Some 5000 years ago, civilized societies emerged in the valleys of four great
rivers: the Nile, the Euphrates, the Yellow, and the Indus. Of these primary
Old World civilizations, that of the Indus remains the least known and the most
enigmatic, though, paradoxically, it has left perhaps the most lasting
influence on the societies that followed it. In this lucid account that is
abundantly illustrated with maps and photographs (including many color plates),
archaeologist Jane McIntosh candidly addresses what we know about the rise and
fall of the civilization of the Indus and Saraswati valleys, what might be
reasonable to speculate, and what we still hope to learn. While drawing on
archaeological and linguistic evidence to draw a portrait of the civilization
from the inside, McIntosh also carefully pieces together a wider picture of the
Indus civilization with evidence from its trading partners in Mesopotamia, the
Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, and Southwest Asia. The result is an
outstandingly vivid recreation of one of the world´s great yet all-but-lost
ancient civilizations.
