Material Culture and Childhood in Harappan South Asia
A comprehensive roundup of all that we seem to know about toys in the ancient Indus Valley from The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Childhood
Articles focused on topics of anthropological or socio-cultural significance including family dynamics, gender, social relations, religion, daily life, ideologies and social stratification in the ancient Indus Valley civilization.
Stone Sculptures from the Protohistoric Helmand Civilization, Afghanistan
The eminent archaeologist George F. Dales (1927-1992, author of Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro, Pakistan: The Pottery) looks at a "creamy buff soft stone" sculpture, just under 10 centimeters in height, that he was shown and photographed in Afghanistan in the early 1970s.
A "Priest-King" at Shahr-i Sokhta?
"A small showcase of the Zahedan Museum keeps, among other finds, the fragmentary headless torso of a small statuette in a buff-grey limestone, with a strongly weathered surface. Without opening the showcase, I was allowed to take several pictures of the fragment, from various angles," writes the author.
‘We are inheritors of a rural civilisation’: rural complexity and the ceramic economy in the Indus Civilisation in northwest India
The relationship between ancient Indus centers - which we know best and consider a hallmark of the civilization - and the vast rural "hinterland" that surrounded them is the subject of this lucid paper.
Aspects of Palace Life at Mohenjo-Daro
This article examines the social implications associated with historical architecture. The presence of centralized "palaces" suggests a social stratification including an elite class.
Beginnings of Indian Astronomy with Reference to a Parallel Development in China
An impressive paper by one of the Indus script's most important interpreters and theorists looks at the origins of astronomy in the subcontinent.
On the Development of Indus Technical Virtuosity and Its Relation to Social Structure
Indus craftsmanship of small objects and articles and the patterns of intricacies and experimentation in their production -- or Indus Valley technical virtuosity. The paper covers a thorough classification of artifacts and trends in their production over time.
Ornament Styles of the Indus Valley Tradition
A brief discussion of the methodologies needed for the study of Indus ornaments is presented along with examples of how Indus artisans combined precious metals, stone beads, shell and faience to form elaborate ornaments.
The ‘High-West: Low-East’ Dichotomy of Indus Cities: A Dravidian Paradigm
A fascinating, well-documented article on Indus city layouts and linguistic paradigms.
A Peaceful Realm? Trauma and social differentiation at Harappa
An analysis of a skeletal collection from Harappa contradicts the dehumanizing, unrealistic myth of the Indus Civilization as an exceptionally peaceful prehistoric urban civilization.
