Himalayan river system influenced ancient Indus Civilisation

Scientists have found that much of the Indus thrived around an extinct river, challenging ideas about how urbanisation in ancient cultures evolved. The Indus or Harappan Civilisation was a Bronze Age society that developed mainly in the northwestern regions of South Asia from 5300 to 3300 years ago, at about the same time as urban civilisations developed in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeological evidence shows that many of the settlements in the Indus Civilisation developed along the banks of a river called the Ghaggar-Hakra in northwest India and Pakistan. The findings challenge our current understanding of how urbanisation in many ancient civilisations began and grew in relation to natural resources. Professor Sanjeev Gupta Department of Earth Science and Engineering Scientists have generally thought that this was a major Himalayan river that dried up either due to climatic or tectonic changes. However, until now, scientists had not pinpointed how long ago the river dried up, and had assumed that it flowed while the Indus urban centres grew and played an active role in their development. Now, a new study, led by researchers from Imperial College London and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), has provided evidence that a major Himalayan river did not flow at the same time as the development of Indus Civilisation urban settlements.