Synopsis The book contains a selection of papers presented at the 7th Harvard Roundtable on Ethnogenesis of South and  Central Asia co-organized by the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University and Research Institute for Humanity and nature (RIHN), Kyoto, Japan.

The papers included are: 1 The Origin, Context and Function of the Indus Script:  Recent Insights from Harappa by J.M. Kenoyer, 2. Faunal Studies in India: Methodological issues and Prospects by P.P. Joglekar, 3. Early Farmers: Issues of Spread and Migration with Respects to the Indian Subcontinent by P. Bellwood, 4. A New Indus Seal Excavated  at Gonur ( Turkmenistan) in November 204 by Asko Parpola, 5. South Asian Agricultural terms in old Indo- Aryan by M. Witzel, 6. Proto-Dravidian Agriculture by F.C. Southworth, &. How many Proto-Munda Words in Sanskrit?: With Special Reference to agricultural Vocabulary by Toshiki Osada, 8. Silence Before Sedentism and the Advent of Cash-Crops by D.Q. Fuller, 9. Indo- European Epics and Comparative Mathods: Pentadics Structures in Homer and the Mahabharata by N. Allen. 10. Ashvin-and nasatya in the Rigvrda and their Prehistoric Background by T. Goto, and 11. Creation Myths by M. Witzel.