No external attack behind desertion of Rakhigarhi Harappan settlement: ASI

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, May 8

Archaeologists have ruled out external attacks as the reason for abandonment of the Harappan-age settlement discovered at Rakhigarhi village near Hisar in Haryana.

Talking to a visiting media team, Sanjay Kumar Manjul, Joint Director General, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who is overseeing the current round of excavation underway at the site, said climatic changes and shortage of water could be the reasons for people leaving the area.

Manjul said satellite imagery as well as literary sources suggest the presence of a river channel in the area which could be the Drishadvati river (associated with Vedic river Saraswati).

Drying up of the river channel might have also affected the livelihood of the people as they could no more carry out trade prompting them to gradually migrate to other locations, Manjul said.

Several layers of settlements starting from the early Harappan phase (3300 to 2600 BC) to mature Harappan phase (2600 to 1900 BC) have been found at the site.

Mound number 7 of Rakhigarhi has been declared a necropolis. A total of 62 burials have been found there so far. These include two female skeletons found in the current round of excavation commencing from February that will go on till September-end.

“Necropolis dates back to the mature Harappan phase. We have dug deeper and found that residential settlement existed in mound 7 in the early Harappan phase,” said Praveen Kesni, Assistant Superintendent Archaeologist, who is involved in the digging of mound 7. He added that there was nothing found on the skeletons to suggest that the deaths took place during warfare.

The pottery found with the bodies is suspected to have contained ghee, milk, curd etc, which are used in final rites in the India even now, Manjul said and added that it showed “cultural continuity”.

The latest excavation has also exposed layouts of roads of 3-m width and drains with soak pits placed at corners where the drains have taken a turn at 90 degree angle.

Skeletons of two women found

• Consisting of seven mounds spread over 350 hectares, Rakhigarhi is considered one of the largest sites of Harappan civilisation
• In the current round of excavation, two skeletons of women have been excavated; they were buried with pottery and jewellery
• The pottery found with the bodies is suspected to have contained ghee, milk, curd etc, which are used in final rites in India even now

62 burials found at Rakhigarhi

Mound No. 7 has been declared necropolis

Satellite imagery suggests river channel in area

Satellite imagery suggests the presence of a river channel in the area. Drying up of river channel may have affected livelihood of people, prompting them to migrate to other locations. — Sanjay Kumar Manjul, joint director general, ASI