Textbook
Themes in Indian History, Parts I–III (Class 12)
Source-based chapters on Harappa, Vijayanagara, the Mughal court and 1857 — essential for UPSC.
Late Harappan Cultures
Archaeological culture
Level 3
Dynastic phase
c. 1,900–1,300 BCE
Regional post-urban cultures such as Cemetery H and Jhukar.
- Region
- Northwest
- Duration
- 600 years
- Main period
- Late Harappan Cultures
- Part of
- Indus / Harappan Civilization
Key events
| Year | Event | Place |
|---|---|---|
| c. 1,300 BCE | Cemetery H culture at Harappa | Harappa |
📚 Recommended reading on the Late Harappan Cultures
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🏛 Library access
Abrupt weakening of the summer monsoon in northwest India ~4100 yr ago
Lake sediments from Haryana showing a sharp drying around 2100 BCE, linked to Harappan de-urbanisation.
Contemporaries
Powers that coexisted with the Late Harappan Cultures for a significant part of its history. The bar shows when, within its own span.
Indus / Harappan Civilization ★
Northwest · c. 3,300–1,300 BCE
Overlap: 600 years
Early Vedic Communities ★
Northwest · c. 1,500–1,000 BCE
Overlap: 200 years
Neolithic Kashmir (Burzahom)
North · c. 3,000–1,500 BCE
Overlap: 400 years
South Indian Neolithic (Ash-mound cultures)
South · c. 3,000–1,200 BCE
Overlap: 600 years
Chalcolithic Cultures
Central · c. 3,000–700 BCE
Overlap: 600 years
Ochre Coloured Pottery Culture
Gangetic Plain · c. 2,000–1,500 BCE
Overlap: 400 years