Mature Indus

Abstract

The Indus tradition represents the period when diverse cultures throughout the regions of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra (Saraswati) river valleys were integrated into a complex network of urban economic and sociopolitical structures. Generally this integration is referred to as a state-level society, but the Indus is unique in that it was probably relatively decentralized, with several competing city states that shared specific economic ties and ideological features. So far there is no concrete evidence that military force was a primary means used to subjugate the many different communities that eventually merged to form the Indus civilization. Economic and ideological or religious mechanisms appear to have been more important in this process than military coercion. Integration is reflected in many elements of shared culture found both in monumental urban centers and in smaller rural settlements. These shared features include writing in the Indus script, seals, cubical chert weights, painted pottery, figurative art, and painted motifs that appear to reflect shared ideology.