carried out for three winters in 1997-1999
Two levels of Early (3500 BC–2600 BC) and Mature Harappan (2600 BC —
1800 BC) civilisation have been found at Rakhigarhi. Both the phases have
yielded a rich haul of artifacts. It is a necropolis which has yielded burials,
important for the study of any civilisation.
The much-awaited resumption of excavation work has begun after a gap
of 17 years in 2014. In 2011, the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and
Development (ITRHD) took up the matter by approaching the ASI, the
Haryana government and the village community. The ASI has entrusted
Pune"s Deccan College with the present ongoing excavation.
Discovery of Ganweriwala
Ganweriwala is in Punjab (in present-day Pakistan) near the Indian border.
It was first discovered by Sir Aurel Stein and surveyed by Dr. M. R.
Mughal in the 1970s. It spreads over 80 hectares and is almost as large as
Mohenjodaro. It is near a dry bed of the former Ghaggar or Sarasvati river,
and has not been excavated yet. Equidistant between Harappa and
Mohenjodaro, it may have been a fifth major urban centre.
   •  Settlements like Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Kalibangan have the twin
      mounds which are separately enclosed. They suggest a clear division
      between the public administrative-cum-ritual-cum-residential western
      sector and the more or less private residential sector.
   •  The western mound at Harappa has some major public constructions
      in its shadow outside, between the northern fortification wall and the
      river.
   •  At Mohenjodaro, there is no structural complex in the shadow of the
      citadel wall.
   •  At Kalibangan, the western mound has two separate walled sectors,
      one apparently kept apart for a number of ritual platforms and the
      other presumably meant for administrative buildings and the
      dwellings of the elite.
   •  Then, there are places like Surkotada, which is a replica of the
      western sector at Kalibangan.
   •  Lothal has a single enclosed complex with public buildings and
      ordinary residential structures,   including craftmen’s workshops.