The Cambridge South Asia Seminar Series

Speaker: Professor Cameron Petrie (University of Cambridge)

Date: 05/10/22

Time: 17.00 - 18.00 (BST)

Venue: Room SG1, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DT

 

 

Abstract: South Asia’s Indus Civilisation continues to captivate and confound. It was contemporaneous with Old Kingdom Egypt and the later phases of the Early Dynastic period, the Akkadian Empire and the Ur III dynasty in Mesopotamia, but it stands as a markedly different instance of early complexity. This talk will introduce new insights into the Indus Civilisation, taking perspectives from the sky down and the ground up - including discussion of the diversity of Indus urbanism and Indus settlement networks, and considering the climatic parameters that affected Indus populations – which includes both winter and summer rainfall regimes. It will also explore the ramifications of the fact that Indus cities were considerable distances apart and situated in diverse ecological zones within the greater region occupied by Indus populations, the majority of which appear to have lived in medium- and small-sized rural settlements. It will also review the ways that Indus populations were adapted to an unpredictable environmental context and able to respond to climate change.