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Author: Deepender Deswal
Publication: The Tribun
Date: May 11, 2016
URL: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/14-harappan-generations-had-lived-in-rakhigarhi/234742.html
Archaeologists say no less than 50,000 was the population of Harappan township in Rakhigarhi village, and 14 generations of Harappans had lived here before they migrated because of drought and scarcity of water.
“The entire site spread over 550 hectares could be divided into two parts — citadel town and lower town. The prominent people of the town lived in the citadel town, while the common people lived in the lower town which was the hub of the manufacturing, agriculture, trade and other activities,” Prof Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor, Deccan College, Pune, told The Tribune. He is the director of the excavation at Rakhigarhi.
At the peak of civilisation, the town was habituated by no less than 50,000 people and that was evident from the scale of manufacturing and trade activities, remains of which have been found at several mounds, Prof Shinde said. “We found the highest deposition (pile of remains) of 22 meters at mound number 4, which has been unexplored. This is the highest deposition in any of the Harappan sites in the world. So far, the maximum height of the deposition was 17 m at Mohenjo Daro,” the VC said. Archaeologists said Saraswati’s distributory Drishadwati river had passed through the region at the time of Indus Valley Civilisation and that led to region’s prosperity. But a prolonged drought was the most likely reason for decline of the civilisation. “We are yet to pinpoint the exact date of the Rakhigarhi site, as the process is under way to establish carbon dating. Excavations at Birthana in Fatehabad district and Farmana in Rohtak district, known as Saraswati area, brought out that the civilisation was around 7,000 years old. This means it is much older than other Harappan and Mohenjo Daro sites in Pakistan,” Prof Shinde said.
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