Uncovering the keys to the lost Indus cities.

HARAPPA Site (Pakistan); INDUS civilization; EXTINCT cities; HISTORICAL archaeology; ARCHAEOLOGICAL excavations; PRIMITIVE societies; POTTERY; SOCIAL structure; RITES & ceremonies; PAKISTANI history

Excavated artifacts from Pakistan have inspired a reevaluation of one of the great early urban cultures--the enigmatic Indus Valley civilization. The buried remains suggested that a thriving market existed in the vicinity and that the activities conducted there some four millennia ago were not unlike those occurring even now. Archaeologists try to determine whether these similarities result from cultural choices or from the fact that the available materials and technologies have not changed much over the millennia. Unlike the other ancient urban cultures, linguists have yet to decipher the Harappan script of the Indus Valley civilization. The growth of trade and the expansion of Indus settlements onto the Ganges River plain as well as into what is now the state of Gujarat in western India led to the overextension of the Indus political and economic system. As Harappa began to host more people from foreign lands, the elite classes probably felt the need to help legitimize their rule through public rituals and ceremonies that reinforced the principal religious traditions. In 1986 the late George F. Dales of the University of California at Berkeley established the Harappa Archaeological Research Project in collaboration with Pakistan's Federal Department of Archaeology and Museums. Much of the Indus culture has yet to be investigated, but the results of work at sites such as Harappa are finally lifting the veil from an important civilization. INSETS: Overview/Crafts as Cultural Clues;What the Beads Say;Secrets of Harappan Glazing Techniques.