Understanding Harappa

This slim volume is an attempt to rouse the interest of students and non-specialists in the early civilization of the Indus valley and adjoining regions of Pakistan and India. The challenges of archaeological interpretation are discussed, together with maps, site plans and illustrations of artefacts, but the evidence is presented in social terms rather than in a technical way. In an attempt to cast an overall perspective, the Indus civilization is presented in the context of contemporary cultural development in South Asia as well as Western and Central Asia. The third edition of this volume included references to new ideas on the Indus civilization and to excavations at a small but significant site. This revised and updated fourth edition contains additional material on Dholavira and the harnessing of flash-floods.

Shereen Ratnagar took her training in the archaeology of India at the Deccan College, Pune, and in Mesopotamian archaeology at the University of London Institute of Archaeology. She taught for many years at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Her publications include Encounters: The Westerly Trade of the Harappa Civilization, Enquiries into the Political Organization of Harappan Society, The End of the Great Harappan Tradition, Mobile and Marginalized Peoples, The Other Indians: Essays on Pastoralists and Prehistoric Tribal People, Trading Encounters: From the Euphrates to the Indus in the Bronze Age, Ayodhya: Archaeology after Excavation, The Timechart History of Ancient Egypt, Makers and Shapers: Early Indian Technology in the Household, Village and Urban Workshop, and Being Tribal.