Includes bibliographical references (pages 526-555) and index.

Ch. 1. The discoveries of Stone Age sites and tools, c. 1860-c.1950 -- Ch. 2. Hominid fossils, earliest stone tools, and India in the current scheme of human evolution -- Ch. 3. Palaeolithic sites, sequences, and materials -- Ch. 4. Palaeolithic India : a summation of historical knowledge -- Ch. 5. The Mesolithic evidence -- Ch. 6. Problem of the beginning of food production in India and the evidence from Mehrgarh -- Ch. 7. Beyond Mehrgarh : the growth of villages from Baluchistan to Western Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat -- Ch. 8. Origin and chronology of the Harappan or Indus civilization -- Ch. 9. Distribution and morphological features of mature Harappan settlements -- Ch. 10. Aspects of the Indus civilization -- Ch. 11. Late Harappan phase and the legacy of the Indus civilization -- Ch. 12. Beginning of rice agriculture in the Central Ganga Plain and other issues -- Ch. 13. Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures outside the Harappan orbit -- Ch. 14. The beginning of iron -- Ch. 15. The foundations of early historic India -- Ch. 16. Beginning of early historic India : chronology, ancient geographical units, and geo-political orbits -- Ch. 17. Early historic cities -- Ch. 18. The material basis of life : settlements, technology, agriculture, and trade -- Ch. 19. Art and architecture -- Ch. 20. Inscriptions, coins, religions -- Ch. 21. Multiple and shifting centers of power, A.D. c.7th-c.13th centuries -- Ch. 22. Settlements, irrigation, technology, trade -- Ch. 23. Inscriptions and coins -- Ch. 24. Temples, monasteries, sculpture, and painting -- Ch. 25. Archaeology of India : a general perspective -- App. I. Archaeology of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadveep and Minicoy --

App. II. History of India archaeology -- App. III. Conservation -- App. IV. The Aryan issue -- App. V. Some recent developments (2005-6).