New Discoveries

The long-term objectives of this research focus on developing a better understanding of the cultural, economic and social history of Harappa as a dis­crete urban phenomenon and also its role in the development and life of the Indus Civilization as a whole. >

In this article, the authors report on skeletal evidence from 2000 BCE at the site of Balathal, in Rajasthan, India, in an attempt to document the oldest evidence for leprosy. Balithal has two phases of occupation - a small occupation in the Early Historic period (cal. BCE 760 - CE 380) and a l… >

Highlights of excavations of the Ravi and Kot Diji levels at Harappa which illustrate the emergence of complex crafts and trade, with a special emphasis on interaction with Central Asia. It also presents the excavations and experimental studies on the production of faience and steatite tablets. >

Recently, a program of systematic surface surveys and small-scale excavations has been implemented at sites in the hinterland around Harappa. Initial results of these complementary research strategies are changing our understanding of the nature of Indus urbanism in the Punjab and have implications for the overall structure of the Indus Civilization. >

The recent (Sept. 2019), 95 scientist, massive DNA study that shows how migrants into India from the west and north contributed to local DNA and which aligns with recent analyses on Indo-European languages coming into the subcontinent from the northwest as well. >

The Mesolithic sites discovered during recent surveys carried out by the ‘Joint Rohri Hills Project’ (Biagi & Shaikh 1994) in the Thari District of Upper Sindh. >

The author writes: "As an archaeologist who has focused primarily on the first urbanism of the Indus valley, my interest in the Mauryan and Kushana periods arises from a need to understand what happened in the greater Indus valley after the decline and transformation of the Indus cities." >

An insufficient number of archaeological surveys has been carried out to date on Harappan Civilization cemeteries. One case in point is the necropolis at Rakhigarhi site (Haryana, India), one of the largest cities of the Harappan Civilization, where most burials within the cemetery remained uninvestigated. >

A proposed Indus sign reading of Muruku on a stone axe found in South India. >

New studies are beginning to reveal details of the complexity and character of this protohistoric urban society that were not appreciated by earlier scholars. >