Ancient Indus Civilization Essays

The greater Indus region was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia and China. It was not discovered until the 1920's. Most of its ruins, even its major cities, remain to be excavated. >

New! This over 800 page book on the Geologic Provenience Study of Harappa's Rock and Mineral Assemblage is presented in 12 sections, each with the PDFs of entire chapters, as well as figures, images and introductory comments for each chapter. New Introductory Paragraph by Randall Law, 2024 Presented in this section are the Table of Contents, introductory matters… >

The Indus Valley Civilization flourished in the vast river plains and adjacent regions in what are now Pakistan and western India. The earliest cities became integrated into an extensive urban culture around 4,600 years ago and continued to dominate the region for at least 700 years from 2600 to 1900 B.C. It was only in the 1920's that the buried cities and villages of the Indus valley were recognized by archaeologists as representing an undiscovered civilization. >

Modern archaeological excavations at the ancient Indus city of Harappa in Punjab, Pakistan have been going on since 1986. They are being conducted by HARP, the Harappa Archaeological Research Project. HARP is a joint undertaking of Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and New York University. The Principal Investigators are Dr. Richard H. Meadow (Projec… >

Generally recognized as the world's expert on the Indus script, Asko Parpola has been studying this undeciphered writing for over 40 years at the University of Helsinki in Finland. He is co-editor of collections of all seals and inscriptions in India and Pakistan. As Professor of Indology he has led a Finnish team of experts through numerous approaches to the puzzle of one … >

"The real heroes of this story of the discovery of the Indus civilization were such individuals–a discerning archaeologist like Sahni and a brilliant one like Banerji, who had within a few years of each other uncovered the relics entombed in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro respectively." >

Mohenjo-daro is widely recognized as one of the most important early cities of South Asia and the Indus Civilization and yet most publications rarely provide more than a cursory overview of this important site. There are several different spellings of the site name and in this article we have chosen to use the most common form, Mohenjo-daro (the Mound of Mohen or Mohan), th… >

This recently discovered site is offering many new facts about the ancient Indus civilization's growth and persistence in Gujarat. For more than seven hundred years during third and second millennia BCE, the Indian subcontinent was the home of Harappans, whose civilization rivaled other contemporary civilizations of Mesopotamia, and dynastic Egypt. >

"A long march preceded our arrival at Haripah, through jangal of the closest description. East of the village was an abundance of luxuriant grass, where, along with many others, I went to allow my nag to graze. When I joined the camp I found it in front of the village and ruinous brick castle." >

The greater Indus Valley of Pakistan and western India was the setting for one of the world's earliest urban societies. The Harappa Archaeological Research Project's excavations at Harappa have yielded new troves of information about ancient Indus life, craft production, and preceding cultures like the Ravi Phase. >

Archaeologists studying the emergence of early civilizations often focus on finely crafted art objects in order to understand aspects of economic, socio-political and religious organization. The importance of such objects is increased when studying early societies for which there are no written records, such as the Indus Valley civilization. >

The largest archaeological site in the subcontinent goes back hundreds of thousands of years to some of the earliest uses of fire. William Blandford reported the presence of flint cores and flakes in the hills near Sukkur and Rohri on the Indus River in 1880. In 1939, the geologists De Terra and Paterson suggested that some of the flint tools resembled those found in Mohenj… >

An exciting look at the western side of the ancient Indus civilization, where new cultures and surprises await that indicate how well developed surrounding cultures to the major Indus areas were. Baluchistan is Pakistan's largest province (1). It is marked by a rugged, highly differentiated environment with many different habitats (2). The Makran Range in the south divi… >

Dr. Shereen Ratnagar, one of India's most distinguished archaeologists, was interviewed in Bombay on December 18, 2018 and starts with her early life and career as an archaeologist and author of numerous important books on the ancient Indus civilization. >

A wide-ranging interview with Iravatham Mahadevan [1930-2018] home on January 17, 1998 with Omar Khan. The interview, held at Mr. Mahadevan's home in Chennai lasted nearly two hours and covered the Brahmi script, the cult object, various signs, his response to Asko Parpola's work. A reflection on a decades-long pursuit of the key to Indus writing by the most important Indi… >

An interview from January 6, 1998 with one of the subcontinent's most remarkable archaeologists covers his Indus excavations and objections to theories by good friends. An unusual perspective by the first Muslim to graduate from Benares Hindu University. Dr. Dani passed away 26 January 2009 (aged 88). Dr. Ahmed Hasan Dani was interviewed on January 6, 1998 by Webmaster Om… >

Between 1992 and 1996 the Punjab Archaeological Survey (PAS), under the direction of the Government of Pakistan, Department of Archaeology, conducted a large-scale survey in order to identify all ancient settlements in the Punjab. Surface surveys at a small number of the settlements identified diagnostic artifacts that were contemporary with the Indus civilization. >

Archaeological and photographic representations are, even today, mostly perceived on very similar terms. They are considered as being self-revelatory, reckoned as comparatively objective recording techniques, and often summoned as witnesses for verifying knowledge formation processes. >

This Indus Seal was found between 1927 and 1931 during the initial excavations at Mohenjo-daro, an Indus Valley site in Sindh province, modern Pakistan. It was discovered by the British archaeologist Ernest Mackay. From the level that it was found, it was dated to roughly 2000 B.C.E., or the mature urban phase of the Harappan culture. The area where it was unearthe… >

In November 2007 scientists at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), one of India's most prestiguous scientific institutions, began publishing a series of papers on their analysis of ancient Indus script signs. Supported by a five-year grant from the Jamsetji Tata Trust, the researchers plan to approach issues around the ancient script with rigorous statistical … >

It was a warm and humid afternoon in August 1995. I was feeling tired and rather sleepy after a hard day's work in the library of the Directorate of Epigraphy at Mysore, where I was collecting material for my forthcoming book on Early Tamil Palaeography. I was also interested in looking at the earliest Kannada and Telugu inscriptions to explore whether they have any similariti… >