Indus Priest King
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~Pakistan: A Peoples History~
Part IV: The Aryan Migration
By 1500 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization had all but collapsed (Late Harappan period), however reasons for why it collapsed are still a mystery. Theories suggest the drying up of an ancient river to possible internal conflicts. To date, historians and archeologists are trying to determine the cause for the collapse. Interestingly, around the same time as the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization, the region witnessed a mass migration of nomadic people from Central Asia referred to as the "Indo-Iranians" or Aryans. The Aryans, from which the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians developed, formed as a distinguishable culture at the Central Asian steppes north of the Caspian Sea as the Sintashta culture (2100–1800 BCE), present-day Kazakhstan, and developed further as the Andronovo culture (1800–1400 BCE), around the Aral Sea. The Aryans then migrated southwards to the Bactria-Margiana Culture, from which they borrowed their distinctive religious beliefs and practices.
~ Split ~
The Aryans then split into two groups sometime between 1800 to 1600 BCE in Bactria. One group migrated in a south-eastward direction over Hindu Kush mountains and into the Indus Valley, while the other migrated a southwestern direction and settled on the Iranian plateau.
~ Migration Into Indus Valley ~
The Aryan migrations was part of a slow diffusion of Indo-Iranian people from the Pontic–Caspian steppe towards the Indus Valley that continued for thousands of years from 1800 BCE until approximately 1100 BCE. By then, a unique culture had formed where the merging of Aryan people and culture with the Harappan people and culture occurred, giving rise to Indo-Aryans.
There is strong evidence to suggest the Indo-Aryans may have adopted and absorbed much of the remnants of the Indus Harappan cultures. The merging of the Aryan and Harappan cultures and languages took place by patron-client systems, which welcomed absorption and acculturation of other groups and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted. The merging of the Aryan-Harappan cultures and beliefs would eventually give rise to the Vedic period of the Indus Valley between 1500 to 500 BCE.
Next > Part V: Vedic Civilization
