Recently, I visited Dholavira, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Gujarat, India. It’s one of the major settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization, and it was fascinating to see the advanced urban planning, drainage systems, and water conservation techniques. The estimated date of the civilization is around 2500–1900 BCE (Harappan period), i.e., roughly 4,500 years ago. It’s incredible that we can still see the remnants of such an ancient civilization today.
It brought back memories of my childhood visit to Lothal, another Indus Valley site. That one wasn’t as large, but it has an amazing museum. I was just a small kid, but I still remember being completely fascinated by it.
After the Dholavira visit, I started reading a book called The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by William Dalrymple. I’m currently in the early chapters and really enjoying it.
More specifically about the Indus Valley Civilization, I came across this amazing lecture by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. I’d highly recommend it—it gives a great overview of the civilization. He also mentioned a site called Harappa.com, which is a fantastic resource for learning more about the Indus Valley.
In the lecture, Kenoyer talks about the need for a “Rosetta Stone”-like discovery to crack the Harappan script. I had heard of the Rosetta Stone before but didn’t know much about it, so I watched this really informative video about its history and significance.