Textbook
Themes in Indian History, Parts I–III (Class 12)
Source-based chapters on Harappa, Vijayanagara, the Mughal court and 1857 — essential for UPSC.
Indus / Harappan Civilization
c. 2,600–1,900 BCE
Map layer: Civilizations & Archaeological Cultures
The mature urban phase: planned cities, standardised weights, seals and long-distance trade.
Who ruled when
Move along the chart to see which powers existed in any year; click a bar for its page, or empty space to open the map.
Main polities of this period
| Name | Type | Span | Region | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indus / Harappan Civilization ★ | Civilization | c. 3,300–1,300 BCE | Northwest | Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira |
Also existing during this period
Chalcolithic Cultures
Central · c. 3,000–700 BCE
Ochre Coloured Pottery Culture
Gangetic Plain · c. 2,000–1,500 BCE
Neolithic Kashmir (Burzahom)
North · c. 3,000–1,500 BCE
Mehrgarh Cultural Tradition
Northwest · c. 7,000–2,600 BCE
South Indian Neolithic (Ash-mound cultures)
South · c. 3,000–1,200 BCE
Events
| Year | Event | Polity |
|---|---|---|
| c. 2,600 BCE | Mature Harappan urban phase begins | Indus / Harappan Civilization |
| c. 2,500 BCE | Dholavira's reservoirs and 'signboard' | Indus / Harappan Civilization |
| c. 2,400 BCE | Lothal dockyard in use | Indus / Harappan Civilization |
| c. 2,300 BCE | Harappan trade with Mesopotamia ('Meluhha') | Indus / Harappan Civilization |
| c. 2,000 BCE | Copper hoards and OCP settlements in the doab | Ochre Coloured Pottery Culture |
| c. 1,900 BCE | Decline of the Harappan cities | Indus / Harappan Civilization |
📚 Recommended reading for this era
Reference
A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India
The most complete modern textbook on ancient India, rich in sources, maps and archaeology.
Reference
Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization
An archaeologist's lavishly illustrated account of the Harappan cities.
Popular history
Early Indians
A lively look at who the first Indians were, drawing on genetics and archaeology.
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📄 Research papers
Paper
🇮🇳 Indian scholarship
An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers
DNA from a woman buried at Rakhigarhi (Haryana): the first genome from a Harappan individual.
Paper🏛 Library access
The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia
Ancient DNA from 523 individuals tracing how the peoples of the subcontinent formed.
Paper🔓 Free to read
Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization
Rivers, monsoon and the rise and decline of Harappan cities; widely cited in the Saraswati–Ghaggar debate.
Paper🔓 Free to read
🇮🇳 Indian scholarship
Oxygen isotope in archaeological bioapatites from India: Implications to climate change and decline of Bronze Age Harappan civilization
Isotopes in animal bones and teeth from Bhirrana suggest farming continued as the monsoon weakened.
🕸 Connections 13 links
Explore connections full screen ↗Everything on YugMap linked to this page — and why. Hover a dot in the graph, or pick from the list.
🗂 Era 1
- Ancient IndiaPart of this era
⏳ Periods 2
- Early Agricultural CulturesCame before
- Late Harappan CulturesCame after
🏛 Kingdoms & empires 1
- Indus / Harappan Civilization 3,300–1,300 BCEA main power of this period
⚔ Events 2
- Mature Harappan urban phase begins c. 2,600 BCEHappened in this period
- Decline of the Harappan cities c. 1,900 BCEHappened in this period
🔧 Technology 4
- The Harappan script Harappan civilizationMade or discovered in this time
- Planned drainage Harappan civilizationMade or discovered in this time
- Standard weights Harappan civilizationMade or discovered in this time
- The wheel: terracotta carts Harappan civilizationMade or discovered in this time
📄 Research 3
- An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian F… Vasant Shinde, Vagheesh M. Narasimhan, Nadin Rohland, et al…Research on this topic
- The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia Vagheesh M. Narasimhan, Nick Patterson, Priya Moorjani, et …Research on this topic
- Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization Liviu Giosan, Peter D. Clift, Mark G. Macklin, et al. · 2012Research on this topic