How A Graveyard Led To The Discovery Of A 5,200-Year-Old Harappan Settlement In Gujarat
A group of archaeologists has unearthed the remains of an Indus Valley settlement in Gujarat's Kutch, that is at least 5,200 years old.
The excavation led by the University of Kerala and Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Varma Kachchh University, Bhuj last month, revealed the centuries-old Harappan settlement on the slopes of a small hillock known as Padta Bet.
Graveyard discovered in 2018
Early remains of the lost Harappan settlement were first identified in 2018 when researchers stumbled upon a necropolis with over 500 graves in Juna Khatiya of Kutch.
Surveys documented the spread of burials for approximately 16 hectares making it the biggest Early Harappan cemetery documented in India so far.?
They also found objects like pots, jars, basins, dishes, bowls, dishes on stands, bottles, beakers and lids in the burials.
5,200 year-old harappan settlement?
Searching for where the people buried in these graves came from led the researchers to Padta Bet - about 1.5 km from the burial site, where they uncovered the Harappan settlement.
?"We have found a settlement on a hillock about 200 m x 200 m in size. A river flowed behind the hillock once. During our excavation at the site, we found round as well as rectangular structures where people stayed. We have also found pots, big and small, and dishes," Dr Subhash Bhandari, head of the archaeology department at Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University, said.
Ancient Harappan artefacts
According to archeologists, the settlement site is around 5,200 years old and appears to have been populated from the early Harappan to the late Harappan era.
Ą°The presence of plenty of pottery, artefacts, and a few animal bone fragments from these areas are indicative of the occupation of Harappan people in the region from the Early Harappan to Late Harappan periods, i.e. circa 3200 BCE to 1700 BCE. The evidence of ceramics also indicates the presence of Early Harappan, Classical Harappan, and Late Harappan types," Rajesh SV from the Department of Archaeology, Kerala University, said.
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