Anatomically modern humans are thought to have arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000

and 55,000 years ago.[1] Settled life, which involves the transition from foraging to farming and
pastoralism, began in South Asia around 7,000 BCE; during this period, domestication of wheat and
barley, rapidly followed by that of goats, sheep, and cattle occurred.[2] By 4,500 BCE, settled life had
become more widely prevalent,[2] and eventually evolved into the Indus Valley Civilization. Considered
a cradle of civilisation,[3] the Indus Valley civilisation, which spread and flourished in the north-western
part of the Indian subcontinent from 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilisation in South Asia.[4] A
sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period,
from 2600 to 1900 BCE.[5] Indus Valley Civilisation was noted for developing new techniques in
handicraft, carnelian products, seal carving, metallurgy, urban planning, baked brick houses, efficient
drainage systems, water supply systems and clusters of large non-residential buildings.[6] This
civilisation collapsed at the start of the second millennium BCE and was later followed by the Iron Age
Vedic Civilisation.