Rakhigarhi

Rakhigarhi
Rakhigarhi is located in Haryana
Rakhigarhi
Shown within Haryana
Rakhigarhi is located in India
Rakhigarhi
Rakhigarhi (India)
Rakhigarhi is located in South Asia
Rakhigarhi
Rakhigarhi (South Asia)
Alternative nameRakhi Garhi
LocationHaryana, India
Coordinates29°17′35″N 76°6′51″E / 29.29306°N 76.11417°E / 29.29306; 76.11417
TypeSettlement
Area80–105 hectares (0.80–1.05 km2; 0.31–0.41 sq mi)[1][2][3][4][5][6][note 1]
History
CulturesIndus Valley civilization
Site notes
Excavation dates1963, 1997–2000, 2012–2016, 2021–present[web 1]

Rakhigarhi or Rakhi Garhi is a village and an archaeological site in the Hisar District of the northern Indian state of Haryana, situated about 150 km northwest of Delhi. It is located in the Ghaggar River plain,[6] some 27 km from the seasonal Ghaggar river, and belonged to the Indus Valley civilisation, being part of the pre-Harappan (7000-3300 BCE), early Harappan (3300-2600 BCE), and the mature phase (2600-1900 BCE) of the Indus Valley Civilisation.[7]

It was among the largest settlements of the ancient civilisation, and most scholars believe it to have been between 80 hectares and 100+ hectares in area.[1][2][3][4][5][6][note 1] Other related excavation sites in the area are Mitathal and the smaller site Lohari Ragho, which are still awaiting excavation.

Initial excavations at the site happened in the 1960s, followed by further excavations in the late 1990s, however more sustained excavations have taken place in the past decade.[web 1] though much of the area is yet to be excavated[8][web 2] and published.[9]

DNA-tests by Shinde et al. (2019) on a single skeleton show that the DNA did not include any traces of steppe ancestry, in line with the Aryan migration theory, which says that Indo-Aryans migrated to India from the steppes after the Harappan civilisation had started to disintegrate.[10]

  1. ^ a b Possehl (2002), p. 72.
  2. ^ a b Coningham & Young (2015), p. 183.
  3. ^ a b Kenoyer (1998), p. 49.
  4. ^ a b Allchin & Erdosy (1995), p. 78.
  5. ^ a b Heitzman (2008), p. 35.
  6. ^ a b c Wright (2009), p. 133.
  7. ^ Garge (2010), p. 15.
  8. ^ Possehl (2002), pp. 63, 71, 72.
  9. ^ McIntosh (2008), p. 215, 293.
  10. ^ Shinde et al. (2019).


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