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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

“Archaeological evidence does not give direct access to the possible social and political dimensions of the decline of the Harappan civilization. What it does indicate very clearly is that the Harappan culture underwent a gradual process of deurbanization.” Comment.

  • UPSC 2018
  • Indus Valley Civilization

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This statement draws a precise and defensible boundary around what material evidence can and cannot tell us about the end of the Harappan civilization. It concedes that archaeology is largely mute on the internal politics or social conflicts that may have accompanied decline, while asserting with confidence that the physical record shows something else entirely…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • What the Material Record Directly Shows: A Gradual De-Urbanization
  • Why the Same Evidence Cannot Directly Reveal Social and Political Causes
  • Competing Frameworks for the "Why" — and Their Evidentiary Limits
  • The Invasion and Internal-Conflict Hypothesis
  • Decline in Long-Distance Trade
  • Environmental and Geological Catastrophe Theories
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion
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