Indus Valley Civilization

previously India, now Pakistan

In early civilization in the Indus Valley and along the Sarasvati river which developed locally from peoples of Eastern Persia (Iran) and Afghanistan. It was a literate and otherwise sophisticated society, yet our information, in fact, is sparse. Archaeologically, one usually discriminates between the Early Harappan (ca. 3000 - 2300 BCE) and the Mature Harappan (ca. 2300 - 1600 BCE) phases (named after the city Harappa), after which the alleged Aryan intrusion made an end to it all.

This early civilization - which we also associate with Mohenjo Daro, its major city - developed what is known as the Indus Valley Script. The peoples of this culture, already fully developed and in bloom by 3250 BCE, have apparently been successful traders and sailors who seem to have visited America as early as 3372 BCE; and also to have taught their script to the natives of the Easter Islands. The unfortunately yet undeciphered inscriptions, both the Indus seals and the Easter Island inscriptions, seem to be a mixture of pictograms and phonetic symbols. This indicates that the script may have developed into an advanced system of writing had not the culture of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa been thoroughly destroyed by the Indo-Iranian (Aryan) invaders who arrived there in about 1550 BCE.