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Anthropological questions about culture, gender politics, migration and ethnic origins of the Indus Valley peoples.

87. Is there any indication of slavery or ritual human sacrifice in the IVC?

Gwen Robbins Schug
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
Rita P. Wright

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

24. Do we have any evidence of a migration from the Indus to South India?

Iravatham Mahadevan
Richard H. Meadow

If we assume that some migration did take place from Indus valley to South India sometime around 2000 BC or so, then it could have been through the sea. Could it not be possible to get some remnants of ship break or some marine fossils to substantiate this fact? Submitted by Prakash

25. Was feminine beauty exemplified by a race different than the one inhabiting the IVC?

Jane McIntosh
Shereen Ratnagar
Rita P. Wright

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

48. A case has been made for the late Harappans being the Vedic Aryans. What is your view?

Iravatham Mahadevan
Shereen Ratnagar
Rita P. Wright

This case is being made on the basis of circumstantial evidence. Did the people of Indus Valley Civilization interact with people of the Rigveda? What is the relationship between the Indus Valley people and Vedic people? Submitted by Shubha Khandekar and others

53. What is meant by the "Sorath Harappan"?

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
Massimo Vidale

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

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.

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.

86. If you were a child in the ancient Indus valley, what would an average day be like for you?

Gwen Robbins Schug
Nisha Yadav
Paolo Biagi
Rita P. Wright

Gwen Robbins Schug, Paolo Biagi, Rita P. Wright and Nisha Yadav answer.

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