Uncontacted contemporaries · 2,000 overlapping years

Indus Valley Civilization Jomon Culture

For 2,000 years — from 3,300 BCE to 1,300 BCE — both civilizations existed simultaneously. Neither this dataset nor the historical record shows any documented trade, war, or diplomatic contact between them.

14,000 BCE 300 BCE

Indus Valley Civilization

3,300 BCE–1,300 BCE

Jomon Culture

14,000 BCE–300 BCE

↑ Overlap begins, 3,300 BCE

Indus Valley Civilization

Indus River Basin, South Asia

A Bronze Age civilization of remarkably uniform, well-planned cities whose script remains undeciphered today.

Jomon Culture

Japanese archipelago

A remarkably long-lived hunter-gatherer culture in Japan, notable for producing some of the world's earliest pottery long before agriculture took hold.

Traits both developed independently

With no documented contact, any shared trait below represents independent development rather than transmission from one to the other.

Long-distance trade Seafaring

Indus Valley Civilization only

Monumental architecture
Bronze metallurgy
Irrigation agriculture
Urban planning

Jomon Culture only

No traits unique to Jomon Culture in this comparison.