4. What kind of evidence has been used to argue that the Indus Valley Civilization was a matriarchy?

Female figurine with three sets of chokers and necklaces. One of the largest female figurines found at Harappa with common fan shaped headdress with cups on either side of the head. Discovered in 1991.

"I'd like the experts to confirm or refute that the Indus Valley civilization was a matriarchy following the scientific definition given by Heide Goettner-Abendroth in Modern Matriarchal Studies: Definitions, Scope and Topicality." Asked by Sede Decana Método DeRose and Luciano

Richard Meadow
In an absence of a deciphered script and of graves with clear evidence of hierarchy, we cannot say whether the Indus Civilization was a matriarchy or not. As Sharri Clark has pointed out in articles and in her PhD dissertation, the female figurines cannot be defined as being mother-goddesses.

Further Reading
Clark, S. R. (2003). "Representing the Indus body: Sex, gender, sexuality, and the anthropomorphic terracotta figurines from Harappa." Asian Perspectives, 42(2), 304–328.

Clark, S. R. (2005). "In search of the elusive 'mother goddess': A critical approach to the interpretation of Indus terracotta figurines with a focus on Harappa." In C. Jarrige & V. Lefevre (Eds.), South Asian archaeology 2001 (pp. 61–77). Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations-ADPF.

Clark, S. R. (2007a). The social lives of figurines: Recontextualizing the third millennium BC terracotta figurines from Harappa (Pakistan). Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge.

Clark, S. R. (2007b). Bodies of evidence: The case against the “Harappan” mother goddess. In C. Renfrew & I. Morley (Eds.), Image and imagination: A global prehistory of figurative representation (pp. 227–239). Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Clark, S.R. (2009) Material Matters: Representation and Materiality of the Harappan Body. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 16: 231-261.

Clark, S. R. (in press). The social lives of figurines: Recontextualizing the third millennium BC terracotta figurines from Harappa (Pakistan). Oxford: Oxbow Books.