Harappa Pakistan is today a large village in the Sahiwal District of Punjab, 15 miles
southwest of the district town. Archaeologists think that ancient Harappa was
the urban center dominating the upper Indus region, much like
Mohenjo-daro dominated the lower Indus Valley and Ganweriwala might have
been the urban center for what is now
Rajasthan.The site at Harappa was first briefly 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 unknown origin. The first extensive excavations at Harappa
were started by Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni in 1920. His work and contemporaneous
excavations at Mohenjo-daro first brought to the world's attention the existence
of the forgotten
Indus Valley civilization as the earliest urban culture in the
Indian subcontinent. His work was followed later in the decade by that of
Madho Sarup Vats, also of the Archaeological Survey of India. Excavations by
other archaeologists continued in the 1930's, and in1946 Sir
Mortimer Wheeler excavated the so-called fortification walls and found the
first pre-Indus Valley civilization (Kot Dijian) deposits. After independence in
1947 and coming in District Sahiwal of Province of Punjab, Pakistan, Harappa was
excavated by
Mohammed Rafique Mughal of the Archaeological Survey 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 slightly hollowed belt containing notably green
crops marks an old bed of the
Ravi River. Today the river flows 6 miles further north. Between the citadel
and the riverbed, Mound F has been found to contain a remarkable and significant
piece of 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 are virtually unexplored.There is an enormous amount still to be
learned about the site, most of which 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.
Archaeological evidence is the key to understanding Harappa’s past. Although
Harappa continues to be the center of historical debate, further archaeological
explanations may some day reveal the validity or inaccuracy in the historical
accounts of Harappa. Regardless of its impact on written history, archaeology
will continue to reveal the way of life for Harappa's inhabitants.
