Reconstructing settlement landscapes in the Indus River Basin: Insights from the Land, Water and Settlement and TwoBasins projects

Date: 

Thursday, May 2, 2019, 3:30pm

Location: 

Room 203, Tozzer Anthropology Building, 21 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138

Harvard Archaeology Seminar Series

Cameron Petrie University of Cambridge

The populations of South Asia's Indus Civilisation lived across an extensive area characterised by diverse and variable environments. Over a century of archaeological research has seen the excavation of major centres such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, which are located on extensive alluvial plains, and the investigation of other settlements of various sizes in a range of different environmental contexts. There have been numerous surveys of Indus Civilisation settlements, and a long standing interest in the landscape archaeology in the region, but there are limitations to most existing data sets. This paper will use the work of the Land, Water and Settlement and TwoRains projects to highlight innovative methods that are helping to expand our awareness of the settlement landscapes in the Indus River Basin.