The Ancient Indus

Rita P. Wright is Associate Professor of Anthropology at New York University. A John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow, she has conducted archaeological field research in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. She is the editor of Gender and Archaeology and co-editor, with Cathy L. Costin, of Craft and Social Identity.

• 1. A long forgotten civilization; 2. Geographical and environmental settings; 3. From foraging to farming and pastoralism; 4. An expanded world of peer polities; 5. Urbanism and states: cities, regions and edge zones; 6. Agrarian and craft producing economies - intensification and specialization; 7. Agrarian and craft producing economies - diversification, organization of production, and exchange; 8. The lure of distant lands; 9. Landscapes of order and difference - the cultural construction of space, place and material access; 10. The final days of urbanism and the Indus civilization: decline, transition and transformation.

'Wright provides a comprehensive and compelling account of the Indus civilization of ancient Pakistan and India. Although she does not neglect material culture, her focus is on the interconnections among climate, geography, agriculture, pastoralism, craft specialization, political economy, internal exchange, trade, urbanism, and ideology that characterize the Indus civilization and help explain its origins, maturation, and decline. Highly recommended.' Choice