The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society

by Rita P. Wright

• ISBN13: 9780521576529
• ISBN10: 0521576520
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Ancient Indus civilization was erased from human memory until 1924, when it was rediscovered and announced in the Illustrated London News. Our understanding of the Indus has been partially advanced by textual sources from Mesopotamia that contain references to Meluhha, a land identified by cuneiform specialists as the Indus, with which the ancient Mesopotamians traded and engaged in other forms of interaction. In this volume, Rita P. Wright uses both Mesopotamian texts and, principally the results of archaeological excavations and surveys to draw a rich account of the Indus civilization's well-planned cities, its sophisticated alterations to the landscape, and the complexities of its agropastoral and craft-producing economy. She focuses principally on the social networks established between city and rural communities, farmers, pastoralists, and craft producers; and Indus merchants and traders and the symbolic imagery that the civilization shared with contemporary cultures in Iran, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf region. Broadly comparative, her study emphasizes the interconnected nature of early societies. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Rita P. Wright is associate professor of anthropology at New York University. A John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow, she has conducted archaeological field research in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. She is the editor of Gender and Archaeology and coeditor, with Cathy L. Costin, of Craft and Social Identity.

Table of Contents

List of Figures, Tables, and Boxes	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
A Long-Forgotten Civilization	p. 1
A Civilization Rediscovered	p. 4
Reconstructing a Long-Forgotten Civilization	p. 11
Perspectives on Civilizations	p. 15
Theoretical Perspective	p. 19
The Indus Civilization: Chronologies of Indus Antecedents, Coalescence, Decline, and Transformations	p. 21
Rethinking Perspectives on the Indus Civilization	p. 23
Geographical and Environmental Settings	p. 25
Factors to Consider in Assessing Differences between Past and Present	p. 26
Geography and Climate Today	p. 27
Geographical Setting	p. 27
Climate	p. 28
Climate Change Before, During, and After Peak Periods of Settlement	p. 29
The Indus in the Past-Documenting Landscape and River System Dynamics	p. 33
The Upper and Lower Indus	p. 33
The Ghaggar-Hakra	p. 37
The Ganges-Yamuna	p. 38
New Solutions and Perspectives on Climate Change	p. 38
Conclusions	p. 44
From Foraging to Farming and Pastoralism	p. 45
From Hunting and Gathering to Farming	p. 48
Focus on Mehrgarh-The Choice of a Site and the Establishment of a Chronology	p. 51
A First Village (7000-4000 B.C)	p. 54
Subsistence	p. 56
Architecture	p. 57
Burial Patterns	p. 58
Material Culture and Technology	p. 59
External Contacts	p. 63
Summary-Period I/II	p. 63
Villages at the Crossroads (4000-3200 B.C.)	p. 64
Subsistence	p. 65
Architecture	p. 65
Burial Patterns	p. 66
Material Culture and Technology	p. 67
External Contacts	p. 70
Summary-Period III	p. 70
A Mosaic of Villages and Towns (3200-2500 B.C.)	p. 71
Subsistence	p. 71
Architecture	p. 72
Burial Patterns	p. 73
Material Culture and Technology	p. 74
External Contacts	p. 75
Summary-Period IV/VII	p. 76
Settling Down: The Domestication of Plants and Animals, the Development of a Village Farming Community into a Sizable Town, and Expanded Interaction	p. 76
An Era of Expansion and Transformation	p. 79
An Age of Emerging Polities	p. 80
Upper Indus - Harappa Excavations and the Pre-urban Period	p. 81
Upper Indus - Ravi Phase	p. 83
Upper Indus - Early Harappan/Kot Diji Phase	p. 87
Upper Indus Regional Surveys Near Harappa	p. 89
The Ghaggar-Hakra - Cholistan Survey	p. 91
The Ghaggar - Hakra Plains-Hakra Phase	p. 92
Ghaggar-Hakra Plains-Early Harappan/Kot Diji Phase	p. 93
Ghaggar-Hakra Settlements in Northwest India	p. 95
Expansion of Settlements in the Upper Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra Plains	p. 96
The Lower Indus Valley	p. 96
Lower Indus Valley - Hakra and Kot Diji Phases	p. 97
Lower Indus Valley - Amri Phase	p. 99
Expansion of Settlement in the Lower Indus	p. 100
Beyond the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra Plains - Baluchistan	p. 100
Pre-urban Ecological and Settlement Diversity	p. 102
Urbanism and States: Cities, Regions, and Edge Zones	p. 106
Indus Cities and States - The First Urban Climax	p. 107
Indus Cities	p. 110
City Plans and Physical Layouts	p. 115
Nonresidential Structures	p. 117
PublicWorks	p. 122
Walls and Separated Sectors (Neighborhoods)	p. 124
City Plans and Physical Layouts Summarized - Nonresidential Structures, Public Works, Walls, and Neighborhoods	p. 126
City and Countryside	p. 127
The Upper Indus and Beas Regional Surveys near Harappa	p. 127
The Ghaggar-Hakra Plain - Cholistan Regional Surveys	p. 131
Ghaggar-Hakra Plain - Northwest India	p. 133
The Lower Indus Regional Surveys	p. 134
Interpreting the Evidence for Indus Cities, City - States, and Regional Surveys	p. 136
Urbanism at Its Margins, Gateway Towns and Edge Zones	p. 138
Uniformity and Diversity - Cities, Regions and Edge Zones	p. 142
Agropastoral and Craft-Producing Economies I - Intensification and Specialization	p. 145
Craft Production	p. 148
Craft Production and Intensification	p. 148
Craft Production and Specialization - Resource Availability and Selection, Technical Skills, and Specialized Production	p. 152
Ceramic Production	p. 153
Stoneware Bangle Production	p. 158
Seal Production	p. 160
Intensification and Specialization of Craft Production	p. 166
Agropastoral Production	p. 166
Agriculture and Intensification	p. 166
Specialization of Cropping Patterns and Regional Diversity	p. 169
Pastoralism and Intensification	p. 170
Pastoralism-Specialization and Regional Diversity	p. 173
Continued Use of Wild Plants and Animals - Foraging and Fishing	p. 174
Specialization and Intensification of the Agropastoral and Craft-Producing Economy	p. 176
Agropastoral and Craft-Producing Economies II - Diversification, Organization of Production, and Distribution	p. 179
Diversification and the Organization of Production, Distribution, and Exchange	p. 180
Diversified Crafts and the Organization of Graft Production	p. 182
Seal Production	p. 183
Ceramic Production	p. 187
Stoneware Bangle Production	p. 188
The Diversification and Organization of Production - Seals, Ceramics, and Stoneware Bangles	p. 188
Diversification of Raw Materials and Finished Products - The Organization of Interregional Exchange	p. 189
Chert	p. 189
Lapis Lazuli	p. 193
Carnelian, Chalcedony, Agate, and Jasper	p. 194
Limestone	p. 195
Precious Metals - Copper, Gold, Lead, Silver, and Tin	p. 196
Shell	p. 198
Steatite	p. 200
Diversification of Craft Production, Organization, and Distribution	p. 201
Diversification of Land, Labor, and the Organization of Agropastoral Production	p. 203
Diversification of Farming - Multicropping, Plow Agriculture, Crop Processing, Fiber Crops, and Aboriculture	p. 203
Diversification of Pastoralism - Specialized Breeds, Food and Fiber, Animal Provisioning, Mobility, and the Organization of Production	p. 207
The Organization of Interregional Exchange of Plant and Animal Products	p. 210
Agropastoral and Craft-Producing Economies - Intensification, Specialization, Diversification, and the Organization of Production and Distribution	p. 212
The Lure of Distant Lands	p. 215
The Lure of Distant Lands - Dilmun, Magan, and Meluhha	p. 215
Mapping the Third Millennium B.C.	p. 216
Indus and Mesopotamian Contact by Sea and Over Land - Texts and Archaeology	p. 221
Indus Contact beyond Mesopotamia - By Sea and Over Land	p. 225
Indus Contacts along Maritime Routes	p. 225
Indus Contacts along Overland Routes	p. 228
The Indus and an Interconnected Third - Millennium World	p. 230
Landscapes of Order and Difference - The Cultural Construction of Space, Place, and Social Difference	p. 233
Landscapes as Community Identity - Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, and Harappa	p. 235
Landscapes as Social Order	p. 242
Space and Public Works	p. 242
Interior Spaces and Social Differences	p. 248
Landscapes and Memory	p. 262
The R37 Cemetery and Cemetery H at Harappa	p. 263
The Cemetery at Kalibangan	p. 267
Human Remains at Mohenjo-daro	p. 268
Death and Memory in the Indus	p. 269
Community Identity, Social Order, and Memory	p. 271
Models for Indus Religious Ideologies	p. 274
Direct Historical Analogies and the Study of Indus Religion	p. 275
Identifying Ceremonial Places	p. 275
Terracotta Masks, Figurines, and Narrative Imagery	p. 277
New Approaches to Uncovering Indus Ideologies	p. 282
Comparative Study of Early Civilizations	p. 282
Alternative Visions - Masks and Figurines	p. 284
Terracotta Masks	p. 285
Terracotta Figurines	p. 285
AlternaUve Visions-Seal and Tablet Narrative Imagery	p. 288
Themes and Motifs in Indus Narrative Imagery	p. 290
Decoding Indus Narrative	p. 293
Cross-Cultural Comparisons	p. 297
Mesopotamian Seal Imagery	p. 297
Iranian Seal Imagery	p. 299
Rethinking Indus Religion and World Views. Shared Vocabularies, Modes of Presentation and Systems of Thought	p. 301
An Indus Pantheon, Elements of Order, and Conceptions of Power and Hierarchy	p. 303
The Decline and Transformation and the Comparative Study of Early States	p. 308
The Decline and Transformation of the Indus	p. 309
Causes of a General Nature	p. 312
Environmental Changes - Climate, Precipitation, and River Courses	p. 312
Massacres and Aryan Invasions	p. 313
Disruptions and Changes in Intercultural Trade	p. 314
Shifting Regional Histories, Transformations, and Decline - Causes of a Local Nature	p. 315
Upper Indus (Cemetery H/Late Harappan)	p. 315
Lower Indus - Late Harappan and Jhukar Styles	p. 316
Post-urban/Late Harappan: The Ghaggar-Hakra (Cholistan and Northwest India)	p. 317
Post-urban/Late Harappan - Kutch, Gujarat, and Sorath Harappan	p. 318
Borderland Regions - Afghanistan and Baluchistan (West and Southern Margins)	p. 320
Collapse, Transition, or Transformation - Culture Traits and Political Structure	p. 320
Cycles of Change or Breakdown of Society	p. 324
The Indus Civilization in Comparative Perspective	p. 325
The Harappan Economy and Society	p. 326
Indus Urbanism and City - States	p. 330
Notes	p. 339
Bibliography	p. 345
Index	p. 385
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