Editing Indus Valley Civilisation (section)

== Chronology ==
{{Main|Periodisation of the Indus Valley Civilisation}}
{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}

The cities of the ancient Indus had "social hierarchies, their writing system, their large planned cities and their long-distance trade [which] mark them to archaeologists as a full-fledged 'civilisation.'"<ref name="Chandler 34–42">{{cite journal |last=Chandler |first=Graham |title=Traders of the Plain |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199905/traders.of.the.plain.htm |access-date=11 February 2007 |date=September–October 1999 |journal=Saudi Aramco World |pages=34–42 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218235318/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199905/traders.of.the.plain.htm |archive-date=18 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The mature phase of the Harappan civilisation lasted from {{Circa|2600}}–1900&nbsp;BCE. With the inclusion of the predecessor and successor cultures – Early Harappan and Late Harappan, respectively – the entire Indus Valley Civilisation may be taken to have lasted from the 33rd to the 14th&nbsp;centuries BCE. It is part of the Indus Valley Tradition, which also includes the pre-Harappan occupation of Mehrgarh, the earliest farming site of the Indus Valley.{{sfn|Kenoyer|1991}}{{sfn|Coningham|Young |2015|p=27}}

Several periodisations are employed for the IVC.{{sfn|Kenoyer|1991}}{{sfn|Coningham|Young|2015|p=27}} The most commonly used classifies the Indus Valley Civilisation into Early, Mature and Late Harappan Phase.{{sfn|Coningham|Young |2015|p=25}} An alternative approach by Shaffer divides the broader Indus Valley Tradition into four eras, the pre-Harappan "Early Food Producing Era", and the Regionalisation, Integration, and Localisation eras, which correspond roughly with the Early Harappan, Mature Harappan, and Late Harappan phases.<ref name="Shaffer 1992 loc=I:441–464, II:425–446"/>{{sfn|Manuel|2010|p=148}}

{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Dates (BCE)
! Main phase
! Mehrgarh phases
! Harappan phases
! Post-Harappan phases
! Era
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 7000–5500
! rowspan=1 | Pre-Harappan
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Mehrgarh|Mehrgarh I]]<br />(aceramic Neolithic)<!-- Do not add Bhirrana here. Reliable sources do not mention it as one of the earliest sites, despite datings of two charcoal samples, seeing as its earliest material culture clearly was a ceramic-using Chalcolithic stage of development rather than pre-ceramic Neolithic-->
|
|
! rowspan=1 | Early Food Producing Era
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 5500–3300
! rowspan=1 | Pre-Harappan/Early Harappan{{sfn|Kenoyer|1997|p=53}}
| style="text-align:center;" | Mehrgarh II–VI<br />(ceramic Neolithic)
|
|
! rowspan=3 | Regionalisation Era<br /><small>{{Circa|4000}}–2500/2300 (Shaffer){{sfn|Manuel|2010|p=149}}<br />{{Circa|5000}}–3200 (Coningham & Young){{sfn|Coningham|Young|2015|p=145}}</small>
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 3300–2800
! rowspan=2 | Early Harappan{{sfn|Kenoyer|1997|p=53}}<br /><small>{{Circa|3300}}–2800 (Mughal){{sfn|Kenoyer|1991|p=335}}{{sfn|Kenoyer|1997|p=53}}{{sfn|Parpola|2015|p=17}}<br />{{Circa|5000}}–2800 (Kenoyer)</small>{{sfn|Kenoyer|1997|p=53}}
|
| style="text-align:center;" | Harappan 1<br />(Ravi Phase; [[Hakra Ware culture|Hakra Ware]])
| style="text-align:center;" |
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2800–2600
| style="text-align:center;" | Mehrgarh VII
| style="text-align:center;" | Harappan 2<br />(Kot Diji Phase,<br />Nausharo I)
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2600–2450
! rowspan=3 | Mature Harappan<br/>(Indus Valley Civilisation)
|
| style="text-align:center;" | Harappan 3A (Nausharo II)
|
! rowspan=3 | Integration Era
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2450–2200
|
| style="text-align:center;" | Harappan 3B
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2200–1900
|
| style="text-align:center;" | Harappan 3C
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 1900–1700
! rowspan=2 | Late Harappan
|
| style="text-align:center;" | Harappan 4
| rowspan=2 style="text-align:center;" | [[Cemetery H]]{{sfn|Kenoyer|1991|p=333}}<br />[[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture|Ochre Coloured Pottery]]{{sfn|Kenoyer|1991|p=333}}
! rowspan=2 | Localisation Era
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 1700–1300
|
| style="text-align:center;" | Harappan 5
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 1300–600
! rowspan=2 | Post-Harappan<br />[[Iron Age India]]
|
|
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Painted Gray Ware|Painted Grey Ware]] (1200–600)<br />[[Vedic period]] ({{Circa|1500}}–500)
! Regionalisation<br /><small>{{Circa|1200}}–300 (Kenoyer){{sfn|Kenoyer|1997|p=53}}<br />{{Circa|1500}}{{sfn|Kenoyer|1991|p=336}}–600 (Coningham & Young){{sfn|Coningham|Young|2015|p=28}}</small>
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 600–300
|
|
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Northern Black Polished Ware]] (Iron Age) (700–200)<br />[[Second urbanisation]] ({{Circa|500}}–200)
!Integration{{sfn|Coningham|Young|2015|p=28}}
|}