The transformation of the Indus civilization

Suggested explanations for the "eclipse" of the Indus Civilization (2500-1900 B.C.) are reviewed, along with a description of the culture history that accompanies the abandonment of Mohenjo-daro and many other Mature Harappan settlements. New data are presented from Mohenjo-daro which suggest that the process of change that brought about the eventual abandonment of the site began in the later part of the third millennium B.C. Settlement data from the ancient Sarasvati River, Gujarat, and northwestern India suggest that there was no general "eclipse" but a process of deurbanization and a shift eastward in the general distribution of the population. © 1997 Plenum Publishing Corporation.