Indus Vally Civilization

Profound cultural changes occurred in the later 3rd millennium BC in many parts of the Aegean during the transition from the Early Bronze Age II to III (EBA II to III). These are for example observable in the drastic changes in architectural and pottery styles. This contribution deals with some examples of archaeological indicators for long-distance contacts between the Aegean and the east (Asia Minor and even beyond) during the Early Bronze Age. Relevant archaeological material for textile manufacture, adornment, seal and weight use, and silver production will be discussed. It is argued that trade and the potential physical presence of foreign merchants had a decisive impact on the “emergence of civilisation” during the EBA II. The long distance exchange was most likely driven by the eastern demand for silver and an Aegean desire for rare commodities, like specific “semi-precious“ beads and woolen textiles. A considerable disruption of this exchange pattern is witnessed by the beginning of the EBA III in the Aegean. It brought the development towards a more complex socio-economic organisation in many parts of the Aegean to a temporary end, with the notable exception of Crete. In the light of the recent suggestions of an earlier beginning of the EBA III in the Aegean, it seems difficult to reconcile this disruption with a potential climatic change around 2200 BC

South Asia's first civilization known as the Harappan or Indus Civilization was already flourishing by the middle of third millennium B.C. within the vast area of the Greater Indus Valley drained by the Ghaggar-Hakra and Indus river systems of Pakistan. Best known from its extensively excavated two principal urban centres at Harappa on the Ravi River where it was first discovered and recognized, and at Mohenjodaro on the bank of the Indus,' it is marked by many a unique and distinct feature among its contemporaneous civilizations of the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates Valleys. An astonishing aspect of the Indus Civilization is its geographical extent much beyond the core re~ion in the central Indus Valley where Mohenjodaro, Harappa and the third unexcavated urban centre of Ganweriwala are located. It reached as far north as Badakhshan in northern ,Afghanistan and southwards along the Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan and Western India. Such a political domination or cultural expansion over a large territory had not been ever achieved by any other oriental civilization of the ancient world. Equally outstanding feature is the town planning as at Mohenjo-daro which is divided by streets and lanes and lined with public and private buildings with an elaborate drainage system. The long life span of the Harappan cities and towns, their growth and prolification mostly in the flood plain, clearly demonstrate availability of sufficient economic resources and surplus which were mobilized to construct huge fortifications and public buildings on artificially raised platforms of earth, and technology for effective utilization of the riparian environment to support growing numbers of permanently settled human population and inducing the rise and development of interrelated socioeconomic , political and religious institutions. A network of inter-settlement trade of exchange existed within the Greater Indus Valley and with neighbouring regions for the procurement and supply of raw materials and distributions of finished articles. Possessing the essential elements of full urbanization, the Harappan society was sharply stratified as would be evident from the varying size of private houses and differences in their grave furniture and modes of burials. Specialised crafts activities involved manufacturing of shell, faience and terracotta bangles, flint knapping, beads, pottery, seal cuttings and gravings, melting of copper and manufacture of metal utensils. The glyptic and representational arts were well developed and 'numerous cultic objects are indicative of formal role of religion. The mass production of different kinds and their occurrence throughout tire Greater Indus Valley requires a high technological level, an elaborate means of communication and an effective political or administrative system controlling a vast territory which induced a sort of Pan-Indus cultural integration not achieved elsewhere in the ancient world.

This paper presents an updated compendium of the archaeological and ancient textual data about long-range trade and multicultural interactions involving the nomadic and sedentary communities of the Oman Peninsula, with a specific focus on the Early Bronze Age including the so-called Hafit and Umm an-Nar periods (ca. 3200-2000 BC). Substantial evidence of direct and intermediated interactions are discussed in light of their contribution to the local development of particular socio-technical spheres and how they influenced the cultural and economic setting of the local society in the different phases. In order to properly interpret the long-term significance of this phenomenon, the discontinuous trajectory of mutual inputs with neighbouring regions is considered within a longer time span covering the seven millennia from the Neolithic to the beginning of the Iron Age.

This paper presents an updated compendium of the archaeological and ancient textual data about long-range trade and multicultural interactions involving the nomadic and sedentary communities of the Oman Peninsula, with a specific focus on the Early Bronze Age including the so-called Hafit and Umm an-Nar periods (ca. 3200-2000 BC). Substantial evidence of direct and intermediated interactions is discussed in light of their contribution to the local development of particular socio-technical spheres and how they influenced the cultural and economic setting of the local society in the different phases. In order to properly interpret the long-term significance of this phenomenon, the discontinuous trajectory of mutual inputs with neighbouring regions is considered within a longer time span covering the seven millennia from the Neolithic to the beginning of the Iron Age.