- In dus Vall ey Civi lization (2500?-1700 bc), earli est known civil ization of South Asia, corresp onding to the Bronz e Age cu ltures of ancient Egypt, Meso potamia, and Crete (Kríti). The remains of settle ments belonging to this culture have been found through out the Indus River valley in Pa kistan, west ward along the coast to the Iran ian border, in India's north western states as far east as New Delhi, and on the Oxus Ri ver in northern Afghanistan. The Indus Va lley civiliz ation enc ompass es one of the largest geo graphical areas covered by a single Bronze Age culture.
The Indus Valley civili zation was first defined by the British archaeo logist Sir John Marshall's diggings at Mohenjo-Daro and M. S. Vat's exca vations at HARRAPA (both in what is now Pakistan) in the 1920s, and it is sometimes called Hara ppān civilizatio n after the latter site. In 1946 the British arch aeologist Sir Mort imer Whe eler, excav ating at Hara ppā, located stylistic ally diffe rent pottery in the earliest occupied areas. Sub sequent discov eries at nearby Kot Diji established that this early pottery at Harappā belonged to the early Bronze Age Kot Diji culture. Since 1960 Indian, Pakistani, and Western scholars have defined several additional early Bronze Age cultures at Goth Āmri, Sothi, Gumla, and other sites in Pakistan, each of which has some traits in common and contribu ted to the formation of the Indus Valley civili zation.
