The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective [Paperback]

Gregory L. Possehl (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 8178292912 | ISBN-13: 978-0759101722 | Publication Date: January 2003

The Indus Civilization of India and Pakistan was contemporary with, and equally complex as the better-known cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt and China. The dean of North American Indus scholars, Gregory Possehl, attempts here to marshal the state of knowledge about this fascinating culture in a readable synthesis. He traces the rise and fall of this civilization, examines the economic, architectural, artistic, religious, and intellectual components of this culture, describes its most famous sites, and shows the relationships between the Indus Civilization and the other cultures of its time. As a sourcebook for scholars, a textbook for archaeology students, and an informative volume for the lay reader, The Indus Civilization will be an exciting and informative read.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This volume offers the best description and analysis of the nature of [Indus] civilization. Illustrated with an abundance of line drawings, charts, and maps, the volume richly illuminates architecture, material culture, and arts and crafts....Offering thebest available presentation of the Indus civilization, this volume successfully fulfills the needs of both general readers and specialists...Essential...[f]or all those interested in ancient civilizationssss (C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky Choice Reviews Online, June 2003 )

Possehl's book is more detailed, and in particular highlights his ability to synthesize information into a coherent whole. In addition he offers a number of hypotheses that will serve as catalysts for academic debate. (London Times Higher Education Supplement )

This book by a well-known anthropologist puts together all that is known about this fascinating culture. He examines the economic, agricultural, religious and artistic aspects of this ancient civilisation and draws some startling conclusions...[The] explosive observations of the author, who...has done extensive research on the Indus civilisation, make this volume valuable for scholars, students and lay readers alike...he makes the riddle of the Indus Age all the more enigmatic. (Jaswant Singh The Sunday Tribune- Spectrum, 9/14/03 )

...makes an important contribution to the archaeology of South Asia by bringing together a large body of information from an area that has generally been ignored and misunderstood by nonspecialists. (Michael P. Neeley American Antiquity, Vol. 69, No. 1, 2004 )

An accessible volume for the nonspecialist...There is a great need for such a book...the work is refreshing: Possehl takes strong stands on a variety of issues, but he presents his perspective clearly and in ways that can contribute to productive classroom discussions...this book will make a valuable launching point for undergraduate and graduate courses on South Asian archaeology or comparative courses on early states and civilizations. (Sinopoli, Carla M. Journal Of Anthropological Reasearch, Vol. 60, 2004 )

This book by a well-known anthropologist puts together all that is known about this fascinating culture. He examines the economic, agricultural, religious and artistic aspects of this ancient civilisation and draws some startling conclusions...[The] explosive observations of the author, who...has done extensive research on the Indus civilisation, make this volume valuable for scholars, students and lay readers alike...he makes the riddle of the Indus Age all the more enigmatic.... (Jaswant Singh The Sunday Tribune- Spectrum, 9/14/03 )

A succinct but thorough and comprehensive textbook, readable, clearly arranged and invitingly designed, The Indus is a most welcome guide to a topic widely known of but not easy, until now, to learn more about. (Antiquity )

The Indus civilization was one of the most important complex societies in the pre-industrial world. But despite significant archaeological attention over the years, it remains one of the most enigmatic civilizations to both scholars and the general public alike. Professor Possehl's engagingly written and well-illustrated book sheds useful new light on the Indus Age and makes recent scholarly advances readily accessible to a broad range of readers, especially students of the ancient world. (Jeremy A. Sabloff )

This volume offers the best description and analysis of the nature of [Indus] civilization. Illustrated with an abundance of line drawings, charts, and maps, the volume richly illuminates architecture, material culture, and arts and crafts....Offering the best available presentation of the Indus civilization, this volume successfully fulfills the needs of both general readers and specialists...Essential...[f]or all those interested in ancient civilizations (C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky Choice Reviews Online, June 2003 )

About the Author

GREGORY L. POSSEHL is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator of the Asian Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He has been engaged in archaeological research in Indian and Pakistan since 1964, from Iron Age megaliths to Mesolithic encampments, including directing excavations at Rojdi in Gujarat and Gilund in southern Rajasthan. Possehl has written and edited a number of important books on the Indus Civilization and related topics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Altamira Press (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8178292912
• ISBN-13: 978-0759101722
• ASIN: 0759101728
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #489,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars But in Fact, A Very Good Book, July 24, 2006

By 

John David Ebert (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective (Paperback)

Possehl's book on the Indus Civlization is by no means the bad book which the prior reviewer represents it as being. In fact, it is a very useful overview of the main points of the archaeology that has been conducted on the Harappan Civilization for the past twenty or so years. And far from being a "tedious" read, the book is actually quite enjoyable. For an academic.

The chapters are organized like the spokes of a wheel, approaching this complex and mysterious civilization from a number of different angles, such as religion, architecture, grave burials, writing, etc. There is even an entire chapter devoted to Mohenjo-daro. This reader found Possehl's book to be unusually balanced in its presentations of the various theories of scholars regarding for example the interpretation of the famous Proto Shiva seal or the problem of decipherment of the Indus script.

While it is true that some of the author's dates are out of date--his dates on the Neolithic, for instance, need to be pushed back by about a thousand years--most of the information is quite current, giving detailed descriptions of the excavations of recent sites like Dholavira, Rakhigarhi and Rodji. Certain of the author's preconceptions are debatable, for example he argues that this civilization was not an archaic state with a centralist core of rulers surrounded by a periphery of townsmen--he argues that it was more communal than that--but ultimately this is unconvincing. The Harappan Civilization, as the author himself states, emerged rather mysteriously around 2600 b.c. with a series of sites founded on virgin soil with pre-planned cities that seem to have been designed all at once. There is absolutely no way to do this without a centralized and hierarchical authority. And the author's insistence that there is no evidence for the presence of temples in Mohenjo-daro is not convincing either, for many of the buildings that he points out as originally selected by Marshall and others as possible temples may in fact be otherwise very difficult to explain functionally. And surely his dating of the Rig Veda at about 1000 b.c. is off by at least five hundred or so years, for the major geographical setting of this work is along the Sarasvati river rather than the Ganges, for by the end of the second millenium, the Sarasvati had already long since dried up.

But these minor quibbles aside, the book is very useful and informative, more so than Kenoyer's tome, with its wooden, text book style prose, or Jane McIntosh's with her low resolution brochure-like information. Possehl's is actually much more thorough and comprehensive than either of these, despite his sometimes awkward sentences.

I have been at work on a large historical opus for some years now, and Possehl's book is actually one of the more readable academic works on ancient history. Trust me. If you want good information on the Indus valley, this is the book for you.

--John David Ebert, author of "The New Media Invasion: Digital Technologies and the World They Unmake" (McFarland Books, 2011)

28 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment, February 28, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective (Paperback)

Gregory Possehl has planned a series of voluminous books to illuminate the Indus Valley Civilization. Some volumes have appeared, and others are in preparation. This particular book purports to be a summary of the volumes that have appeared and are going to appear. It is a sort of a preview of the entire series.
The book turned out to be a big disappointment, given the excellence of the large volumes by Possehl. While it claims to be a 'contemporary' perspective, many of the theories are hackneyed, and do not go a step beyond the 'received wisdon' of old colonial understanding and framework of Indian past, which is being propagaged with great aplomb by certain Eurocentric Vedicists even today and which seems to have been accepted without hesitation by Possehl.
The book often makes a tedious reading, and compares infavorably with its competing titles, such as Jane McIntosh's 'Indus- A Peaceful Realm' (2002), or even Jonathan Mark Kenoyer's beautifully illustrated 'Ancient Cities of the Indus Civilization' (1998).
There is no doubt that Possehl has given a short shrift to many new ideas and views that are being advocated by Indian archaeologists these days, and in certain cases (e.g. the knowledge of horse in IVC), he seems to be a 'believer' of certain dogmatic scholars who have doggedly refused to come to terms with evidence that runs counter to their long cherished notions.
His dating of the Vedic literature is too late, which would be considered with askance by even eurocentric Vedicists. One wonders who he consulted for his statements to this effect.
It appears that the book was actually written several years ago, but is being published quickly for some unknown reason. His massive volumes being published one by one often contain more current information, a more reasonable analysis.
Having dwelt on the negatives, I must emphasize that an author like Possehl cannot really write a 'bad' book. This book is a big disappoint merely because one expected better from him. I would not spend money on it.

3 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indus Ciivilization, February 23, 2006

By 

Judith L. Blackbird "Art History Student" (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective (Paperback)

This book is a must have for anyone interested in Bronze Age River Civilizations such as Egypt or Mesopotamis.