At the time Egypt’s pyramids were being constructed, one of the cradles of global civilisation grew up in the Indus Valley, around the borders of Pakistan and India. Its grid-planned cities produced sewerage networks, delicate artworks and an undeciphered writing system. Then a 900-year drought emptied its urban areas and sent its population back to a simpler, poorer village life on the plains of the Ganges.
Something grimly similar is happening right now.
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