Some Important Harappan Sites

SitesFeaturesHarappa (on Ravi River)

• 1^st Indus siteto be discovered
• Two rows of six granaries
• The largestnumber of wheat grains
• Red sandstone torso of nude male
• Evidence of Coffin burial
• Two types of burial practice- R37type and cemetery H type

Mohenjo-Daro (Indus river) (mounds of Dead)

• 2^nd Indus siteto be discovered
• Great granary(the largest building)
• Pasupati seals
• Bronze dancing girl
• Steatite image of bearded men said to be the priest
• 3 cylindrical seals of Mesopotamia
• Great Bath
• Hordes of Skeletonsfound on stairs (indicating warfare)
• Multi-pillarassembly halls
• Mohenjo-Daro has no cemeteriesand 5 tragic sites

Bronze mirror, needle, saw, and the Bronze statueof the bull

Lothal (Bhogava River, Gujarat) (also means ‘mounds of dead’ like Mohenjo-Daro)

• Artificial dockyard(world’s 1^sttidal port)
• Evidence of double burial(male and female)
• Cultivation of rice (at Lothal and Rangpur)
• Beadmaker’s shop (also exported)
• Terracotta model of boats
• Ivory scale
• Known for cotton trade(Manchester of Harappan Civilization)
• Circular button seal(also called Persian Gulf seal)
• Two terracotta models of Egyptian Mummies(shows trade relation with Nile valley civilization)
• Painted storyon Earthen jar resembling story of cunning fox in Panchtantra

Sacrificial Altar(at Lothal and Kalibagan)- Shows medical and surgical skills

Dholavira(Khadir bet island in the Kutch Desert Wildlife

• Inscription of 10 alphabet signboard
• Megalithburial
• Warehousing settlement
• Gold rings(also at Mandi and Daimabad)
• Shows all three phasesof Harappan culture
• Located on Tropic of Cancer
• Use of Sandstone and bricks
• Evidence of dams, irrigation, water reservoir, water harvesting system and embankments
• The town is divided into three parts (Upper, Middle, and lower). It was a walled city with heavy fortification
• An important center of maritime trade (Dholavira declined with the decline of Mesopotamian civilization, showing the integration of the Trade economy)
• Dholavira has been named as the UNESCO World Heritage Site(India’s 40^th )

Rakhigarhi (on Ghaggar –Hakra river, Haryana)

• Largest IVC site in India ( also claimed to be largest IVC site)
• Evidence of Domestication of Dog
• Manufacturing center of terracotta(Idly shaped terracotta)
• Painted potteries in large numbers (show rich and dominant people lived)
• Recent findings show Rakhigarhi doesn’t have the last phaseof IVC ( earlier it was known to have all three phases of IVC)
• DNA finding of Skeletalremains of a woman
• Rakhigarhi’s sudden demisecan be explained by the drying upof the Saraswati in 2000 BC

Government (2021-22 budget)will fund on-site museums (also at Hastinapur (UP), Shivsagar(Assam), Dholavira(Gujarat), and Adichanallur (TN)

Chanhudaro (on Indus river)

• Known forcotton textile (Lancashire of IVC)
• No Citadel(only IVC city)
• The largest number of copper toolsfound

Kalibangan (on Ghaggar river, RJ) (means ‘Black Bangles’)

• Wells found in every house
• Evidence of mixed cropping
• The earliest ploughed field in India

Fire altars (shows cult of sacrifice)

Bhirrana (Haryana)Now considered to be Oldest discovered IVC sitedating back to 7500 BCE (earlier Mehargarh (Pak)was considered to be Oldest )

---

Differences between IVC and that of Egyptian and Mesopotamian Civilization: