This chapter provides a summary of the broad contours of urban life toward the end of the Holocene, with a focus on cultural processes in three phases of the Harappan culture, Early, Mature, and Late Harappan periods. The earliest evidence of settled village life in South Asia was documented at Kili Ghul Mohammad in the Quetta Valley and at the site of Mehrgarh at the foothills of the Bolan Pass on the Kacchi Plain. Elements of the Harappan tradition developed at Mehrgarh but there is also a long sequence of continuous cultural development in the Indus Valley itself. A short survey of the Harappan achievements demonstrates an advanced socioeconomic and technological fabric, a complex economic infrastructure, and political organization that involved international relations. Climate change significantly impacted international trade and the resulting economic decline affected the Harappan lifestyle, which is reflected in their material culture.