the Baluchistan communities . . . permits us to visualize the existence of little peasant states, each more or less self-contained, within a natural area such as the Zhob Valley, or those of the Kolwa and Maskai . . . there is no evidence of any uniform arbitrary standards accepted or imposed throughout the territory."1 But, as Civilization overcomes Culture, these very Amri settlements are succeeded by those of folk whose allegiance is not to a petty state but to an empire. Diversity is replaced by uniformity over an area incomparably vaster than anything we have yet seen in prehistoric India; a complete agreement in details of material culture is found over an area stretching from the Makran coast of Kathiawar, and northwards to the Himalayan foothills: a huge irregular triangle with the sides measuring 950 by 700 by 550 miles. From end to end of this territory, from some forty settlementsites, come pottery vessels of identical mass-produced types; houses are built of baked bricks of standard dimensions; stamp seals are used engraved with similar scenes and a uniform script, as yet unread; a standard system of weights is recognizable. While some sites are villages, others are small towns, and 350 miles apart stand two cities, each covering at least a square mile of ground, twin capitals of an empire. To a British archaeologist the inevitable parallel is the Roman Empire.2 This gigantic empire, twice the size of Old Kingdom Egypt, seems to have had two enormous metropolises: Harappā in the north and Mohenjo-daro in the south. Thus, in the third millennium B.C. we have in north-west India a huge Universal Empire encompassing large slices of modern Baluchistan, sind, and the Punjab. All the evidence points to a high degree of standardization and organization, implying strong centralization with full control over production and distribution, and probably a highly efficient system of taxation. The twin capital cities were laid out to a common ground plan and were roughly contemporary, although a transfer of the seat of government from one to the other is a distinct possibility. Towns were no longer laid out for military defence as in the old pre-imperial days-undoubtedly because a universal Roman type of peace prevailed throughout the "civilized" world of those times. The extremely advanced stage of standardization indicates the existence of a universally accepted commercial ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Piggott, Prehistoric India, p. 132. 2Ibid., p. 133. |