Harappan Sites In India

The Harappan Civilization, also called the Indus Valley Civilization, is the Indian subcontinent’s oldest known urban culture. It is also one of the three oldest civilizations globally, including Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. The civilization existed in the Bronze Age, dating back from 3300 BC to 1300 BC. The expertise demonstrated in elaborate town planning, metallurgy, craft, clusters of residential houses, drainage systems, and water and harvest management is astonishing. They are certainly important landmarks for tourism as well as archaeological research. About 925 Indus Valley Civilization sites are located in India.

The important cities of the Harappan Civilisation include the following:

Mohenjodaro
Harappa
Kalibangan
Lothal
Chanhudaru
Dholavira
Banawali
Rakhigarhi
Alamgirpur

Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Dholavira, and Banawali are considered as important 4 sites of the Indus Valley Civilization. Surkotada, Dholavira, and Lothal are the important port towns of the Harappan Civilization. Among the settlements, the most important urban centers included Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Dholavira, Rakhigarhi, and Ganeriwala.

Major Sites of the Harappan Civilization

Some of the most important sites in the Harappan Civilization now belong to Pakistan since the partition of India, such as Mohenjo-Daro, Ganeriwala, and Harappa, while some are in Afghanistan. Sites in India are spread across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.

1. Mohenjodaro

Mohenjodaro is situated in the Larkana District of Sind on the banks of the Indus.
It was first excavated by R.D. Banerjee.
The important aspects of Mohenjodaro included the great bath, granary, unicorn seals, bronze dancing girl statue, and the seal of a man with different animals like deer, elephants, tigers, and rhinos, around the Pashupati Seal. There is also found to be a steatite statue of a bearded man and also bronze buffalo.

2. Harappa

Harappa is situated in the Sahiwal district in the Punjab on the banks of Ravi.
It first came to be excavated by the Larkana District of Sind, situated on the bank of the Indus.
Certain important things are excavated in Harappa which include pieces of Pottery with a script from the Indus, cubical limestone weight, sandstone statues with human anatomy, granaries, coffin burials, and also terracotta figurines.

3. Lothal, Gujarat

Located in the Ahmedabad district in Gujarat, it used to be one of the most significant cities in the Indus Valley civilization since it contains the world’s oldest dock.
It existed around 3700 BC and was translated to ‘Mound of the Dead.’
The dock is one of the most prominent features of this attraction and also linked the Sabarmati River to the Arabian Sea, which made Lothal a prime trade center during the era.
Excavations in this region also revealed bead-producing factories, painted jars, a button seal, fire altars, and possibly hints of the earliest cultivation of rice.

4. Rakhigarhi, Haryana

It is the largest site of the Indus Valley civilization, located in the Hisar district in Haryana.
The excavations began in 1963 and recently again in 2014 leading to the late discovery of two other mounds. Therefore, replacing Mohenjo-Daro as the world’s largest Indus Valley civilization site, stretching across 350 hectares.
Rakhigarhi civilization existed from 2600 BC to 1900 BC.
The excavations led to the discovery of artifacts, including terracotta animal figurines, potsherds with wavy, concentric, and floral patterns, seals, fishnets, hopscotches, shell bangles, platforms, bathrooms, residential houses with mud bricks, drainages, etc.
The discovery of Rakhigarhi’s late attributes led historians to believe that the Indus Valley Civilization dated back to 5000 BC and might have been the origin of the Harappan civilization.

5. Alamgirpur, Uttar Pradesh

This site exists in the Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh from around 3300 BC to 1300 BC.
This settlement is based along the Yamuna River and is known as ‘Parasaram-ka-here.
Excavations led to a trough having cloth impressions and ceramic stuff like roof tiles, cups, vases, carts, and beads.
Other discoveries include a broken copper blade and a humped bull.

6. Kalibangan, Rajasthan

It is based upon the banks of the Ghaggar river and in the Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan and was discovered in the 1900s, having existed from around 3500 BC to 1750 BC.
The museum in Kalibangan holds some of the discoveries like pottery, baked/burnt bangles, fire altars, small circular pits containing large urns and pottery, the skeleton of a camel, etc.

7. Dholavira, Gujarat

Located in the Kutch district of Gujarat is an island named Khadir Bet, which is one of the biggest Harappan sites.
Excavations here began in 1989, long after its discovery, and this site is said to have existed from 2650 BC to 1450 BC.
The most prominent discoveries were a step-well discovered in 2014, about three times bigger than the one in Mohenjo-Daro, various reservoirs indicating advanced water-management systems, rock constructions, a figure of a nude man driving a chariot, etc.
Other Harappan sites in India include Balu, Farman in Haryana, Baror in Rajasthan, Bhagatrav in Gujarat, etc.

8. Banawali, Haryana

It is situated in the Fatehabad district of Haryana.
It was first excavated by R.S. Bisht.
Important excavations include Beads, Barley, Radical streets, toy plow, and the largest number of barley grains.

9. Chanhudaro

It is situated in Mullan Sandha, Sind on the Indus river.
It was excavated by N.G. Mazumdar.
Important excavations include a bangle factory, an inkpot, footprints of a dog, cart with a seated driver.
It is the only city without a citadel.

Important Sites of Indus Valley Civilization

Year	Site	Location	Excavated by	Major Findings
1922	Mohenjodaro	Larkana District of Sind on banks of Indus	R.D. Banerjee	Great bath, granary, unicorn seals, bronze dancing girl, Pashupati seal, steatite statue of beard man an,d bronze buffalo.
1921	Harappa	Sahiwal District, Punjab	Daya Ram Sahni	Piece of Pottery with Indus script, faience slag, granaries, coffin burials, and terracotta figurines.
1953	Lothal	Gujarat near the Gulf of Cambay	R. Rao	Port town, graveyard, dockyard, rice husk, fire alters, and ivory weight balance
1963	Rakhigarhi	Haryana	Shri Amarendra Nath	Fire altars, apsidal structures, cotton cloth, and impressive numbers of stamps seal.
1958-59	Alamgirpur	Uttar Pradesh	Y.D. Sharma	Artifacts were found, typical Harappan pottery, and ceramic items along with carts and figurines of a humped bull and a snake.
1953	Kalibangan	Rajasthan	Amlanand Ghose	Lower fortified town, fire alters, camel bones, furrowed land, evidence of wooden plow.
1985	Dholavira	Gujarat	R.S. Bisht	Exclusive water management, dams, embankments, stadiums, and rock-cut architecture.
1974	Banawali	Haryana	R.S Bisht	Beads, barley, oval-shaped settlements, toy plows, the largest number of barley grains.
1985	Chanhudaro	Sind	N.G. Majumdar	Bangle factory, bead makers, footprints of dog and cart.

Note

The Harappan Civilization offers an excellent example of admirable city planning and maintenance of water and harvest systems and prioritizing sanitation and hygiene. Their systems are surprisingly more sophisticated than those of the places or villages in India. The discovery of such sites can lead to an understanding of our origins and our culture. Harappan sites are remarkable landmarks for historians as well as civilians.