Sahiwal District - Harappa

Harappa

One of the ancient civilizations on archaeological evidence dated 3000 to 5000 B.C. 15 miles (24 km) south-west from downtown in suburb of Harapa which was the northern city of Indus Valley Civilization. Harrapa is now a large village in the Sahiwal Division of Punjab, 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the district capital. Archaeologists think that in ancient times Harappa was the urban centre in the upper Indus region, much like Mohenjo-daro dominated the lower Indus Valley and Ganweriwala might have been the urban centre for what is now Rajasthan. The site at Harappa was first excavated by Sir Alexander Cunningham in 1872-73, two decades after Brick Robbers carried off the visible remains of the city. He found an Indus Seal of an unknown origin.

The first extensive excavations at Harappa were started by Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni in 1920. His excavations at Mohenjo-daro called attention to the Indus Valley civilization as the earliest urban culture in the Indian Sub-Continent. His work was followed later in the decade by that of Madho Sarup Vats, also of the Archaeological Survey of India. Excavations continued in the 1930s, and later in 1946, Sir Mortimer Wheeler excavated the fortification walls and found the first pre-Indus Valley civilization (Kot Dijian) deposits. After Independence in 1947, Harappa was excavated by Mohammed Rafique Mughal of the Archaeological Survey Department of Pakistan in 1966. In 1986, the first systematic, multi-disciplinary excavations of an Indus Valley city were begun by the Harappa Archaeological Project (HARP), under the direction of George F. Dales and Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. The main features of the plan, the citadel on the west and the mounds of the ‘lower city’ towards the east and southeast have already been indicated. To the north, a hollowed belt containing green crops marks an old bed of the River Ravi, which today flows six miles (10 km) further north between the citadel and the riverbed, Mound F contains much of the town planning; to the south of the citadel lie the outlying hills, the Harappan cemetery and the post Harappan cemetery. To the southeast, sporadic digging has been carried out in Area G, but the ragged Mound E and its surroundings unexplored. Most of the site remains unexcavated. The earliest deposits on the site go back to 5300 B.C. and the area seems to have been continuously inhabited ever since.