Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

To find more, fresh excavation work starts at Harappan site in Fatehabad village

- Bhaskar Mukherjee bhaskar.mukherjee@hindustant­imes.com

FATEHABAD : To find more about 5,000-year-old Harappan and pre-Harappan sites at Kunal village of Fatehabad district, the state archaeolog­ical department has started fresh excavation work there.

The Haryana archaeolog­y and museums department (HAMD) and the National Museums have jointly started the exercise. Besides, experts from the Indian Archaeolog­ical Society (IAS) have also been roped in for this.

The excavation will continue till April, the state department said in a press release.

In a press release, the government in an excavation a year ago had claimed to have found square and rectangula­r mudbrick houses supposedly belonging to the pre-Harappan culture in India.

Last year, the state archaeolog­y and museums department and Delhi-based Indian Archae- ological Society had signed an MoU for carrying out excavation work at the site. Excavation­s at the village started in

IN THE PAST, REGALIA, INCLUDING SIX BEADS OF A NECKLACE, ARMLET, BANGLE PIECES AND 12,445 BEADS OF SEMIPRECIO­US STONES, WERE FOUND

1986. HAMD deputy director Banani Bhattachar­ya said, “The state has more than 1,000 archaeolog­ically important sites. Full-fledged excavation at the site will start on Wednesday.

In earlier excavation­s, several regalia, including six beads of a necklace, an armlet, some bangle pieces and 12,445 beads of semi-precious stones, were recovered. Besides, artifacts were also recovered at the village during the last excavation.”

The department will soon create an online database of all archaeolog­ically important sites in the state with the dates of excavation, officials said.

“Kunal village is a pre-Harappan site.

Also, nearly 30 km from it, there is another village Bhirrana where Hakra Ware culture, including spoke-wheels in large numbers, were found during an excavation,” Bhattachar­ya said.

The team will also search for graveyard(s) belonging to that era and it may help them start fresh research on habits and culture of that era.

The state archaeolog­ical and museums department had carried out excavation at Rakhigarhi village of district Hisar and recovered many Harappan artifacts. Also, it had carried out excavation at Rohtak’s Dakshkhera village where several graves were found.

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? Workers carrying out excavation at Kunal village in Fatehabad district.
HT PHOTO Workers carrying out excavation at Kunal village in Fatehabad district.

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