A century ago, no one was aware of the ancient Indus civilization - including Alexander the Great, whose Greek army invaded the valley of the Indus river in the fourth century BC. Then, in 1921, the civilization's ruins began to be excavated by British and Indian archaeologists. Now we know that the Indus civilization flourished in northwestern India for half a millennium from about 2600 to 1900 BC, and is worthy of comparison with the civilizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The beginning of Indian civilization, it is also possibly the origin of Hinduism. The Indus is an accessible introduction to every significant aspect of an extraordinary and tantalizing 'lost' civilization that combined artistic excellence, technological sophistication and economic vigour with social egalitarianism, political freedom and religious moderation. Book jacket.