece of cotton cloth that "came wrapped around a silver perfume jar and a… >

The author describes how engravings on Harappan stamp seals allow the identification of particular artisans in the past and explains how 3D optical microscopy can be used on these engravings to reconstruct how past production events were undertaken by different individual carvers. >

This paper illustrates the different types of technology that was used for firing pottery and terracotta objects in the greater Indus region in the third milliennium B.C.E. Using excavation data from the Kachi Plain (Mehrgarh, Lal Shah and Naushoro), Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, Miller develops a classification for the range of firing structures and technologies. >

A fascinating article that shows how old excavation records together with recent computer modeling techniques can be used to show how a constructed space changed over time, and how that evidence can speak to larger issues in a society. >

An exploration of the prevalence and manufacture of a distinctive ornament which persists both in South Asian culture today, and throughout the larger West Asian and Middle Eastern world as well. >

Although much about Indus seals remains unknown, the steady application of rigorous, detailed analysis of a kind that earlier excavators could hardly dream of is slowly yielding clues and insights into the organization of work and craft in Indus cities. >

This deeply investigative article published in Walking with the Unicorn (2018) takes on some of the most unusual facts about ancient Indus seals to surmise about their function in the Indus polity as a whole. >

It is really nice in a paper to be able to speak both of what is happening now, at the cutting-edge of bead and shell-making Indus craftsmanship and continuing discoveries, and be able to relate each tradition back to its earliest appearance in the subcontinent and elsewhere. >

"When we speak of Harappan material style, we need to include the whole package of raw material, technological know-how as well as shape and pattern," writes Dr. Heidi J. Miller, who goes on to present "a preliminary study of what defines a Harappan phase ceramic assemblage by comparing the assemblages from the sites of Harappa in the Punjab, Mohenjo-daro and the smaller site of Chanhu-daro, both in Sindh, and illustrating what is shared amongst these contemporary occupations." >