and conservation projects have been conducted by Pakistani archaeologists
and conservators. In the 1980s extensive architectural documentation,
combined with detailed surface surveys, surface scraping and probing was
done by German and Italian survey teams led by Dr. Michael Jansen and
Dr. Maurizio Tosi. The most extensive recent work at the site has focused
on attempts at conservation of the standing structures undertaken by
UNESCO in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and
Museums, as well as various foreign consultants.
Excavations at Gola Dhoro
This small but important craft and trading town is being excavated since
1996 by a team of archaeologists from the University of Baroda on the
coast of Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat. The excavations at the site have
outlined the importance of such smaller settlements. Excavations suggest
that the settlement began as a small farming village. Subsequently a
massive fortification wall measuring 5.20m in width was built in three
successive stages on the northern half of the site, leaving surprisingly little
space of approximately 50x50m, at any stage of its history, for the
construction of residential houses and craft workshops. However, there are
indications that people not only lived inside the fortification in mud brick
houses but that some of its population also seems to have lived outside the
fortified area in the lower southern half of the settlement that has not
revealed any fortification as yet.
The prosperity of the settlement during this phase is not only reflected in
the construction activities undertaken at the site, but also in flourishing
craft and trading activities. The unique geographical location of the
settlement must have immensely contributed to the economic development
of the settlement. Studies have revealed that the people of Galo Dhoro
manufactured several craft items of shell, semiprecious stone, faience and
copper, besides stockpiling and distribution of various raw materials like
jasper and shell to other Harappan workshops.
Excavations at Rakhigarhi
About 150km from Delhi, Rakhigarhi is located in Haryana"s Hisar district
on the dried bed of Saraswati-Drishadvati rivers. The first major
excavation at Rakhigarhi was