In 1924 the scholar-archaeologist John Marshall made an announcement that dramatically altered existing perceptions of South Asia’s antiquity: He proclaimed the discovery of the civilization of the Indus valley. Marshall’s news conveyed one of the most monumental discoveries in the history of human civilization: the world over, it became apparent that this was on the same scale as the findings of Heinrich Schliemann (show unearthed Troy) and Arthur Evans (who dug out Minoan Crete). The Troy and Crete stories have been well told, several times over. But a detailed, archivally rich, and completely accessible narrative of the people, processes, places, and puzzles that led up to Marshall’s proclamation on the Indus civilization has, like the civilization itself, long remained buried. Now, for the first time in this book, we have the whole story, enchantingly told. Spanning nearly a century, this is a tale of men such as Charles Masson, who first described Harappa’s first excavator; discerning diggers such as Daya Ram Sahni, Rakhaldas Banerji, and Madho Sarup vats who uncovered Harappa and Mohenjodaro; the Italian linguist-turned -explorer Luigi Pip Tessitory, who never lived to ell the tale of his exploits; and John Marshall, a Cambridge classicist brought by Lord Curzon to India as director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, who finally pieced into place a maze of enigmatic data on the long forgotten Indus civilization. Finding Forgotten Cities combines an astonishing amount of detail, hitherto undisclosed, on the lives and times of these men, It comprises a powerful narrative history of how India’s antiquity was unexpectedly unearthed. It will interest every serious readers of history and anyone who likes to read an utterly fascinating story.
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