In case you haven't heard of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dawn_of_Everything

also: >the material record offers indirect evidence for distributed authority. Indus seals, small stone stamps that likely facilitated exchange and credit, were found primarily in private residences at Mohenjo-daro rather than in temples or central administrative buildings.

Speculative, of course. But cool data & approach. And it doesn't have to prove anything, except that it's plausible there are other ways to structure societies, that can have different results.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/014345532X?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_...

I am not related to the author in anyway. i heard about this book on a podcast and bought it.

I have a pet theory about Indus Valley script - inscriptions on the seals are so short and unique because they are just name signatures, to stamp other objects.

Having to be durable, they were the only inscribed objects that survived.

Genetically and linguistically, it's indisputable that the Indo-Aryan languages were transplants brought in by an external group. This was followed by Islamic invasions and then British imperialism, followed by partition, and the recent ascendency of Hindu nationalism.

Online, at least, the levels of hatred and resentment seem off-the-charts. China, on the other hand seems to be growing by leaps-and-bounds, while India seems to be getting consumed by internal hatreds, and Pakistan seems to focus on the security threat posed by India, enriching a political and military elite at the expense of its own development.

I have to wonder if we'll ever find out the exact point where it all went wrong.