The Indus Valley Tradition is a term used to refer to the cultures of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers, stretching from the Neolithic Mehrgarh period down to the Iron Age or Indo-Gangetic Tradition.The Indus Valley Tradition is divided into four eras, and each era can be divided into various phases.

A phase is an archaeological unit possessing traits sufficiently characteristic to distinguish it from all other units similarly conceived