La formazione degli stati arcaici nella valle dell'Indo: le ipotesi e i dati archeologici

How did the early state-cities develop in the Indo-pakistani Subcontinent? There is an abundant scientific literature (and much theoretical speculation) on the formation of the state in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, but very little has been written on the opposite pole of the "urban revolution". The paper rejects diffusionism and offers a coherent chronological framing. Then it outlines the present state of knowledge on this subject, by reviewing critical indicators such as the changes in settlement patterns, the economic foundations, the evidence of early urban fortifications, the impact of Wittfogel's theories on the "hydraulic syndrome", and the development of administrative technologies centered on writing, seals and metrological innovations. As a result, the most peculiar features of early state formation in the Indus basin do not appear as bizarre, unexplained anomalies, but as many archaeological expressions of an exceedingly strong political role played by the late Chalcolithic-early Bronze Age élites of this part of Eurasia in the evolution of social differentiation