AN author is to launch the second in his series of novels set in a prehistoric civilisation.

Writer Dr Shankar Kashyap is to launch the second book in his six-novel Harappa series in an event at the Oriental Museum in Durham on November 7.

“The Fall of Shuruppak” is a semi-fictional story telling life and adventures in the highly developed and sophisticated Harappan civilization that lived in the Indus Valley in the Bronze Age.

The books are set in the third millennium BC, about the time Stonehenge was being built, when the Harappan Civilisation was the largest empire in the world, covering a million square miles, before it collapsed due to drought and a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Padma Rao, artistic director with Arts Connect, said: “Dr Kashyap has reconstructed the Harappan life with meticulous research.

“He is an avid researcher of the Indus Valley civilization. Making use of the new findings from the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, he has woven an engaging and compelling story.

Rachel Barclay, curator at the Oriental Museum, added “This is a part of history that is still being uncovered.

“It had been forgotten until relatively recently and it was only in the first half of the 20th century that serious excavation began.

“It is still ongoing and new discoveries are being made all of the time adding to our understanding of Indus Valley civilisation.”

Dr Chris Davis, specialist in South Asian archaeology at Durham University, will speak at the launch event.