The wealth from the crypt

Ever bothered how old are we Indians? Or put it this way: what do we know about ourselves from the civilization point of view? And why should we know? Here’s the answer: We have been around for about 5,000 years, as a part of the Indus Valley civilization; and yes, we’ve got to believe that we are one of the oldest, brightest! Want proof? Head to Hisar’s Rakhigarhi, a small village trying to come to terms with its newfound archaeological wealth.

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Scientists, archaeologists and a host of experts frequenting Rakhigarhi say they may be close to decoding race, traits and lifestyle of the ancient civilization (eponymously named after Harappa and Mohanjo Daro in Pakistan) that existed 5,000 years back. This came about after they extracted the DNA of the human skeletons recovered from a cemetery at a Harappan site in Rakhigarhi. This would be the first-ever breakthrough to reconstruct the lives of people of Harappan civilization which has so far remained an enigma. Though the excavations in Mohanjo Daro and other Harappan era sites had thrown light on these people, it is negligible as compared to research on ancient Egyptian civilization.

Deccan College Pune, a deemed university, which has been carrying out excavation at the site, excavated four human skeletons, including two of male, a female and a child a year ago from the cemetery at the site. The archaeologists sent the bone samples to the Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea which succeeded in extracting the DNA from the bones. Now, the DNA samples are also being analyzed at the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad and the Howard University in the US.

Deccan College Vice chancellor Prof Vasant Shinde told The Tribune: “We’ll make the results of the DNA public after getting them crosschecked from various institutes for widest possible acceptance.” He said the Rakhigarhi excavation would resume in February so that more human and animal bone samples are collected for the ongoing scientific study. Shinde’s effort to conduct similar study failed about four years ago when he discovered the skeletons from another site in Farmana village in Rohtak but these were too contaminated for DNA extraction.

The Seoul National University in its newsletter on Bioanthropology and Paleopathology Lab says the Rakhigarhi site has much larger and older ancient ruins than those in any other IVC cities situated along the Ghaggar-Hakra river which is believed to have dried up by 2000 BC. “Indian archaeologists believe that Rakhigarhi represents all of the IVC’s phases: early, mature and later periods. Although the previous findings on Rakhigarhi, including a wide road, granary and brick-lined drain, show it to have been well-planned and consistent with other IVC sites, it remains, for the most part, “incompletely excavated.”

Dr Dong Hoon Shin, a forensic scientist in the Seoul National University, is leading a research team on Rakhigarhi. He will be back in the village next month to conduct a survey with the help of drone flying over the site.

The newsletter described mature-Harappan-period cemetary in Rakhigarhi as one of the most important discoveries thus far. 

“In our preliminary excavations of some of the many graves (estimated time 4,500 years before present) therein, we have identified a number of human skeletons. As anthropology specialists, our team has participated in the Rakhigarhi excavations from the outset. The relevant human remains will be collected via a procedure specifically designed to minimize contamination,” it said.