Rakhigarhi

The Indus River Valley flourished between the years 3300-1300 BCE. It covered the areas of northeast Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Northwest India, respectively. The Harappan civilization all emerged and flourished in the Indus River Valley. The Archaeological Survey of India supervised the excavation of Rakhigarhi, the largest among the Harappan sites.

The Indus Valley civilization is always of utmost importance to our country because of many findings, such as widely used standardized weights and measurements today. The use of various metals like copper, lead, bronze, and tin started in that era in the Indus River Valley. The metallurgy department became popular after the discovery of these metals. The Indus script describes a lot about the Indus Valley Civilization; however, the writing is not understood well enough, so people have little knowledge about the organizational and governmental details.

Rakhigarhi:

Amarendra Nath undertook the excavation process of Rakhigarhi and was responsible for the findings and excavation of this site in the Hisar district of Haryana. Since it is known to be one of the five largest Harappan civilizations, many rounds of excavations were carried out. The findings were intensely surveyed and looked up, leading to conclusions about the Harappan civilization. This excavation was carried out in the year 1997; the site is claimed to be about 5000 years old.

Location of Rakhigarhi:

Rakhigarhi is located in the Ghaggar Hakra river plain, 27 kilometers away from the Ghaggar River. It was discovered as a very small region situated in the state of Haryana. It was found in the vicinity of various other sites, including Kalibangan, Kunal, Balu, Bhirrana, Banawali, etc. When we consider the exact location of the Rakhigarhi site, it is considered to be situated in the value of the ancient Drishadvati River. The river has its source emerging from the Siwalik Hills. 

Excavation of Rakhigarhi:

Rakhigarhi is a small place in the state of Haryana; as discussed, it is located in the vicinity of other sites near the Saraswati river. The Archaeological Survey of India carried out many rounds of excavations. Settlements were discovered along with proper sanitation and well-defined drainage structures. Also, terracotta shards were found, which resulted in laying down the foundation for Rakhigarhi. The primary detail, however, still lies in that the excavation of Rakhigarhi validated the continuity from the Harappan ages to the current era.

Rakhigarhi is one of the 10 most endangered heritage sites in Asia.

Significant Findings of The Rakhigarhi Site:

The Harappan civilization site excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India revealed a large number of findings, which could be helpful for the conclusions and other surveys and results for humankind to follow some of the findings of this site. 

1. The DNA Samples

The Archaeological Survey of India discovered many skeletal remains excavating the site. Upon getting out the DNA analysis, it was revealed that the Harappan civilization inhabitants, which are the people who lived there, had a distinct origin. It was also reflected that the Harappans emerged from ancient Iranian farmers, or they could be a part of this tepid pastoralist who was refuted a long time back. 

2. Traditions and Burial Sights 

A ceremonial system was discovered upon excavating fire altars on mudflows, and traces of animal sacrifices were also located. These animals’ sacrificed bodies were covered with mud walls and triangle fire altars. A very significantly small amount of tombs that age back to medieval times have also been found by the Archaeological Survey of India. The skeletons of two females discovered at the excavated site were lined up with jewelry made of agate beads and shell bangles. They were also covered in abandons with the ceramic stuff. 

3. Pottery and Seals 

A spherical seal with an alligator symbol was discovered. From the excavated site, this was considered to be an important finding from the site, and it had five Harappan letters on one side and a symbol on the other side. Also, the dead poultry, comprised of the ports, glasses or dishes, Petri dishes, and a perforated jar, was discovered; this pottery material was made of ceramics. 

4. Settlements 

Land townships were enclosed with mud and burnt brick homes, each having an efficient drainage system and proper sanitation, but discovered as settlements when the site was excavated properly. 

5. Some Other Materials 

A large number of other antiquities were also found at the site. Some of these were the blades, the shell bracelets, stone beads, etc. In terms of metal, copper artifacts are also discovered. Bone points ceilings stated seals were also found as other artifacts on the site. 

6. Granary

A granary was found here; it comprised mud bricks and had a floor of rammed earth plastered with mud. The granary is an area that is enclosed within the seven rectangular or square-shaped chambers outside it. Line and decomposed grass have also been discovered. This was an important discovery of the Harappan civilization site, Rakhigarhi, because it was indicative of the fact that there was a storehouse constructed for the grains, and lime was used as an insecticide. Also, it was very large in size, indicative that it was either a public granary or a private granary owned by the elite class of people belonging to the Rakhigarhi site.

7. Tools

Many hunting tools were discovered on the Rakhigarhi site, including fish hooks and copper hats. There were a large variety of toys that were encountered which included sling balls and mini wheels, and miniature lids as well. This indicated the presence of toy culture in the area. Also, jewelry and stamps, as we discussed earlier, were found, and weights were also discovered, which led to the idea that standardized weight systems were followed in the Rakhigarhi system.

Mounds in the Rakhigarhi Site:

A large number of mounds were discovered in Rakhigarhi, which played an essential role for the excavators to derive conclusions. There was a total of 13 ditches on this site, the mound number one had five of them, mound number three had seven, and mound number seven had one. These 13 ditches were all open within all three mounds. 

The following things were discovered in the mounds, for example,

• They found one that showed traces of semi-precious stone waste. These semi-precious stone waste included materials like a gate and Carnelian. 
• Secondly, mound number three had short settlements made of burnt bricks. This led to the conclusion that a walled village might have existed there some time back. 
• Other artifacts, such as seals and elephants, are also discovered at mounds number one and three. 

There were about 60 graves that were excavated from here. The two female corpses discussed earlier were also discovered at mound number seven. These two corpses were all covered with copper jewelry, as well as a ceramic medallion. These mounds are still under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India. It is believed that by September this year, the excavation rounds will be completed, and more results will be derived from the site’s findings. 

RGR-8 and RGR-9:

The eighth and ninth mounds discovered at the Rakhigarhi site were found east and west of the main site. It led to a drastic increase in the overall size of the Rakhigarhi, which reached a total of about 350-hectare size. These two mounds were known by the name RGR-8 and RGR-9. Each of these mounds was about 25 hectares in size. This excavation made Rakhigarhi one of the largest sites in the Indus Valley Civilisations. The then-known site, Mohenjodaro, became smaller than Rakhigarhi by 50 hectares. 

Issues Related to Rakhigarhi Site:

Rakhigarhi, the small excavated site, was declared one of the ten most endangered heritage sites in Asia in the year may’2012. The Global Heritage Fund made this declaration due to the threat of irreparable loss and destruction. A huge development pressure was built upon this site, and on top of it was the poor management and looting, which led to the disruption of the site. Therefore, it was declared that the place needs protection; otherwise, it would become one of the biggest endangered sites. The site was not adequately taken care of, and the following evidence validated it: the iron boundary wall was broken, and the villagers sold out the artifacts of great importance on the site. They dug out the artifacts, and private houses were built on various encroached parts by the villagers themselves. Other issues, like soil erosion, illegal sand lifting, and theft of archaeological artifacts, led to the protection measures to be undertaken for the safety of this site. It was a punishable offense to sell the artifacts, yet it happened openly at the Rakhigarhi site. Also, the skeletons, which were of great importance for discovery and laying down the evidence, were destroyed due to the repeated activities of soil mining and cultivation that were being carried out there. Therefore Rakhigarhi faced many issues before it became an iconic historic site. 

Present Development of Rakhigarhi Site:

The union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman looked upon the site in the year 2020 month February and announced that the development of Rakhigarhi was crucial for the development, it would be considered an iconic site, and the Archaeological Survey of India would cease to commit encroachments from the site. It would remove the 152 houses constructed on the R four and R five, respectively. The villages living there would be relocated, and these their houses would be scraped off from the site. They would be given another location to live. 

Chronology of Excavations:

Year	Name of agency	Led by
1963	Archaeological Survey of India	ASI
1969	Kurukshetra University	Dr. Suraj Bhan
1997-2000	Archaeological Survey of India	Dr. Amarendra Nath
2011-2016	Deccan College	Dr. Vasant Shinde
2021-onwards	Archaeological Survey of India	Dr. Vasant Shinde

Frequently Asked Questions on Rakhigarhi:

Q1: What is Harappan Civilization?
Ans: The Harappan Civilisation is also known as the Indus Valley Civilization. It rose in the western part of South Asia, in contemporary Pakistan and Western India, around 2500 BC. It became one of the four most prominent ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China. Mohenjodaro and Harappa, both cities, were excavated as a part of the Indus valley civilization.

Q2: Which is a larger site, Rakhigarhi or Mohenjo-Daro?
Ans: The Harappan site of Rakhigarhi is situated in Haryana. After the initial discovery of seven mounds, two more mounds were discovered in the year 2014, which made it one of the largest excavation sites. Later on, in the year 2016, two more sites were excavated.

Q3: Discuss mounds found in Rakhigarhi.
Ans:

Some of the significant facts about the mounds found in Rakhigarhi are as follows :

• There are 11 excavation mounds,
• The total size of the mounds is 550 hectares,
• The mounds follow the naming convention of “RGR-x,”
• RGR-1 to RGR-6 are known as residential sites,
• RGR-7 is known as a civilization Indussitesjewelry the burial site, 
• RGR-8 and RGR-9 lead to the size of Rakhigarhi larger than Mohenjodaro,
• RGR-10 and RGR-11 were then excavated in the year 2016.civilization Indus