HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION - HISTORY
News: 500 graves are discovered in Kutch
What is in the news?
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Since 2018, a
multi-disciplinary international team of archeologists has discovered 500
graves and excavated 197 of those here.
Key takeaways from the news:
Place:
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Kutch District in Gujarat
Findings:
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A shell bangle, pottery shards, stones blades, even human skeletal
remains.
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A burial site, spread over 16 hectares in a Kutch village, is
considered to be the largest pre-urban Harappan cemetery.
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The pottery found as
burial goods at the Khatiya site, mainly redware,
buffware and grayware, is comparable to the pre-urban Harappan pottery of
Sindh and Balochistan and North Gujarat.
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Cemetery, believed to be 5,000 years old, belonged to the ‘pre-urban’ phase of the Harappan
civilization.
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So far, the findings at
the burial site are consistent with its pre-urban Harappan status.
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The fragment of a shell
bangle collected from the Khatiya cemetery was found to be dating back to 2,850
BC.
Hard to extract DNA:
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The soil in Khatiya is
acidic, facilitating faster decomposition of bodies. Therefore, researchers are
finding it hard to extract DNA from samples excavated from this site.
Other Sites:
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Dholavira,
the UNESCO World Heritage Site is also in Kutch, it is 150 km away from
Khatiya.
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Desalpar
and Khirsara, Kotda Bhadli and Nadapa are
the other well-known Harappan sites in western Kutch. But each of them is a
site of urban and post-urban periods of the Harappan civilization
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Being a pre-urban
Harappan cemetery, there is a possibility that either there was a big
settlement in Khatiya or there were smaller settlements around Khatiya and the
cemetery was a common burial ground for them.
Harappan Civilization:
About:
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The Harappan civilization,
one of the oldest in the world, is said to have thrived along the banks of
river Indus from around 5,000 BC to 1,000 BC.
Phases:
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Pre
urban phase: 2,500-year-long period from 5,000 BC to
2,600 BC is known as the ‘pre-urban’ Harappan phase.
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Urban
phase: between 2,600 BC and 1,900 BC is
considered the ‘urban’ Harappan phase.
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Post
urban phase: From there on, the civilization declines
and 1,900 BC to 1,000 BC is considered the ‘post-urban’ Harappan period.