Many spectacular discoveries of archeaological significance have been made in the Indian subcontinent since the first appearance of Raymond and Bridget Allchin's book The Birth of Indian Civilization, for long the most authoritative and widely read text on its subject. Advances in related fields, particularly in geomorphology, palaeobotany and palaeoclimatology, have also radically altered our picture of the emergence of Indian civilisation. In The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan the authors have completely revised and rewritten their earlier work to present an integrated and dynamic account of human culture in South Asia. Drawing primarily upon the archaeological record, and supported by ethnographic, linguistic and historical evidence, the authors trace the origins and development of culture in India and Pakistan from its earliest roots in Palaeolithic times, through the rise and disintegration of the great Indus Civilization to the emergence of regional cultures, and the
