Although some scholars speculate that since the civilisation also existed in the basins of the now dried up Sarasvati River, it should be aptly called the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, while some call it the Harappan Civilization after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the 1920s.
尽管一些学者推测，鉴于这一文明也存在于如今已然干涸的萨拉斯瓦蒂河流域，将该文明称为“印度河-萨拉斯瓦蒂河文明”才算恰如其分，不过一些人称其为“哈拉帕文明”——得名于20世纪20年代在该区域发掘的第一个遗址“哈拉帕”。