Fascinating observations on the Indus Valley Civilization: 1) It's a myth that IVC was a peaceful utopia. Trauma & disease were prevalent though more so near the end of the mature Indus civilization. Skeletal evidence of trauma is widespread in burials at Harappa, & the rate of >

> cranial injury at Harappa (15.5%) was the highest of any skeletal collection in South Asia, from the Paleolithic through the Iron Age. I'm not sure why this spike in violence can't be connected to the Aryan invasion/migration? "The prevalence & patterning of cranial injuries, >

> combined with striking differences in mortuary treatment & demography among the 3 burial areas indicate interpersonal violence in Harappan society was structured along lines of gender & community membership. The results support a relationship at Harappa among urbanization, >

> access to resources, social differentiation, & risk of interpersonal violence. Further, the results contradict the dehumanizing, unrealistic myth of the Indus Civilization as an exceptionally peaceful prehistoric urban civilization." 2) It's a myth that it was an egalitarian >

> classless place. Instead there has been clear evidence of elite burials in contrast with others whose bones show extensive manual work. "There are also great variations in burials during the Indus period between sites, whether entirely ceremonial (no body) in a few cases, to >

> multiple burials in one grave, burials in pots, juvenile burials and interesting puzzles like the fact that at Rakigarhi, "the greatest numbers of grave goods in an individual grave were provided for four female individuals buried in brick-lined graves. However, other than >

> these four burials, female skeletons in general had fewer votive pots and were preferentially buried wearing bangles." Though cremation only became widespread in South Asia during the much later Iron period. 3) It was a diverse civilization with many shared elements but also >

> a lot of variations, much like modern South Asia. "Indus mortuary behavior was very diverse. A nomothetic analysis of the patterns of mortuary rituals suggests that there is no one predominant form of burial. The single inhumation of a supine extended skeleton is not the most >

> common form when all of the data from these two sites is considered, although it was the most common pattern at Rakhigarhi alone." 4) Both men and women wore jewelry which was the case in much of ancient world, Elam, Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, etc. https://www.harappa.com/content/indus-mortuary-behavior-between-action-and-symbolic-meaning