See:Previous report http://asi.nic.in/pdf_data/rakhigarhi_excavation_report_new.pdf Excavations at Rakhigarhi 1997 to 2000 (Dr. Amarendranath)
Rakhigarhi seal with the carving of a tiger is reported by Prof. Shinde of Deccan College.Here is a decipherment using the rebus-metonymy layered Indus Scipt cipher in Meluhha language of Indian sprachbund (language union):
kul ‘tiger’ (Santali); kōlu id. (Telugu) kōlupuli = Bengal tiger (Telugu)
कोल्हा [ kōlhā ] कोल्हें [kōlhēṃ] A jackal (Marathi)
Rebus: kol, kolhe, ‘the koles, iron smelters speaking a language akin to that
of Santals’ (Santali) kol ‘working in iron’ (Tamil)
I suggest that the language spoken by the Sarasvati's children was Meluhha
(Mleccha), a spoken, vernacular version of Vedic chandas. This may also be
called Proto-Prakritam, not unlike Ardhamaadhi identified by Jules Bloch in
his work: Formation of Marathi Language.
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
May 18, 2015
What did Harappans eat, how did they look? Haryana has the answers
- Riddhi Doshi, Hindustan Times |
- Updated: May 17, 2015 22:04 IST
Mound 6 in this village is the site of a complex structure of a Harappan home. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
Excavations revealed the outer wall of a Harappan house. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
![Harappa]( "Harappa")
A toy animal made of clay found in the excavation. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
![Harappan]( "Harappan")
An ancient business seal bearing the pattern of a tiger is among the antiquities found in the excavation. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
Along the banks of the Ghaggar-Hakra river lie the graves of a typical family. The woman was likely the daughter of a wealthy trader. In death, she wears her favourite shell and copper bangles. A large pot placed at her head would have been filled with foodgrain and objects meant to make her journey to the next world a comfortable one.
She is buried in the centre of a large graveyard, as are most women. This, and the large number of objects in the women's graves is believed to indicate that women had wealth and status in this society. Buried beside her is the body of a boy, most likely her son, who probably died at the same time. Close to her, his head pointing north as well, lies the grave of a man, most likely her husband. Their home would have been one of those in the 'urban' settlement outside the graveyard.
The houses here are rectangular, with three or four rooms each, made of mud and baked bricks in extra-strong layers of alternating horizontal and vertical tiers. The floor is covered in clay, decorated in a mosaic of coloured stone. A small granary attached to the home, also made of brick, kept their food safe.
Wheels of varying sizes found in the excavation. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
Scattered within the remains of the home are the child's toys - little dogs, bulls and deer made of clay. It's hard to tell exactly what the man did for a living, since he and his family were laid to rest approximately 5,000 years ago.
But the team of archaeologists working at this Harappan site of Rakhigarhi, 90 minutes east of Hisar in Haryana, have excavated skeletal remains with DNA samples intact and sent them to a special DNA and palaeontology lab in South Korea for testing - a first for a Harappan site.
Soon, the DNA could tell them approximately how old these people were, offer hints as to what killed them, even allow scientists to recreate their faces to give us an idea of what they looked like.
The three skeletons were unearthed between January and May, along with two symbolic, empty graves, believed to have been dedicated to people who disappeared or went missing.
The skeletons were found in one of three mounds excavated by a team led by archaeologist Vasant Shinde, vice-chancellor of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune. Their findings, based on preliminary research, were revealed last month.
Bangles made of clay and stones belonging to the Harappan culture. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
"Professor Shinde and his team's recent excavations are phenomenal and pathbreaking for the archaeological study of Harappan sites in the country," says archaeologist Kishore Gaikwad of the Mumbai university, who specialises in the study of ancient Indian history. "It is exciting to know that we could soon have an idea of what the Harappans looked like, and know more about their socio-cultural life."
While numerous skeletons have been uncovered from Harappan sites, including this one, the advanced technology to glean DNA data from them is recent.
"We attempted to extract such data in the last few excavations on the site, between 2012 and 2014, but failed, because we didn't handle the skeletons as required and contemporary DNA got mixed up in their DNA," says Shinde. "This time around, we wore surgical masks, gloves and coats while excavating the skeletons."
In addition to the skeletal remains, soil samples in which parasite eggs could be found have been sent to the lab in South Korea. The results are expected in August.
LAYER UPON LAYER
If the DNA samples are the most exciting find, the 22-metre-deep trench unearthed at Rakhigarhi is a close second. This is one of the deepest trenches of any Harappan site, offering insight into two different eras of Harappan culture - from 4000 BC to 2600 BC, and from 2600 BC to 2000 BC.
If the DNA samples are the most exciting find, the 22-metre-deep trench unearthed at Rakhigarhi is a close second. This is one of the deepest trenches of any Harappan site, offering insight into two different eras of Harappan culture - from 4000 BC to 2600 BC, and from 2600 BC to 2000 BC.
This wall in Rakhigarhi, Hisar district created naturally over the years shows the different stages of Harappan culture. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
"After days of excavation, we reached a depth of 14 metres and I thought we were done," says Yogesh Yadav, a PhD scholar at Deccan College. "But we weren't. The trench was a phenomenal 8 metres deeper, with a whole lot more to unearth."
Through the layers, one can trace the Harappan culture's economic growth, its advancements in architecture, art and crafts, and even aspects of the structure of their society.
"Nowhere on this or any other Harappan site has there been evidence of a culture of slaves or any kind or of work done through the use of force," says Shinde. "This suggests a relatively equitable society where work was done collectively."
When it comes to trade and craft, the layers suggest that, from initially making jewellery from materials such as shell and beads imported from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the civilisation progressed to using intricate tin-glazed pottery, then lapis lazuli imported all the way from Afghanistan, and finally, trinkets made of 18-carat gold imported from the Hatti gold mines in Karnataka.
A portion of clay pottery with engravings found in the excavation. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
A rare find is a mini, unfinished seal featuring an intricately carved tiger, made of steatite or soapstone. Usually a seal features writing beneath the image. On this seal, there is just a blank space for text, suggesting that the site housed a seal-making workshop, says Shinde.
The team also found carnelian beads decorated with alkaline material, identical to beads found in ancient Mesopotamia, a region now comprising Iraq and parts of Iran, Syria and Turkey.
"By 3000 BC, the Harappans were already trading far and wide and had a deep understanding of art, architecture and material use. They also had the technology to build complicated homes and made metal jewellery," Shinde says.
SITE MAP
The Rakhigarhi excavation is part of a research project begun by Deccan College four years ago.
"The site was discovered in 1965, and was pegged at 40, 65 and 216 hectares respectively during three different surveys between 1965 and 2011," says Shinde.
The Rakhigarhi excavation is part of a research project begun by Deccan College four years ago.
"The site was discovered in 1965, and was pegged at 40, 65 and 216 hectares respectively during three different surveys between 1965 and 2011," says Shinde.
Prof Vasant S Shinde, Vice Chancellor of Deccan College and head archaeologist for the excavations inspects Mound #4. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
![Harappan]( "Harappan")
Mound #4 dug up to the natural level of earth, at 22 metres, reveals the various stages of Harappan culture. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
![Harappan]( "Harappan")
Painted Harappan pottery found during the excavation. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
![Harappa]( "Harappa")
Modern-day pottery in Rakhigarhi bear resemblance to the ones found in excavation. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
After three years of painstaking excavation to determine its edges, Shinde's team released its findings in August 2014 - the size of the Harappan site was not 216 hectares but 350 hectares, making it 50 hectares larger than the famous Mohenjo Daro site in Sind in present-day Pakistan, which had so far been considered the biggest Harappan site on the subcontinent.
While still awaiting the results of DNA testing and analysis of the samples and artefacts collected, the team of six - Shinde, PhD scholars Nagraja Rao, Yogesh Yadav, Shalmali Mali and Malvika Chatterjee, and archaeologist Nilesh Jadhav - has already discovered enough material evidence to reveal in some cases, and confirm in others, a few vignettes of Harappan life circa 4000 BC.
These include pieces of pottery, semi-precious beads and stones, tiles, seals, ornaments, stone blades, toys and vessels.
There is now a plan for a museum here, where visitors can view some of these artefacts and perhaps tour a section of the excavated 'town'.
An agricultural field, which is a former excavation site. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)
Already, the remote village of veiled women and hookah-smoking men seated on charpais - with a khap panchayat centre in the centre - has begun to open up to homestays and research scholars and students from around the world head to Rakhigarhi.
"Over the past two years, about 5,000 people have visited the site," says local Congress leader Dinesh Cheoran. "The homestays and excavation work are providing employment, so the panchayat has already sanctioned land for the museum."
In the meanwhile, it's business as usual. The villagers continue to plough their fields and scrub their cattle in the village pond and, every now and then, stumble upon human skeletons from thousands of years ago.
![http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2015/5/1705pg16a.jpg]()
![http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2015/5/1705pg16b.jpg]()
In the meanwhile, it's business as usual. The villagers continue to plough their fields and scrub their cattle in the village pond and, every now and then, stumble upon human skeletons from thousands of years ago.
Published: March 27, 2014 22:24 IST | Updated: March 27, 2014 22:24 IST CHENNAI, March 27, 2014
Rakhigarhi, the biggest Harappan site
The newly discovered mound number nine situated to the west of the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi in Hisar district, Haryana. Photo: Vasant Shinde
Bigger than Mohenjo-daro, claims expert
The discovery of two more mounds in January at the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi in Hisar district, Haryana, has led to archaeologists establishing it as the biggest Harappan civilisation site. Until now, specialists in the Harappan civilisation had argued that Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan was the largest among the 2,000 Harappan sites known to exist in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The archaeological remains at Mohenjo-daro extend around 300 hectares. Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Ganweriwala (all in Pakistan) and Rakhigarhi and Dholavira (both in India) are ranked as the first to the fifth biggest Harappan sites.
“With the discovery of two additional mounds, the total area of the Rakhigarhi site will be 350 hectares,” asserted Professor Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor/Director, Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute, a deemed-to-be university in Pune. The two mounds are in addition to the seven mounds already discovered at Rakhigarhi, about 160 km from New Delhi. The eighth and ninth mounds, spread over 25 hectares each, are situated to the east and west of the main site. Villagers have destroyed much of these two mounds for cultivation. A team of archaeology teachers and students of the Deccan College discovered them when they surveyed the site in January.
Dr. Shinde, a specialist in Harappan civilisation and Director of the current excavation at Rakhigarhi, called it “an important discovery.” He said: “Our discovery makes Rakhigarhi the biggest Harappan site, bigger than Mohenjo-daro. The two new mounds show that the Rakhigarhi site was quite extensive. They have the same material as the main site. So they are part of the main site. On the surface of mound nine, we noticed some burnt clay clots and circular furnaces, indicating this was the industrial area of the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi.”
Dr. Shinde had earlier led the excavations done by the Deccan College at the Harappan sites of Farmana, Girawad and Mitathal, all in Haryana.
On the surface of mound eight were found terracotta bangles, cakes, and pottery pieces, typical of the Harappan civilisation, said Nilesh P. Jadhav, Research Assistant, Department of Archaeology, Deccan College.
Artefacts found
From January 10, the Deccan College team has excavated five trenches on the slope of the mound four and another trench in the burial mound numbered seven. The excavation in mound four has yielded a cornucopia of artefacts, including a seal and a potsherd, both inscribed with the Harappan script; potsherds painted with concentric circles, fish-net designs, wavy patterns, floral designs and geometric designs; terracotta animal figurines, cakes, hopscotches and shell bangles, all belonging to the Mature Harappan phase of the civilisation. The five trenches have revealed residential rooms, a bathroom with a soak jar, drainages, a hearth, a platform etc … The residential rooms were built with mud bricks. The complex revealed different structural phases, said Kanti Pawar, assistant professor, Department of Archaeology, Deccan College.
Much of the Harappan site at Rakhigarhi lies buried under the present-day village, with several hundreds of houses built on the archaeological remains. The villagers’ main occupation is cultivation of wheat and mustard, and rearing of buffaloes.
Making cow dung cakes is a flourishing industry. There is rampant encroachment on all the mounds despite the Archaeological Survey of India fencing them. Amarendra Nath of the ASI had excavated the Rakhigarhi site from 1997 to 2000.
An important problem about the Harappan civilisation is the origin of its culture, Dr. Shinde said. The Harappan civilisation had three phases: the early Harappan from circa 3,500 BCE to circa 2,600 BCE, the mature Harappan which lasted from circa 2,600 BCE to circa 2000 BCE, and the late Harappan from circa 2000 BCE to 1,600 BCE.
Dr. Shinde said: “It was earlier thought that the origin of the early Harappan phase took place in Sind, in present-day Pakistan, because many sites had not been discovered then. In the last ten years, we have discovered many sites in this part [Haryana] and there are at least five Harappan sites such as Kunal, Bhirrana, Farmana, Girawad and Mitathal, which are producing early dates and where the early Harappan phase could go back to 5000 BCE. We want to confirm it. Rakhigarhi is an ideal candidate to believe that the beginning of the Harappan civilisation took place in the Ghaggar basin in Haryana and it gradually grew from here. If we get the confirmation, it will be interesting because the origin would have taken place in the Ghaggar basin in India and slowly moved to the Indus valley. That is one of the important aims of our current excavation at Rakhigarhi.”
Printable version | May 18, 2015 12:51:03 PM | http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/rakhigarhi-the-biggest-harappan-site/article5840414.ece
Harappan surprises
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Harappan surprises
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Archaeology students of Deccan College, Pune, who were part of the excavation team.![]()
Professor Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor/Director, Deccan College, with a student, Pranjali Waghmere, in a trench.![]()
Students of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and Deccan College sieving the soil for artefacts.![]()
A drainage structure, a washing platform (top) and other structures of a residential complex unearthed in RGR-4. This mound could have housed the citadel where the ruling elite lived.![]()
Mound number nine, discovered by the Deccan College team in January 2014. This is about 20 hectares in size, but half of it has been destroyed for farming. The presence of burnt clay clots and circular furnaces here indicates that this mound might have been the industrial area of the Harappan site at Rakhigarhi.![]()
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The soak jar and bathing platform of a residence of the mature Harappan period (2600-1900 B.C.)![]()
A granary built of mud bricks. It has seven small chambers, the walls of which are lined with lime and decomposed grass to absorb moisture and ward off insects.![]()
Broken lids, miniature pottery, perforated jars and other artefacts excavated from RGR-4 between January and April 2014.![]()
Ritual pottery excavated from a symbolic burial at Rakhigarhi.![]()
Beautifully painted potsherds found in the trenches in RGR-4.![]()
Terracotta artefacts such as animal figurines, bangles, cakes and lids, and beads made out of carnelian, lapis lazuli and agate unearthed from RGR-4.![]()
A concrete shed for buffaloes built on top of RGR-4, which the ASI had fenced off as a protected area.![]()
A mechanised ploughshare used by a wheat field owner to dig up mud to make bricks. In the process, many Harappan burials got destroyed. Adjacent to the ploughshare is the symbolic Harappan burial excavated by the Deccan College team, which yielded ritual pottery.![]()
Sheep being herded by a shepherd after grazing on mound three (RGR-3). A dargah sits on top of this fenced-off mound.![]()
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Professor Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor/Director, Deccan College, with a student, Pranjali Waghmere, in a trench.
Students of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and Deccan College sieving the soil for artefacts.
A drainage structure, a washing platform (top) and other structures of a residential complex unearthed in RGR-4. This mound could have housed the citadel where the ruling elite lived.
Mound number nine, discovered by the Deccan College team in January 2014. This is about 20 hectares in size, but half of it has been destroyed for farming. The presence of burnt clay clots and circular furnaces here indicates that this mound might have been the industrial area of the Harappan site at Rakhigarhi.
The soak jar and bathing platform of a residence of the mature Harappan period (2600-1900 B.C.)
A granary built of mud bricks. It has seven small chambers, the walls of which are lined with lime and decomposed grass to absorb moisture and ward off insects.
Broken lids, miniature pottery, perforated jars and other artefacts excavated from RGR-4 between January and April 2014.
Ritual pottery excavated from a symbolic burial at Rakhigarhi.
Beautifully painted potsherds found in the trenches in RGR-4.
Terracotta artefacts such as animal figurines, bangles, cakes and lids, and beads made out of carnelian, lapis lazuli and agate unearthed from RGR-4.
A concrete shed for buffaloes built on top of RGR-4, which the ASI had fenced off as a protected area.
A mechanised ploughshare used by a wheat field owner to dig up mud to make bricks. In the process, many Harappan burials got destroyed. Adjacent to the ploughshare is the symbolic Harappan burial excavated by the Deccan College team, which yielded ritual pottery.
Sheep being herded by a shepherd after grazing on mound three (RGR-3). A dargah sits on top of this fenced-off mound.
Life goes on as usual in Rakhigarhi. An old woman sweeps the lane in front of her house.![]()
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Schoolchildren of Rakhigarhi.
A woman making cow dung cakes, which are used as cooking fuel. Heaps of them arranged in pyramidal shapes dot the protected mound of RGR-4
Mound number two (RGR-2), which was excavated by Amarendra Nath of the Archaeological Survey of India between 1997 and 2000.
At a pond situated at the edge of the village. Buffaloes and cows roam the lanes and alleys of Rakhigarhi.![]()
Elderly residents of a village, on the way to Rakhigarhi.
A Rakhigarhi resident surveys RGR-2, which has a periphery dotted with houses. This makes it difficult to excavate the site completely.
Wheat fields in Rakhigarhi.
With the recent discovery of two mounds, Rakhigarhi in Haryana has staked its claim to be the biggest Harappan civilisation site out of an estimated 2,000 sites in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Text by T.S. SUBRAMANIAN and photographs by D. KRISHNAN
LIFE went on as usual in an early morning in March at Rakhigarhi where history lies buried. Men sat in groups on cots, smoking hookahs, outside their homes in the rural hinterland of Haryana. Women carried cattle dung on their heads to turn them into dry circular cakes to be used as cooking fuel. Hundreds of buffaloes roamed the lanes and alleys. The smell of dung was thick in the air.
We set out to Rakhigarhi around 6-30 a.m. on March 8 from the farmhouse we had been staying in, with Professor Vasant Shinde leading the way. In our group were Professor G.B. Deglurkar and his family members. Shinde is the Vice-Chancellor of Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, a deemed university in Pune. Deglurkar, a noted historian, is its president. It was a trip worth remembering.
On a big mound we had climbed, dung cakes were arranged like pyramids or domes to a height of about five feet. The villagers have encroached on this and other nearby mounds in the location which the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has fenced off as a “protected” area. We were told that a dargah sprang up on a mound some years ago. On top of another stood a concrete shed for buffaloes.
Open fields of fully grown wheat and mustard crop stretched as far as the eye could see on both sides of the road. “All this is high-quality, high-yield wheat because this is the catchment area of the river Drishadwati, or the Chautang,” said Shinde. “The groundwater level is high, just 10 or 15 feet below the surface. This area is, therefore, ideal for large-scale cultivation. The fertile nature of this region is the reason for the existence of the biggest Harappan site at Rakhigarhi,” said Shinde, a specialist in the Harappan civilisation.
With the recent discovery of the two mounds in addition to the seven discovered earlier (designated RGR-1 to RGR-7) in Rakhigarhi, it now has emerged as a competitor to Mohenjo-daro as the biggest Harappan civilisation site out of an estimated 2,000 Harappan sites in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Until now, Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Ganeriwala (all in Pakistan), Rakhigarhi and Dholavira (both in India) were ranked as the five major Harappan sites in that order.
A team of teachers and students of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, made the “important discovery”, as Shinde put it, in January 2014. The eighth and ninth mounds are about 25 hectares each. They are located to the east and west of the main site. “With the discovery of the two additional mounds, the total area of the Rakhigarhi site will be around 350 hectares,” said Shinde. The archaeological remains at Mohenjo-daro extend over 300 hectares.
“The two new mounds show that the Rakhigarhi site was quite extensive. They have the same material as the main site. So they are part of the main site,” said Shinde. On the surface of mound nine, burnt clay clots and circular furnaces were found, indicating that this might have been the industrial area of the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi.
Harappan civilisationThe growth and development of the Harappan civilisation can be divided into three phases: early Harappan (3000-2600 B.C.), mature Harappan (2600-1900 B.C.) and late Harappan (1900-1500 B.C.). Much of the Harappan site lies buried under the present-day Rakhigarhi village situated about 25 km from Jind town in Hisar district. It actually comprises two villages—Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shapur.
Acharya Bhagwan Dev of Jhajjar town was the first person to notice the Harappan remains at the site, in the early 1960s. Not knowing what they were, he informed Professor Suraj Bhan, who was Professor of Archaeology, Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, Kurukshetra University, Haryana, about it. Bhan confirmed the site’s Harappan character.
Amarendra Nath, former Director, ASI, was the first archaeologist to excavate Rakhigarhi. He wrote extensively about the findings of his excavations in Indian Archaeology: A Review, the annual publication of the ASI, in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The cornucopia of Harappan artefacts found during the three fields of excavation includes seals in square, rectangular and circular shapes; bangles; fish hooks and arrowheads made of bronze; potter’s kilns; the remains of a drainage system; and terracotta figurines of a mother goddess, males, animals, including humped bulls, and goats and sheep.
“We have been able to extensively identify the purpose behind the early Harappan structures and trace the beginning of the emergence of town planning in early Harappan levels, wherein the structures are well laid out and there is evidence of a public drainage system,” said Amarendra Nath. Although other sites had yielded potsherds with graffiti marks, “here we have graffiti arranged in a sequence, which suggests the beginning of writing in the early Harappan level”, he said (“Harappan link”, Frontline, February 1, 2008). Amarendra Nath said the discovery of a needle suggested that some kind of stitched cloth was used. Importantly, a potsherd with a painting on it was also found. “This is a rare painting in the Harappan context, wherein you get the evidence of a person wearing a dhoti and a stitched upper garment,” he said. (According to Vijai Vardhan, who wrote “Rakhigarhi Rediscovered”, published by the Department of Archaeology Museums, Government of Haryana, evidence of textile working was found at Rakhigarhi.)
In the early 1970s, Professor R.S. Bisht was the Superintending Archaeologist of ASI’s Srinagar Circle, which had jurisdiction over Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. “I used to visit Rakhigarhi frequently. I found a few mounds there. I got the site mapped and got it approved as a protected site. In addition to that, I identified two separate mounds, which are older than the Harappan civilisation. They are locally called Arada mounds. They lie to the west of the Harappan mounds,” said Bisht, who made a name for himself with the excavation of Dholavira, a Harappan site in Gujarat, from 1990 to 2005.
Such early phases of the Harappan culture were found at Kalibangan in Rajasthan and Banawali in Haryana. “We call them Sothi culture. These two mounds belong to the Sothi culture,” said Bisht. The ASI excavated Rakhigarhi between 1997 and 2000.
Teachers and students of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, resumed the excavation of RGR-4 from January 10 this year under Shinde’s leadership. They dug five trenches.
“We wanted to find out the total area of the site because there was a controversy about the area. So we did an extensive survey last year and this year. We came across two additional mounds in January this year,” said Shinde, on the discovery of mounds eight and nine. “After that, we undertook a scientific scanning of the site with a ground-penetrating radar [GPR]. The GPR helped us in understanding the nature of the remains of the site.”
Sampling was done to get an idea of the human activities on the site—what the living areas were, where manufacturing was done, and so on. It was found that RGR-2 had large remains of crafts manufacturing.
Structural phasesThen began the excavation from January 10 of RGR-4 in an area where the early Harappan phase began and it ended with the mature Harappan phase, Shinde said. “In four metres [of depth] so far, we have found evidence of only the mature Harappan phase. We have found five different structural phases,” he added.
When we visited the excavation site on March 7 and 8, there was a flurry of activity led by Nilesh P. Jadhav, Research Assistant, and Kanti Pawar, Assistant Professor, both belonging to the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College. Research Assistants Pranjali Waghmere, Amit Pendam, Avradeep Munshi, Sutapa Lahiri and Diya Mukherjee were assiduously working in the trenches. They had unearthed a seal which had the Harappan script but no animal motifs, a potsherd inscribed with the Harappan script, terracotta cakes, beads and bangles made of terracotta, and an assortment of painted potsherds. Other artefacts unearthed included terracotta figurines of pigs and dogs, toy cartwheels, fishnet sinkers, sling balls to scare away birds, tiny beads made of steatite, agate and carnelian, etched carnelian beads, micro weights, banded agate weights, pieces of perforated jars and painted pottery.
RGR-4 housed a Harappan residential complex built of mud bricks. There was evidence of a hearth, a bathroom, drainage and a room, Jadhav said.
The bathroom or the washing place had a platform and a soak jar. Nearby was a drainage system, the construction of which could be traced to two different periods. The bricks at the lower level belonged to an earlier period than the ones used for drainage, Pawar said.
The excavating team also found terracotta cakes in square, rectangular, circular, triangular, and “idli” (disc) shapes. “They were used as tiles for decoration or for heating purposes. Some of the cakes have graffiti on them, but we did not find any such here,” said Pranjali Waghmere, who had just dug up a circular cake.
The potsherds unearthed were engraved in wavy, horizontal and concentric lines, fishnet designs, peepal leaf images and hand motifs. Some of them were bichrome. “The sheer variety of pottery, with aesthetic designs, shows the prosperity that the Harappan people enjoyed. This pottery is a classic example of the mature Harappan period,” Jadhav said.
Mud-brick granaryOne of the trenches had the remains of a “beautifully made” mud-brick granary, which “is still in remarkably good condition”, said Shinde. The granary’s floor was made of rammed earth and plastered with mud. It had rectangular and square chambers. Traces of lime and decomposed grass were found daubed on the lower portion of the granary walls. Seven chambers were found in the granary. “It appears to be a big structure. We do not know whether it is a private or public granary. Considering that it extends on all sides, it could be a big public granary,” he explained.
Shinde called the presence of lime and decomposed grass “a significant indication that it is a storehouse for storing grains because the lime acts as an insecticide and grass prevents moisture from entering the grains”. This was “strong proof for understanding the function of the structure”, he said.
This is the second time that a granary has been found in Rakhigarhi. In RGR-2, too, Amarendra Nath had unravelled a granary with a guard’s room. “We found grains in the granary. We exposed the entire structure of the granary,” he said. The booklet “Rakhigarhi Rediscovered” says that the “modest granary” consisted of “cells in two segments with a corridor in front and a guard’s cell” and that “the accumulated dust and earth from these cells yielded barley”.
Shinde said Rakhigarhi was “an ideal site to believe that the beginning of the Harappan civilisation could have taken place here”. A significant problem relating to the Harappan culture is about its genesis. It was earlier thought that the origin of the early Harappan phase was in Sind (now in Pakistan).
In the past 10 years, many Harappan sites have been discovered in Haryana. “About half a dozen of them, including Bhirrana, Mitathal, Girawad and Farmana, are early Harappan sites dating back to circa 5000 B.C.,” claimed Shinde. Carbon-14 dating of charcoal found in these sites indicates that the beginning of the Harappan civilisation was earlier in this region than what was believed so far, he said.
He, however, stressed the need for further confirmation on this. “We have not excavated at the lower level” at Rakhigarhi this year, he said. “We do not want to rush to any conclusion unless we have sufficient data. We hope we will get the data here. If we get that confirmation, it will be interesting because the origin of the Harappan civilisation would have taken place here and it would have slowly moved to the Indus valley.”
Heritage endangeredThe Global Heritage Fund (GHF), in its report released in May 2012, identified Rakhigarhi as one of the 10 most endangered archaeological and heritage sites in Asia. The GHF is a non-profit organisation that helps to sustain and preserve heritage sites in developing countries and regions around the world. It said the Rakhigarhi site, “one of the oldest and largest” Harappan sites in the world, faced threats from development pressures, insufficient management and looting.
According to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, which was amended in 2010, a prohibited area extends to 100 metres in all directions around a protected area/monument. The regulated area runs to a distance of 200 m in all directions, beginning at the limit of the prohibited area. While any construction activity is banned within the prohibited area of the first 100 m, construction can be done with the ASI’s permission in the regulated area in the next 200 m.
However, be it the prohibited area or the regulated area, the Harappan site at Rakhigarhi is being encroached upon on all sides. Rakhigarhi has hundreds of houses built on the remains of the ancient civilisation, making it difficult to excavate the site completely. Besides, the villagers use the fenced-off mounds for various purposes.
Much of the two pre-Harappan mounds, which are called Harada mounds, have been levelled for agriculture. A burial site belonging to the Harappan period has also made way for the cultivation of wheat.
Painting a picture of contrast with the artefacts was a mechanised ploughshare (some feet away from the symbolic burial) in a field the size of a football ground. The landowner had used it to dig up the field to get mud to make bricks. In the process, hundreds of ritual pottery and skeletal remains were destroyed, erasing evidence of an ancient civilisation.
But the owner of the field had allowed the Deccan College team to excavate a Harappan grave there. The researchers said it was an aesthetically laid-out symbolic burial of the Harappan period. The four sides of the grave, on the surface, were lined with bricks.
Shinde is confident that the site can be saved by educating the people of Rakhigarhi on its importance. “We have realised that unless there is participation from the people, we cannot save it. So we want to ensure the involvement of the people,” he said.
To ensure community development in Rakhigarhi, representatives of the Deccan College and the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD) had already held meetings, the Vice-Chancellor said. In Shinde’s estimate, Rakhigarhi has the potential to be a good tourist spot. It is just 160 km from New Delhi.
The Haryana government, the ASI and the Deccan College together were planning to set up a site museum at Rakhigarhi, he said. The Haryana government had earlier allotted land for the museum construction, but it was located away from Rakhigarhi.
“We surveyed the village and found a lot of abandoned havelis. “We want to convert these havelis into museums,” Shinde said.
http://www.frontline.in/arts-and-culture/heritage/harappan-surprises/article6032206.ece