Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c12.5

c12.5

But, as we shall see, these very Amri settlements are succeeded by those of folk whose allegiance is not to a petty state, but to an empire. Diversity is replaced by uniformity over an area incomparably vaster than anything we have yet seen in prehistoric India; a complete agreement in details of material culture is found over an area stretching from the Makran coast to Kathiawar, and northwards to the Himalayan foothills: a huge irregular triangle with the sides measuring 950 by 700 by 550 miles. From end to end of this territory, from some forty settlement-sites, come pottery vessels of identical mass-produced types; houses are built of baked bricks of standard dimensions; stamp-seals are used engraved with similar scenes and a uniform script, as yet unread; a standard system of weights is recognizable. While some sites are villages, others are small towns, and 350 miles apart stand two cities, each covering at least a square mile of ground, twin capitals of an empire. To a British archaeologist the inevitable parallel is the Roman Empire supervening upon the prehistoric Iron Age barbarian settlements of his own country. Under the jejune archaeological nomenclature of the ‘Harappā Culture’ there lies concealed one of the greatest nameless kingdoms of Western Asia.