[INDOLOGY] Harappan culture

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Does this sound familiar, in a general way?

There is no skeletal evidence of violent death and no fortifications, said
[...]. Instead the society appears to have survived through cooperation and
sharing.
This statement is not, however, about the IVC, but about the Megalithic
culture of Malta.  And there's a newish interpretation of the famous
megalithic temples there. Here's the whole paragraph:

To achieve such complex collaborative effort something powerful must have
held the community together: the temples. Until now, the Temple Culture was
thought to have centered on the worship of a mother goddess, but Malone
thinks it was more of a clubhouse culture, focused on ritual and feasting
but where food—rather than a deity—was revered. In the complexes it is now
clear that the people displayed their livestock and harvests on special
benches and altars, feasted, and also stored food. There is no skeletal
evidence of violent death and no fortifications, said Malone. Instead the
society appears to have survived through cooperation and sharing.
-- Aisling Irwin, "Why a Thriving Civilization in Malta Collapsed 4,000
Years Ago
<https://nautil.us/why-a-thriving-civilization-in-malta-collapsed-4000-years-ago-237483/>,"
*Nautilus* July 2019.

Interesting to think about, a food-centric culture where hard labour is
normal and food is generally scarce.

Best,
DW


--
Professor Dominik Wujastyk
<https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/wujastyk>
,

Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
,

Department of History, Classics, and Religion
<http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
,
University of Alberta, Canada
.


South Asia at the UofA:

sas.ualberta.ca

SSHRC research: The Suśruta Project <http://sushrutaproject.org>

Journal: History of Science in South Asia <http://hssa-journal.org>
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