Harappan site of Rakhigarh

Harappan site of Rakhigarh

• Looking at the mounds at the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi, where locals dry cow dung cakes and dump garbage, there is little to show the thousands of years of history beneath. But the Centre is moving ahead with its plan to develop the site as a tourist hub and set up a museum, and this has got residents in two villages in Haryana’s Hisar district — Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur — known as Rakhigarhi worried.
• After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the government’s plan to fund five on­site museums, including the under-construction museum initiated by the Haryana government at Rakhigarhi, in her Budget speech on February 1, there is excitement and concern here. The Archaeological Survey of India has started planning the project. Union Tourism and Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel visited the site

Villagers concern

• A former sarpanch, or local head, Dinesh, told the Minister, “We are happy that there will be work in our villages, but we are scared about what will happen to us. Already, people are anxious about the rehabilitation of homes around mound numbers four and five.”

The ASI has been able to get under its control just 83.5 acres of the 350­ hectare site that spans 11 mounds, after first taking over the site in 1996, due to encroachments and pending court cases, The site is under ASI protection. about 5% of the site had been excavated so far by the ASI and Deccan College, Pune. Among the findings, which indicate both early and mature Harappan phases, were a 4,600­year­old female skeleton, fortification, and bricks.

Rakhigarhi

• Rakhigarhi, Rakhi Garhi (Rakhi Shahpur + Rakhi Khas), is a village in Hisar District in the state of Haryana in India, situated 150 kilometers to the northwest of Delhi. It is the site of a pre-Indus Valley Civilisation settlement going back to about 6500 BCE. Later, it was also part of the mature Indus Valley Civilisation, dating to 2600-1900 BCE. The site is located in the Sarasvati river plain, some 27 km from the seasonal Ghaggar river.
• Rakhigarhi encompasses a set of seven mounds, and there are many more settlement mounds in the immediate vicinity. Not all of them were occupied at the same time. Depending on which mounds to include, the estimates of the size of Rakhigarhi have been given variously as between 80 and 550 hectares. In January 2014, the discovery of additional mounds resulted in it becoming the largest Indus Valley Civilization site, overtaking Mohenjodaro (300 Hectares) by almost 50 hectares, resulting in almost 350 hectares.
• The size and uniqueness of Rakhigarhi have drawn much attention from archaeologists all over the world. It is nearer to Delhi than other major sites, indicating the spread of the Indus Valley Civilization east across North India. Much of the area is yet to be excavated and published. Another related site in the area is Mitathal, which is still awaiting excavation.
• In May 2012, the Global Heritage Fund declared Rakhigarhi one of the 10 most endangered heritage sites in Asia. A study by the Sunday Times, found that the site is not being looked after, the iron boundary wall is broken, and villagers sell the artifacts they dig out of the site and parts of the site are now being encroached by private houses.

Source: The Hindu