An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s9.46

v1.c9.s9.46

Although casual reference has been made above to the chronological horizon of the civilization it seems necessary to discuss the matter in some detail, particularly because of the differing opinions expressed by scholars from time to time in this regard. Thus, way back Marshall, 1931, p. 106, opined that the civilization might be dated broadly between 3250 and 2750 B.C. A little later Vats, 1940, pp. 9-10, expressed that view that since the lower levels of Mound F at Harappa yielded certain tiny seals the like of which had not been found at Mohenjo-daro, the beginning of the site (Harappa) be placed in the 'first half of the fourth millennium B.C.'. In marked contrast to the foregoing, Wheeler, 1947, p. 82, suggested a date-bracket of 2500-1500 B.C. for the civilization. The upper limit of Wheeler seems to have been conditioned by his belief that this civilization came to an end at the hands of the Aryans, who are assumed to have entered India around that date. Later on, however, he modified the dating as follows, 'it may now be postulated that the nuclear cities of the Indus civilization were founded some time before 2400 B.C. and that they endured in some shape to the eighteenth century B C.' (Wheeler, 1968, p. 125). The most recent pronouncement is that by Agrawal and Kusumgar, 1974, p. 10, who prefer to place the 'Nuclear Harappa' between 2300 and 2000 B.C. and 'Peripheral Harappa' between 2200 and 1700 B.C. We shall now briefly analyse the available date.