ABSTRACT
The Harappan Civilization of Pakistan and Northwest India remains something of an enigma for archaeologists despite almost a century of excavation and research. While few would argue against the idea of “the Harappans” being both urban and literate (although see Farmer et al. 2004), we still know next to nothing about the structure(s) of their societies (e.g., are there elites?), about the history of their development (e.g., multiple centers of origin or only one?), and the so-called “Indus Script” remains entirely unreadable (see Wells 2011). What little evidence we do have for the more socio-political aspects of Harappan society come, somewhat frustratingly, from Mesopotamian texts of the Akkadian and later periods with their occasional references to “Meluhha” and the people and trade goods from that region (e.g., Parpola et al. 1977; Reade 1995; Possehl 1996). Given the problems associated with using the term “Indus Civilization” to refer to a vast socio-cultural phenomenon that stretches far beyond the realm of the Indus Valley (Possehl 2010), the term “Harappan Civilization” will be used following the convention of naming archaeological cultures after the first reported site (in this case, the site of Harappa in the Punjab of northeastern Pakistan).
