Introduction
Together with Mohenjo-daro, Harappa is the signature site of the third millennium BC culture of South Asia known as the Indus Valley or Harappan Civilization (Kenoyer, 1998; Possehl, 2002). The site formed the epicenter of a state society contemporaneous with the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures to the west, and it featured analogous elements of complex urban organization, trade, and commerce. In contrast with these other “cradles of civilization,” Harappan script, while pervasive across the area’s cultural heartland (Pakistan and India), remains undeciphered. There is, however, a growing body of archaeological evidence for contact among these three state-based societies.
Geoarchaeology of Harappa and the Indus Valley
The site of Harappa is in north-central Pakistan (Figure 1). It consists of at least four major mounds, which are the product of the accumulation of cultural deposits documenting the site’s evolution as a major urban center whose date range is 3300–1700...
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Schuldenrein, J. (2017). Harappa. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_83
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