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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.23582 |
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Table of Contents:
- We present a quantitative analysis of the frequency distribution of unicorn seal attributes from the Harappan Civilization (c.\ 2600--1900 BCE), reinterpreting published typological data through the lens of network science. We propose an information architecture for Harappan seals in which the unicorn motif serves as a commercial network marker, the offering stand variant encodes guild identity, and the script conveys transactional and administrative metadata. Under this interpretation, the frequency distribution of offering stand styles -- a proxy for guild size -- is consistent with a power law ($α\approx 2.3$--$2.6$ from constrained reconstruction; bin-mean estimate $α\approx 2.18$), significantly outperforming an exponential fit ($R = 37.3$, $p < 0.001$; exponential independently ruled out via goodness-of-fit bootstrap, $p < 0.001$), with no alternative heavy-tailed model fitting significantly better. The distribution of seal counts across archaeological sites similarly follows a power law ($α\approx 1.55$, KS $D = 0.094$, $p = 0.019$ vs.\ exponential). Both distributions exhibit the heavy-tailed, hub-dominated structure characteristic of scale-free networks. These findings suggest that Harappan trade was organized as a self-organizing, scale-free commercial network, with implications for understanding the civilization's resilience and eventual decline. Analysis of the complete unfiltered per-type frequency data independently confirms power law structure ($p = 0.71$), validating the guild scale-free hypothesis across both constrained and complete methodologies. Exact per-type frequency data would further refine these estimates.