Two new genetic studies published this week offer some rare insights into the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the earliest human civilizations. The work helps illuminate where these people, who created one of the cradles of civilization, came from. Just as importantly, it also reveals where they went.
The Indus Valley civilization is one of earliest civilizations in world history, rivaling Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt in scale. Nestled along the fertile flood plain of the Indus River, the Indus Valley was home to an estimated one million people spread over a Texas-sized region in what is now India and Pakistan some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Located at the crossroads of historic trade routes, the region has been settled by a number of groups through time. But where the first civilization to arise there came from was a mystery.
New research suggests that it was a homegrown effort: nearby hunter-gatherer groups likely coalesced into a civilization that defined this early chapter in India’s history. And from there, the peoples of the Indus Valley would spread beyond India, leaving their mark on a wide swath of South Asia.
