I
I
I
I
I
The
Cambridge
World
Prehistory
Volume
1:
Africa,
South
and
Southeast
Asia
and
the
Pacific
Edited
by
Colin Renfrew
The
McDonald
Institute
for
Archaeological
Research
Paul
Bahn
Independent
scholar
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CAMBRIDGE
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UNIVERS_JJY
PRESS
I
•
1.25
THE
INDUS
CIVILISATION
JONATHAN
MARK KENOYER
Introduction
The study
of
the Indus civilisation -
or more broadly defined,
the Indus Tradition -
has seen major advances in the
past
decade that challenge many earlier interpretations and provide
new insight into the organisation and character
of
this urban
culture (Map 1.25.1). New surveys in areas that were once
poorly studied have revealed the presence
of
numerous settle-
ments prior to the rise
of
cities, as well as new towns and vil-
lages
that
supported the major cities themselves. Excavations
at the major cities, as well as
at
smaller settlements, have
revealed new aspects
of
settlement and subsistence patterns;
technological development; and aspects
of
socioeconomic,
political and ideological organisation. The most frustrating
challenge is the continued lack
of
bilingual texts that would
help in deciphering the Indus script. However, some new
discoveries in the study
of
the Indus writing system provide
clues about its development over time and the patterns
of
sign
use on specific types
of
objects. The decline, transformation
and legacy
of
this urban civilisation are also aspects that have
received considerable attention, with hotly debated topics that
link it to later cultures in historical South Asia. The follow-
ing chapter presents a general overview
of
the current state
of
research
on
the Indus Tradition along with some
of
the
most
significant new discoveries and questions that still need to be
answered.
History ofResearch
and Current
Challenges
The Indus civilisation was first discovered in the 1920s as
regional surveys and excavations were being carried
out
by
the Archaeological Survey
oflndia
(Lahiri 2005). Sites such as
Harappa had been reported
by
earlier Western travellers, but
it
WJs
not
until preliminJry excavations
had
been undertaken
at both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro that the importance
of
the
unique inscribed seals, painted pottery and figurines could be
attributed to a newly discovered civilisation (Marshall 1924,
1931).
Be~µse
of
the fact that the first excavations took place
at Harappa, it was considered the type-site for this culture
and led
to
the commonly used terms "Harappa Culture" and
"Harappan Civilisation". The label "Mature Harappan" is gen-
erally used for the main period
of
urban expansion,
but
most
of
the diagnostic features associated with this term are only found
atthe
end
of
the Harappan Phase, which is dated to around 2200
to 1900
BCE
at
Harappa (Period 3C; see Table 1.25.1) (Meadow
&
Kenoyer 2005). Sir John Marshall was the first to use the
term "Indus Culture" and "Indus Civilisation", and repeat-
edly emphasised that the religion and culture were uniquely
Indian, while the population itself was probably heteroge-
neous (Marshall 1931: 102ff). More recently, some scholars
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