Periodisation of the Indus Valley Civilisation

The Early, Mature and Late Harappan periodisation was introduced by archaeologists like Mortimer Wheeler, who "brought with them existing systems from elsewhere, such as the Three Age System,"[6] and further developed by M.R. Mughal, who "proposed the term Early Harappan to characterize the pre- or protourban phase."[8] This classification is primarily based on Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, assuming an evolutionary sequence.[3] According to Manuel, this division "places the Indus Valley within a tripartite evolutionary framework, of the birth, fluorescence, and death of a society in a fashion familiar to the social evolutionary concepts of Elmond Service (1971)."[3]

According to Coningham and Young, it was "cemented [...] in common use" due to "the highly influential British archaeologists Raymond and Bridget Allchin [who] used similar subdivisions in their work."[6] According to Coningham and Young, this approach is "limited" and "restricted,"[6] putting too much emphasis on the mature phase.[5]

Shaffer divided the broader Indus Valley Tradition into four eras, the pre-Harappan "Early Food Producing Era," and the Regionalisation, Integration, and Localisation eras, which correspond roughly with the Early Harappan, Mature Harappan, and Late Harappan phases.[9][3] Each era can be divided into various phases. A phase is an archaeological unit possessing traits sufficiently characteristic to distinguish it from all other units similarly conceived.[10] According to Shaffer, there was considerable regional variation, as well as differences in cultural sequences, and these eras and phases are not evolutionary sequences, and cannot uniformly be applied to every site.[3]

According to Coningham and Young,

A critical feature of Shaffer's developmental framework was replacing the traditional Mesolithic/Neolithic, 'Chalcolithic'/Early Harappan, Mature Harappan and Late Harappan terminology with Eras which were intended to reflect the longer-term changes or processes which provided the platform for eventual complexity and urbanisation [...] Notably, Shaffer's categorisation also allowed scholars to frame sites such as Mehrgarh, accepted by all as partly ancestral to the Indus cities within a distinctly pervasive Indus tradition rather than lying outside a Pre-Urban or incipient urban phase.[2]

Coningham & Young raise theoretical concerns with Shaffer's periodisation, noting that

...it remains questionable whether there is sufficient difference and distinction between Shaffer’s definitions of Regionalisation and Localisation. Shaffer’s own definition (quoted earlier) observes the similarities of the two eras, with some differentiation in the form of contact between groups.[11]

The Early Food Producing Era corresponds to ca. 7000-5500 BCE. It is also called the Neolithic period. The economy of this era was based on food production, and agriculture developed in the Indus Valley. Mehrgarh Period I belongs to this era. The Regionalisation Era corresponds to ca. 4000-2500/2300 BCE (Shaffer)[12] or ca. 5000-2600 BCE (Coningham & Young).[13] The Early Harappan phase belongs to this Era. According to Manuel, "the most significant development of this period was the shift in population from the uplands of Baluchistan to the floodplains of the Indus Valley."[12] This era was very productive in arts, and new crafts were invented. The Regionalisation Era includes the Balakot, Amri, Hakra and Kot Diji Phases.

The Integration Era refers to the period of the "Indus Valley Civilisation". It is a period of integration of various smaller cultures. The Localisation Era (1900-1300 BCE) is the fourth and final period of the Indus Valley Tradition. It refers to the fragmentation of the culture of the Integration Era. The Localisation Era comprises several phases:[14]

• Punjab Phase (Cemetery H, Late Harappan). The Punjab Phase includes the Cemetery H and other cultures. Punjab Phase sites are found in Harappa and in other places.
• Jhukar Phase (Jhukar and Pirak) The Jhukar Phase refers to Mohenjo-daro and sites in Sindh.
• Rangpur Phase (Late Harappan and Lustrous Red Ware). Rangpur Phase sites are in Kachchh, Saurashtra and mainland Gujarat.
• The Pirak Phase is a phase of the Localisation Era of both the Indus Valley Tradition and the Baluchistan Tradition.

Gregory Possehl includes the Neolithic stage in his periodisation, using the term Indus Age for this broader timespan,[4] Possehl arranged "archaeological phases into a seven stage sequence:[2]

1. Beginnings of Village Farming Communities and Pastoral camps
2. Developed Village Farming Communities and Pastoral camps
3. Early Harappan
4. Transition from Early Harappan to Mature Harappan
5. Mature Harappan
6. Posturban Harappan
7. Early Iron Age of Northern India and Pakistan

According to Coningham & Young,

Possehl's mixture of older periodisation (Mature Harappan), artefact-based descriptive classifications (Early Iron Age) and socio-economic processes (Developed Village Farming Communities) is not unique and others, such as Singh (2008), have presented similar categories which treat the Indus Valley and the Early Historic Traditions in very different ways and thus reinforce established divisions which prevent easy comparative discussion.[2]

A "similar framework" as Shaffer's has been used by Rita Wright, looking at the Indus "through a prism influenced by the archaeology of Mesopotamia," using the terms Early Food Producing Phase, Pre-Urban Phase, Urban Phase and Post-Urban Phase.[15][2]

Rao, who excavated Bhirrana, claims to have found pre-Harappan Hakra Ware in its oldest layers, dated at the 8th-7th millennium BCE.[16][17][18][note 1] He proposes older datings for Bhirrana compared to the conventional Harappan datings,[note 2] yet sticks to the Harappan terminology.[23] This proposal is supported by Sarkar et al. (2016), co-authored by Rao, who also refer to a proposal by Possehl, and various radiocarbon dates from other sites, though giving 800 BCE as the enddate for the Mature Harappan phase:[18][note 3] Rao 2005 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFRao2005 (help), and as summarized by Dikshit 2013, compares as follows with the conventional datings, and Shaffer (Eras).[23][18][24][3]

While the Early Harappan Phase was proposed to start at ca. 3,300 BCE,[1] the Regionalisation Era has been proposed to start earlier, at 4,000 BCE[5] to ca. 5,000 years BCE.[11]

S. P. Gupta, taking into account new discoveries, periodised the Harappan Civilisation in a chronological framework that includes the Early, Mature and Late Harappan Phase, and starts with the same date as the Regionalisation Era:[26]

The consensus on the dating of the Integration Era, or Urban or Mature Harappan Phase, is broadly accepted to be 2600-1900 BC.[1][11]