The Indus Valley Civilization
(How well can we know a culture
through physical evidence alone?)


*the earliest maps*
*Indus Valley images*

 

 
 

 
REQUIRED WORK:

== Stein, pp. 45-51

== Read this eight-screen-long interpretive essay by archaeologist Mark Kenoyer. Note that subsequent pages appear when the roman numerals at the bottom of the screen are clicked: at the *Harappa website*

== A critique of a recent article in Science on the Indus civilization discusses many of the enduring Indus myths (standardized bricks, etc.): *Steve Farmer, June 8, 2008*
 

 
 
     
 
 
 
FURTHER RESOURCES:

== Another recently-discovered ancient civilization, this one in Central Asia, with its eastern wing in northern Afghanistan; a report from the NYT, May 13, 2001: on the *CU website*. (And a little light relief:  claims of *ancient buried pyramids in the Ukraine*)

= Robert J. Wenke, Patterns in prehistory: humankind's first three million years (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999). Available at Butler, and almost always on reserve.

= The Harappa website is the single best source for Indus Valley images and interpretation. It is a very rich site, and reliable. My own favorite section is the one on the port city of Lothal, but there's so much more as well, and new material is constantly being added: *THE HARAPPA WEBSITE*

= "Mesopotamia", a wonderful website maintained by the *British Museum*

= The little-known "Ahar-Banas culture" of western India, c.3000-1500 BCE, a report from Gregory Possehl (2001): on the *U. Penn. Museum website*

= Richard Covington, "What Was Jiroft?" SaudiAramco World 55,5 (Sept.-Oct. 2004): *SaudiAramco website*

= Three famous articles from Frontline 17,20 (Sept. 20-Oct. 13, 2000):
1) Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer, "Horseplay in Harappa: The Indus Valley Decipherment Hoax": *Frontline website*
2) Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer, "The direction of Harappan writing": *Frontline website*
3) Romila Thapar,"Hindutva and history: Why do Hindutva ideologues keep flogging a dead horse?": *Frontline website*

= Smita Gupta, "Saffron Touch Given to Aryan, Harappan Link." The Times of India, Oct. 27, 2000: *on the CU website*

= Michael Witzel, "A Bushy Tail: The Piltdown Horse." In Outlook India (Nov. 6, 2000): on the *Outlook India website*

= THE LATEST BIG THING: Farmer, Witzel, and Sproat argue that the Indus Valley signs definitely do NOT encode a script:much material available on *Steve Farmer's website*. A small sample of script analysis: *here*. Their major article *here* (warning: it's a huge PDF file).

 
     
 

 
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