The Indus or Harappan culture arose in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent.

It is called Harappan civilisation because this was discovered first in 1921 at the modern site of Harappa, situated in the province of west Punjab in Pakistan.

It is also called as Indus civilisation because it refers to precisely the same cultural, chronological and geographic entity confined to the geographic bounds of the Indus valley.

Sir John Marshall was the first person to use the term ‘Indus civilisation’. The Indus or the Harappan civilisation belongs to the Chalcolithic or Bronze Age since the objects of copper and stone were found at the various sites of this civilisation. Nearly, 1,400 Harappan sites are known so far in the sub-continent.

They belong to early, mature and late phases of the Harappan culture. But the number of the sites belonging to the mature phase is limited, and of them only half a dozen can be regarded as cities.

Some of the noteworthy sites which have been excavated are Harappa (1921) by Daya Ram Sahni, Mohenjodaro (1922) by R.D. Banerjee, Dholavira (1967-68) by J.P. Joshi and (1990-91) by R.S. Bisht, Kalibangan by Dr. A. Ghosh, Lothal (1955-63), Chanhu-daro, Banawali (1975-77), etc.

The discovery of India’s first and earliest civilisation posed a historical puzzle as it seemed to have suddenly appeared on the stage of history, full grown and fully equipped. The Harappan civilisation till recently showed no definite signs of birth and growth.

The puzzle could largely be solved after the extensive excavation work conducted at Mehrgarh near the Bolan Pass between 1973 and 1980 by two French archaeologists Richard H. Meadow and Jean Francoise Jarrige.

According to them, Mehrgarh gives us an archaeological record with a sequence of occupations. Archaeological research over the past decades has established a continuous sequence of strata, showing the gradual development to the high standard of the full-fledged Indus civilisation.

These strata have been named pre-Harappan, early Harappan, mature Harappan and late Harappan phases or stages. By reviewing the main ele­ments of the rural cultures of the Indian sub-continent the origin of the Indus civilisation can be traced. Any Pre-Harappan culture claiming ancestry to the Indus civilisation must satisfy two conditions.