The Ancient Indus Valley

by McIntosh, Jane

• ISBN13: 9781576079072
• ISBN10: 1576079074
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-08-30
• Publisher: Abc-Clio Inc

Summary

This work is a revealing study of the enigmatic Indus civilization and how a rich repertoire of archaeological tools is being used to probe its puzzles.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface	p. ix
Maps	p. xi
Introduction
Introduction	p. 3
The Indus in Its Setting	p. 3
A Lost Civilization	p. 4
A Land of Unsolved Mysteries	p. 4
Indus Civilization
Location of the Indus Civilization and Its Environmental Setting	p. 9
Location	p. 9
The Environmental Setting	p. 11
The Changing Landscape	p. 19
Environmental Degradation	p. 23
Historical and Chronological Setting	p. 27
History of the Investigation of South Asia's Past	p. 27
Studying the Indus Civilization	p. 41
Origins, Growth, and Decline of the Indus Civilization	p. 53
Early South Asia (ca. 2 to 1 Million-7000 BCE)	p. 53
Early Farmers in Northwest South Asia (7000-4300 BCE)	p. 56
Later Settlements (4300-3200 BCE)	p. 62
The Early Indus (Early Harappan) Period (3200-2600 BCE)	p. 67
The Transition (2600-2500/2450 BCE)	p. 80
The Mature Indus Civilization (2600-1900/1800 BCE)	p. 83
The Posturban (Late Harappan) Period (1900/1800-1300 BCE)	p. 91
Economics	p. 109
Subsistence Patterns	p. 109
Arable Agriculture	p. 110
Animal Husbandry	p. 122
Aquatic Resources	p. 133
Wild Resources	p. 138
Resources, Trade, and Communications	p. 147
Introduction	p. 147
Internal Trade and Communications	p. 148
South Asian Trade and Exchange	p. 159
Overland Trade across the Iranian Plateau	p. 165
Gulf Trade	p. 168
Later Developments in Local and International Trade	p. 191
Settlements	p. 205
Settlements and Settlement Patterns	p. 205
Cities, Towns, and Villages	p. 209
The Features of Urban Centers	p. 223
Social and Political Organization	p. 245
Introduction	p. 245
Clues to Social Organization	p. 245
Clues to Political Organization	p. 256
Religion and Ideology	p. 275
Introduction	p. 275
Religious Structures	p. 275
Iconography	p. 279
Ritual Practices	p. 290
The Treatment of the Dead	p. 293
Reconstructing Harappan Religion	p. 296
Material Culture	p. 301
Workshops and Factories	p. 301
Construction	p. 303
Artifacts	p. 306
Art	p. 335
Intellectual Accomplishments	p. 345
Numbers, Time, and Space	p. 345
Languages	p. 348
The Indus Script	p. 356
Current Assessment
The Indus Civilization Today	p. 385
The Emergence of Harappan Civilization	p. 385
Theories on the Sociopolitical Organization of the Indus State	p. 391
Indus Collapse	p. 396
Glossary	p. 403
Chronology	p. 419
Resources for Further Study	p. 423
General	p. 423
History of Discovery	p. 423
Indus Antecedents	p. 424
The Indus Civilization in South Asian Culture	p. 424
Neighbors of the Indus Civilization	p. 424
The End of the Indus Civilization and the Post-Harappan Period	p. 425
Economy, Trade, and Foreign Relations	p. 425
Industry, Technology, and Science	p. 426
The Harappan People	p. 426
Social and Political Organization	p. 426
Settlement and Settlements	p. 426
Language, Writing, and Seals	p. 427
Useful Web Pages	p. 428
Journals and Occasional Publications	p. 428
Index	p. 429
About the Author	p. 441
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.