20000325

Archaeologists make

major discoveries

in Harappa

LAHORE: Archaelogists working on the archaeological site of Harappa, District Sahiwal, have made major discoveries from excavations.

According to a report compiled by Project Director, Harappa Archaeological Research Project, Dr. Richard H. Meadow, and Dr. Mark Kenoyer, Field Director and Co-Project Director, these discoveries suggest that the development of the Indus script, the use of inscribed seals and the standardisation of weights occurred during the Kot Diji period some 200 years earlier than previously thought.

The emergence of writing, seals and standardised weights also implies the development of more complex social and political organisations that would have required these sophisticated tools and techniques of communication and administration.

Another important discovery was a terracotta model house that was broken into several pieces. This rare discovery provides some important new information on the style of houses used in the Harappan period.

The model depicts two beautiful doorways and elaborate perforated grill works that allows air to enter the house but keeps sunlight out. "Similar grillwork is still seen on houses in Pakistan today using many of the same designs," the report said.

Additional discoveries include beads, shell inlay pieces and pottery from Period 3C (terminal Harappa Phase) and period 4 (transitional to the late Harappa Phase).

"Continued work in this are promises to give us a unique insight into the nature of cultural change at the very end of the Harappan occupation at the beginning of the second millennium BC," Meadow and Kenoyer further said.

In addition to the excavation and site survey programmes, architectural and object conservation is being undertaken along with a small scale field training programme for Pakistani students.

Detailed studies carried out by various team members include ceramic documentation and analysis, conservation experiments, surface survey and mapping, bioarchaeological studies and ethno and experimental archaeological investigations.

The year 2000 is the 14th season of research at Harappa under the auspices of Harappa Archaeological Research Project. Excavations by HARP are conducted in collaboration with the Federal Department of Archaeology and Museums, represented by Director-General Saeed-ur-Rehman and Farzand Massih, curator, Harappa Museum.

The archaeological site of Harappa is situated in the flood plain of River Ravi. The mounded ruins are well known as site of a major urban centre of the Indus or Harappan Civilization (2600-1900 BC).

Research at the site since 1986 by the HARP has resulted in a better understanding of the development and growth of this large urban centre.

Beginning ca. 300BC as a small village on a silty river terrace, the settlement grew to a large city covering over 150 hectares during the Harappa Phase (2600-1900 BC).ÑAPP