Sun Jan 05 19:10:52 UTC 2025: ## International Conference Celebrates Indus Valley Civilization Centenary in Chennai
**Chennai, January 6, 2025** – A three-day international conference commemorating the centenary of the Indus Valley Civilization’s discovery opened in Chennai on Sunday. Organized by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology and the Roja Muthiah Research Library, the event brought together scholars and researchers from around the world.
Professor Gregg Jamison of the University of Wisconsin highlighted the significant cultural continuities between the Indus Valley Civilization and later South Asian cultures, emphasizing the importance of deciphering the Indus script to further understand this legacy. He stressed the dynamic nature of cultures and the need for continued research and innovative approaches.
Former bureaucrat and Indus researcher R. Balakrishnan echoed these sentiments, calling the conference a historic moment. He emphasized the far-reaching influence of the Indus Valley Civilization across the Indian subcontinent, noting the sophisticated urban planning evident in cities like Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Rakhigarhi, and Dholavira, which featured advanced sanitation systems and grid-patterned streets. Mr. Balakrishnan also connected the sophisticated urban planning to Sangam literature, suggesting that the “High-West: Low-East” dichotomy in Indus cities could be linked to polysemous directional terms in Sangam texts.
The conference also addressed the Tamil Nadu state government’s initiative to offer a $1 million prize for deciphering the Indus script and its plans for a statue of Sir John Marshall, reflecting the state’s commitment to understanding and celebrating the legacy of this ancient civilization. The conference aims to foster collaboration and discussion among scholars to advance research on this pivotal period in Indian history.
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