The Indus Fish Swam in the Great Bath
Iravatham Mahadevan considers this late 2011 paper to be "one of the most important papers I have written."
Articles on inscriptions, the script or sign system, iconography and writing in the Indus Valley Civilization from the earliest appearances of potters marks on. Includes articles by leading scholars of the Indus script, including Asko Parpola and Iravatham Mahadevan.
Toponyms, Directions and Tribal Names in the Indus Script
A recent paper by the late Iravatham Mahadevan and his collaborator M.V. Bhaskar looks at signs in the Indus script that can be related to physical features in the landscape, and how this might play out in terms of interpreting them. A number of interpretations seem to fit together nicely.
Indus Script: A Study of its Sign Design
A recent essay on the structural design of signs in the Indus script by experts at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
The Murghabo-Bactrian Archaeological Complex and the Indus Script
An interesting article in which the author discusses the existence of Indus-type seals in the Gulf and Mesopotamian regions, their relationship to trade and other civilizations in the area, including the Central Asian Bronze Age civilization now better known as the BMAC (Bactrio-Margiana Archaeological Complex). After carefully reviewing the evidence for Indus settlers in ancient Mesopotamia, and their use Indus-type seals whose signs are ordered in ways not found within the Indus region proper, she discusses the relationships they may still have had with Indus peoples back home and the role of different kinds of writing in this relationship.
Inscribed Objects from Harappa Excavations 1986-2007
The assemblage of inscribed and incised objects discovered at the site of Harappa during excavations conducted between 1986–2007 by the Harappa Archaeological Research Project (HARP).
Private Person or Public Persona? Use and Significance of Standard Indus Seals as Markers of Formal Socio-Economic Identities
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.
Introduction to Study of the Indus Script
In 2004 Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat (University of Illinois) and Michael Witzel (Harvard University) stunned the world of ancient Indus scholarship with the claim that the Indus sign system was not writing. Asko Parpola's work was a target of their critique. This is his response.
Excavations at Harappa 1994-1995: New Perspectives on Indus Scripts, Craft Activities, and City Organization
Harappa Site Plan
Until quite recently, the common view of the Indus Civilization has been as a phenomenon largely undifferentiated in space and time over more than 500,000 sq km and the 500 to 700 years of its existence (2600/2500-2000/1900 B.C.). With continuing archaeological work throughout
Indus Administrative Technology - New Insights on Harappan Stamp Seals and their Impressions on Clay Tags
A richly illustrated slide journey through seals and sealings, how and why they were used in other ancient civilizations, and primarily what we might know and deduce about their use in ancient Indus cities. Dennys Frenez has been studying a large group of accidentally fired Lothal sealings for many years, and is joined by other distinguished archaeologists in what was originally a symposium on bead and seal technologies at the University of Padua, Italy, in 2019.
Is the Indus script indeed not a writing system?
In 2008, Dr. Parpola published an updated 2nd paper addressing the controversial Farmer thesis Is the Indus script indeed not a writing system? It originally appeared as part of a felicitations volume in honor of Iravatham Mahadevan published in Chennai, India.