Grid Cultivation: Intensive Agriculture Without Soil Depletion

The Seven Rivers civilization practiced grid cultivation — a diversified, intensive agriculture that fed millions for centuries without depleting the soils that made it possible.

Small Civilizations Led by Women: Matriarchy and Prehistoric Pacifism

When I study the birth of the Seven Rivers civilization, I am struck by what surrounds it: a constellation of small civilizations, heirs of local shamanism, characterized by their pacifism. Some of them were even led by women — which was far from common at the time. It is these civilizations I want to talk… Continue reading Small Civilizations Led by Women: Matriarchy and Prehistoric Pacifism

Les petites civilisations dirigées par des femmes : matriarcat et pacifisme préhistorique

Quand j’étudie la naissance de la civilisation des Sept Rivières, je suis frappé par ce qui l’entoure : une constellation de petites civilisations, héritières du chamanisme local, qui se caractérisent par leur pacifisme. Certaines d’entre elles étaient même dirigées par des femmes — ce qui n’était pas courant à cette époque. C’est de ces civilisations… Continue reading Les petites civilisations dirigées par des femmes : matriarcat et pacifisme préhistorique

The Agnistoma: Fire Sacrifice of the Vedic Spring

In the civilization of the Seven Rivers — the Sapta Sindhu — all of life was organized around sacrifice. And among all the sacrifices, the Agnistoma is the one I place at the centre: the great “praise of Agni,” celebrated in spring, which condenses into five days what this civilization had most essential to transmit.… Continue reading The Agnistoma: Fire Sacrifice of the Vedic Spring

L’Agnistoma : sacrifice du feu et messe du printemps védique

Dans la civilisation des Sept Rivières — la Sapta Sindhu —, la vie entière s’organise autour du sacrifice. Et parmi tous les sacrifices, l’Agnistoma est celui que je place au centre : la grande « louange d’Agni », célébrée au printemps, qui condense en cinq jours ce que cette civilisation avait de plus essentiel à… Continue reading L’Agnistoma : sacrifice du feu et messe du printemps védique

Lapis Lazuli — from Badakhshan to the Workshops of Mohenjo-Daro

Four thousand five hundred years ago, a stone of deep blue crossed the known world. Quarried in the mountains of Badakhshan — in what is now north-eastern Afghanistan, beyond the Hindu Kush — it travelled two thousand five hundred kilometres through passes, deserts and rivers to reach the workshops of the great cities of the… Continue reading Lapis Lazuli — from Badakhshan to the Workshops of Mohenjo-Daro