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from Afghanistan to Iraq. And the Indus people
worried enough about the privileges of their
THAR DESERT, PAKISTAN—Egypt has pyramids, temples, and mum- elite to build thick walls to protect them. “This idea that the Indus was
mies galore. Ancient Mesopotamians left behind the dramatic saga of dull and monolithic—that’s all nonsense,” says Louis Flam, an archae-
Gilgamesh, receipts detailing their most prosaic economic transac- ologist at the City University of New York who has worked in Pakistan.
tions, and the occasional spectacular tomb. But the third of the world’s “There was a tremendous amount of variety.”
three f irst civilizations had, well, good This radical overhaul of the Indus image, which has gone largely
Online
sciencemag.org
plumbing. Even the archaeologists who first unnoticed by the larger archaeology community, emerges from
discovered the Indus civilization in the 1920s recent visits to key excavations in India and Pakistan, including pre-
found the orderly streetscapes of houses built viously unknown sites here in the desert, and interviews with dozens
Podcast interview with uniform brick to be numbingly regi- of Indus scholars around the world. During the past decade, archae-
with the author of
this article. mented. As recently as 2002, one scholar ologists have uncovered entire Indus cities previously unknown,
felt compelled to some with unique features such as major
insist in a book that the remains left behind fortif ications. New methods have
by the Indus people “are not boring.” spurred the f irst detailed analyses of
Striking new evidence from a host of everything from climate to settlement
excavations on both sides of the tense border patterns to butchered animal bones.
that separates India and Pakistan has now Growing interest in the role of the ancient
definitively overturned that second-class sta- economy in spreading goods and ideas has
tus. No longer is the Indus the plain cousin of scholars tracing a vast trade network that
Egypt and Mesopotamia during the 3rd mil- reached to Mesopotamia itself, where at
lennium B.C.E. Archaeologists now realize least one Indus interpreter went native.
that the Indus dwarfed its grand neighbors in Even well-combed sites are still full of
land area and population, surpassed them in surprises: The city of Harappa may be
many areas of engineering and technology, 1000 years older and Mohenjo Daro far
and was an aggressive player during human- larger than once thought. And the dramatic
ity’s first flirtation with globalization 5000 Faces from the past. These small figurines are rare “Buddhist stupa” adorning Mohenjo Daro’s
years ago. The old notion that the Indus people examples of Indus human or deity statuary. high mound may in fact date back to the Indus
Ancient alleyways. The 5000-year-old massive brick structures of Mohenjo Yet despite the impressive remains, there were bafflingly few clues
Daro, including the Great Bath (center), still rise from the plains of Pakistan. to the political or religious systems behind the urban complexes, which
seemed to lack the grandeur of Egypt and Mesopotamia. There are no
heyday around 2000 B.C.E. (see sidebar, p. 1280). “What has changed remaining life-sized statues, extensive wall carvings, or elaborate
is the mass of evidence from the past 15 years,” says archaeologist Rita building decorations. The Indus used a still-undeciphered script, but
Wright of New York University (NYU), assistant director of the chiefly on small seals, and some scholars believe it was not a script at
Harappa dig. “There is more data from landscapes and settlements, not all (Science, 17 December 2004, p. 2026). Indus scribes did not leave
just the cities.” the vast libraries of clay tablets or carved stone inscriptions that have
But piecing together a cohesive new picture is hampered by the yielded such insight into Mesopotamia and Egypt. Most burials
political discord between India and Pakistan. Many foreign archaeolo- include only a few modest goods, in contrast to the riches of Egyptian
gists steer clear of Pakistan because of political instability, while India’s tombs. And archaeologists could find no obvious temples or palaces.
government—scarred by colonialism—often discourages researchers The few monumental buildings—though given nicknames like “the
from collaborating with European or American teams. A virtual Cold Granary” and “the Monastery”—had functions still hotly debated.
War between the two countries leaves scientists and sites on one side Unlike the many pharaohs, kings, architects, and merchants who
nearly inaccessible to the other (see p. 1282). And although Indus sites show up in sculpture and texts in Egypt and Mesopotamia, few Indus
are finally receiving extensive attention, many unexcavated mounds individuals were recorded. Only a few small statues show individuals,
face destruction from a lethal combination of expanding agriculture, such as seated men wearing tunics and a tiny, lithe dancer. The Indus “is
Indus penchant for precise standardization—from tiny weights to The assumption that the Indus did not spring from local culture began to
bricks to houses to entire cities—was unique in the early historic unravel in the 1970s, when a French-led team excavated a Neolithic site
period. And at Mohenjo Daro, they used expensive baked brick rather called Mehrgarh dating to 7000 B.C.E. in the Baluchistan hills on the
than the cheaper mud brick favored in the Middle East, thus leaving western fringe of the Indus valley. The town included many of the trap-
behind the only Bronze Age city on Earth where it is still possible to pings of later Indus life, from mud-brick houses and copper tools to
stroll down ancient alleys shaded by intact walls. wheat, barley, sheep, goats, and cattle. Although some plants may have
arrived from the Near East, goats and cattle the earlier towns and new cities. But Mallah
were likely domesticated locally, and possibly and many of his colleagues say there is not
sheep as well. A partially worked elephant tusk enough evidence to make that leap. Whoever
demonstrates that craft specialists were already constructed the cities did make distinct
plying their trade, and lapis lazuli jewelry from changes, creating new pottery styles and intro-
Afghanistan and marine shells from the distant ducing metal forms such as razors and fish-
coast show long-distance trade networks. hooks. But they also drew on the long cultural
The site is now widely accepted as a precur- history of the region and don’t appear to be
sor to the Indus and clear proof of the indige- outside invaders, says Mallah.
nous nature of the later civilization. That idea In fact, new evidence suggests that not all
gets new support from surveys here in the Thar Burnt out. Qasid Mallah the major cities were built from scratch. At
Desert, on the eastern edge of the Indus valley. points to a burn layer at an ongoing dig at Harappa, led by Richard
This area was long assumed to have been Kot Diji, perhaps a sign Meadow of Harvard University and Jonathan
largely uninhabited before the rise of the Indus of ancient conflict. Kenoyer of the University of Wisconsin,
cities. But hundreds of small sites now show Madison, the team has found evidence of
that humans lived here on the plains, not just in the Baluchistan hills, for occupation dating to as early as 3700 B.C.E. By 3300 B.C.E.,
several millennia prior to the rise of the Indus, says archaeologist Qasid Harappa was a modest village of 10 square hectares but with streets
Khairpur
Thar Delhi
g
Mohenjo Daro
es
Kot Desert
Diji sites Black Sea
INDIA
Arabian Sea Caspian
Sea
Mediterran
ean Sea
MESOPOTAMIA
Indus region Dholavira
Ancient site INDUS
EGYPT VALLEY
Modern city
CREDIT: A. LAWLER/SCIENCE
River
Red
Narmada Sea
Dry river
Modern border Arabian Sea
into a rectangular shape and resemble those of the later Indus, except remains of an elderly man lie in a mud-brick chamber beside 70 pot-
for postholes on the periphery that may have held up a roof. A few tery vessels. At Harappa, another elderly man shares his tomb with
meters and 2 centuries from that trench is classic urban Indus: the clear 340 steatite beads plus three beads of gold, one of onyx, one of banded
outline of a large house with more than a dozen rooms, including a jasper, and one of turquoise. Another high-status Harappan went to rest
plastered bathroom, and a 20-meter-long wall fronting a long street in an elegant coffin made of elm and cedar from the distant Himalayas
nearly 4 meters wide. “You can see how beautifully this was planned,” and rosewood from central India.
Shinde says, pointing at the fine brickwork and straight lines. “There Urban house sizes also vary much more dramatically than early
are no postholes, and the bricks are of the same ratio as at Harappa.” excavators thought, says Wright, who works on the Harappa team.
Thus from both sides of the border, the newest evidence not only under- Then, as now, location was a matter of status: She notes that whereas
scores the local origins of the Indus, it also reveals in situ evolution. some larger dwellings have private wells and are next to covered drains,
Says Mallah, “We believe that urbanization was a gradual process.” more modest houses face open drains and cesspools.
Like elites everywhere, high-status Indus people were able to acquire
Gated communities high-quality goods from master craftsmen to denote their wealth. They
For the first half-century after its discovery, the Indus was virtually owned finely crafted beads made in a wide variety of stone, glazed pot-
synonymous with Mohenjo Daro and Harappa. No other major cities tery called faience, and ornamentation in gold, silver, copper, lead, tin,
were known. But along with 1000 and electrum (a gold and silver
smaller sites, archaeologists now alloy). For those with less means,
CREDITS (TOP TO BOTTOM): A. LAWLER/SCIENCE; © J. M. KENOYER, COURTESY DEPT. OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND MUSEUMS, GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN
buildings. But since the 1920s, around 2100 B.C., near the Afghanistan show the long arm of Indus trade networks. Small and
archaeologists have considered height of Indus urban life. Such transportable Indus goods such as
the dome to be a much later platforms were common from beads and pottery found their way
Buddhist stupa ringed by cells of Mesopotamia to Turkmenistan across the Iranian plateau or by
monks, built using Indus bricks during that era, but none have sea to Oman and Mesopotamia,
2 millennia after the city’s been clearly identified in the and Indus seals show up in Cen-
demise. Now, University of Indus region. tral Asia as well as southern Iraq.
Naples archaeologist Giovanni Other scholars are wary of An Indus trading center at Short-
Verardi says that this magnificent the ziggurat idea but agree that ugai in northern Afghanistan fun-
structure may actually be a mon- the evidence supporting a stupa neled lapis to the homeland. And
ument from Indus times. If he’s is slim. “I’m quite sure Verardi there is strong evidence for trade
right, it will force Indus scholars is right,” says Michael Jansen of and cultural links between the
to rethink the religious and polit- RWTH Aachen University in Ger- Indus and cities in today’s Iran as
ical nature of the civilization, many, who has worked here for well as Mesopotamia. Holding a pose? This rare seal may
long thought to lack grand tem- years. “We did a very careful Textual analysis of cuneiform hint at the ancient origins of yoga and
ples and palaces (see main text). survey of the area around the tablets coupled with recent exca- the Hindu god Shiva.
The original excavators citadel and found not a single vations along the Persian Gulf
assumed the dome was Buddhist Kushan shard.” Jansen also also show that Indus merchants routinely plied the Arabian Sea and
in large part because buried coins notes that Buddhist monks’ cells Persian Gulf, likely in reed boats with cotton sails. “They were major
dating to the Kushan Empire of of that period are not usually participants in commercial trade,” says Bisht, who sees Dholavira and
the 2nd and 3rd century C.E. were arranged around a stupa. other sites along the coast as trading centers thanks to monsoon winds
found at the site. They did note “What’s needed now is careful that allowed sailors to cross 800 kilometers of open waters speedily.
that the stupa was not aligned in restudy,” says Jansen, who “These people were aggressive traders, there is no doubt about it,” adds
typical fashion, that the plinth hopes to excavate at the site. Possehl, who has found Indus-style pottery made from Gujarat clay at
was of unusual height, and that After 2 decades, restoration a dig in Oman. Archaeologist Nilofer Shaikh, vice chancellor of Latif
certain pottery shards predated work has at last stabilized the University, takes that assertion a step further, arguing that “the Indus
the Kushan. Verardi, who carefully crumbling brick, and officials people were controlling the trade. They controlled the quarries, the
examined both the site and the plan to reopen excavations (see trade routes, and they knew where the markets were.”
original archaeological reports, p. 1284). “If it is indeed She points out that although Indus artifacts spread far and wide,
argues that the coins likely were [Indus], then this will turn our only a small number of Mesopotamian artifacts have been found at
buried later and therefore are of interpretations upside down.” Indus sites. Evidence suggests that some Indus merchants and diplo-
little value in dating the struc- –A.L mats lived abroad, although the trade was certainly two-way. An
inscription from the late 3rd millennium B.C.E. refers to one Shu-
ilishu, an interpreter from Meluhha, reports NYU’s Wright in a forth- was once seen as a monolithic state was actually a highly diverse set of
coming book. What may be Shu-ilishu and his wife are featured on a multiple centers of power that negotiated across a large landscape.”
seal wearing Mesopotamian dress. There is some evidence for a village With barely one-tenth of the 1000-plus known Indus sites exam-
of Indus merchants between 2114 and 2004 B.C.E. in southern Iraq. ined, archaeologists say the next frontier is the smaller sites that could
And “a man from Meluhha” knocked out someone’s tooth during an reveal more about day-to-day life. That could fill in the gaps about how
altercation and was made to pay a fine, according to a cuneiform text, the Indus people worshipped, traded, and governed themselves. “There
hinting at a life that was neither faceless nor boring. are thousands of villages,” says Shinde during lunch break at the Far-
Indus archaeologists still confront fundamental research questions, mana dig. “And it is our fault that we only go to the big sites.”
including how a far-flung array of cities adopted standardized meas- Researchers are also bringing the latest archaeological tools to bear on
ures. There is little or no data on how the Indus people governed them- Indus artifacts, closely examining the origins of stone used in bead-
selves, what language they spoke, and whether they engaged in war. work, the prevalence of certain animals and plants, and even the meth-
Some researchers envision a collection of city states, while others ods used in butchering. Archaeologists also recognize an urgent need to
imagine regional powers that jockeyed for influence but generally chart climate change throughout the region during the Indus era. “It’s a
cooperated. What is clear is that the organization differed from the great tragedy,” says Bisht. “It is a book waiting to be read.” Whatever
pharaonic ways of Egypt and the rival kingdoms of Mesopotamia. “We archaeologists uncover in coming years, the revised story of the Indus
don’t need to use the models from the Near East,” says Kenoyer. “What civilization is sure not to be a dull read. –ANDREW LAWLER