Harappan Craft Specialization and the Question of Urban Segregation and Stratification
Defining specialized crafts in Indus cities and the methodologies needed for studying crafts in an archaeological context.
Articles on urbanism, cities, urban dwellings and metropolitan life in the ancient Harappan or Indus Valley Civilization.
The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India
The origins and character of the Indus urban phenomenon, presenting current interpretations but not burdening the nonspecialist with ceramic sequences and other details.
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
New Perspectives on the Mauryan and Kushana Periods
The author writes: "As an archaeologist who has focused primarily on the first urbanism of the Indus valley, my interest in the Mauryan and Kushana periods arises from a need to understand what happened in the greater Indus valley after the decline and transformation of the Indus cities."
Aspects of Palace Life at Mohenjo-Daro
This article examines the social implications associated with historical architecture. The presence of centralized "palaces" suggests a social stratification including an elite class.
Killing the Priest-King: Addressing Egalitarianism in the Indus Civilization
A provocative paper which claims that "the Indus civilization reveals that a ruling class is not a prerequisite for social complexity" (p. 1). The author, who is at Cambridge University where he has long been involved with the groundbreaking Two Rains project, starts with John Marshall and other
Bricks and urbanism in the Indus Valley rise and decline
"The building material for the villages and cities of the IVC [Indus Valley Civilization] was predominantly mud brick.
Gonur Depe - City of Kings and Gods, and the Capital of Margush Country (Modern Turkmenistan)
One of the most interesting trends to follow around ancient Indus studies is the increasing amount of research and knowledge of neighboring cultures and civilizations in time and place: the ancient Arabian Gulf, Mesopotamia, Central Asia (not to mention South and East India, even Southeast Asia).