News Item in the Hindu About Excavations at Khirsara

8/22/2019 News Item in the Hindu About Excavations at Khirsara

1/6

Excavations reveal Khirsara a major

industrial hub of Harappan era

T. S. Subramanian

A cluster of pottery, including a tall slender jar, and a big conch shell found in one of thetrenches. Photo: D. Krishnan


2/6

The bar seal with the Harappan script excavated at Khirsara

The disc-shaped gold beads found at Khirsara


3/6

January 2, 2011 was a golden day in the second season of excavation at Khirsara village,85 km from Bhuj town, Gujarat. Nearly 30 trenches had been dug that season, each 10

metres by 10 metres. One of them yielded two miniature pots, which a labourer rushed to

S. Nandakumar, a site supervisor in his 20s. He took them to Jitendra Nath,Superintending Archaeologist, Excavation Branch, Vadodara, Archaeological Survey of

India (ASI). They are gold beads, announced Mr. Jitendra Nath after examining them.One of the pots contained 26 disc-shaped beads, micro beads and a ring, all made in gold,and steatite beads.

Gold beads are not found in big quantities in the Harappan sites. Some disc-shaped goldbeads had been found at Lothal, another famous Harappan site in Gujarat, said Mr.

Jitendra Nath on April 19, 2013 as he showed us the closed trench where the gold beads

had been found.

Exciting results from four seasons of excavation with 120 trenches dug at Khirsarafrom December 2009 have established Khirsara as a major industrial hub that belonged

to the mature Harappan period. It overlooks the Khari river and flourished for 400 years

from circa 2600 to 2200 BCE.

Carbon dating at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow, for the botanicalremains collected from Khirsaras trenches falls in the range of 2565 to 2235 BCE.

Khirsara has everything to be called a mature Harappan site: systematic town planning, acitadel complex where the ruling elite lived, a factory complex, habitation annexes, a

warehouse, drainage system, and massive fortification walls. All the structures were built

of sandstone blocks set in mud mortar. Excavations have yielded 11 bar, circular andsquare seals, standardised bricks in the ratio of 1:2:4 and a staggering variety of pottery

including reserve slip ware. While the bar seals have only the Harappan script, others

have carvings of unicorn and hump-less bulls with the Harappan signs.

Mr. Jitendra Nath asserted: The seals, especially the circular seals, are the maincharacteristic by which Khirsara can be categorised as a mature Harappan site. Potteryand structures such as the citadel, the factory and the warehouse are the hallmarks by

which this site could be said to belong to mature Harappan phase.

More than 4,200 years ago, Khirsara was an important trading outpost in western Kutch

in Gujarat on the way to Sind in present-day Pakistan. Its factory manufacturedenormous quantities of beads from cornelian, agate, jasper, lapis lazuli, steatite and

chalcedony; bangles and inlays from conch shells; copper artefacts such as bangles, rings,

beads, knives, needles, fish-hooks, arrowheads and weights; and terracotta rattles, toy-

carts and gamesmen. One trench alone threw up 25,000 exquisite beads made of steatite.

Trench after trench laid in Khirsaras factory have yielded a bonanza of Harappan

ceramics painted pottery, the reserve slip ware used by the elite in society, sturdy

storage jars, globular pots, perforated jars, basins, dishes, bowls, beakers, dish-on-stand

and incense burners. The painted pottery with occasional animal motifs, have geometricdesigns of broad bands, crosses, spirals, loops, arches and zigzags. The profusion of

miniature pots that the site has revealed is puzzling.


4/6

R.N. Kumaran, Assistant Archaeologist, ASI, said: We have found furnaces and atandoor. There is evidence of copper-working and ash. We have found huge quantities of

steatite beads and some seals made of steatite. From all this, we have identified it as a

factory site.

An extraordinary feature about Khirsaras Harappan settlement is that it not only had anouter fortification wall around it but every complex inside had its own fortification wall,

be it the citadel, the warehouse, and the factory with its habitation annexe. The

fortification walls for the warehouse and the factory had guard rooms and salients formounting watch.

Even the potters kiln, which lay outside the outer fortification walls, had its own

fortification wall. The outer fortification wall, 310 metres by 230 metres and more than

4,400 years old, still stands in several places.

This is the first time in the Harappan context that we have found separation fortification

walls for each complex on the site, and their purpose is to ensure the safety of its

residents and the goods manufactured, said Mr. Jitendra Nath, now SuperintendingArchaeologist, Mumbai Circle, ASI.

A massive warehouse, measuring 28 metres by 12 metres, excavated had 14 parallelwalls, with an average length of 10.8 metres and 1.55 metres breadth. Its superstructure

was made of wood and daub. The space between the parallel walls enabled circulation offresh air to protect the stored goods. Mr. Jitendra Nath said: It must have been

multipurpose warehouse for storing goods for export or those that have been imported. Its

proximity with river Khari is to support the maritime trading activities of the Khirsarans.A warehouse is a rare type of structure found in a few Harappan sites. It indicates a state

of surplus economy.

The houses in the citadel, where the elite lived, had verandas, interconnected rooms,floors paved with multicoloured bricks and a rock-cut well. A five-metre paved lane

separated the citadel from the factory. The citadel was deliberately built adjacent to thewarehouse so that the rulers could keep a watch on the manufacturing and trading

activities, said Mr. Kumaran.

Comments(5)

Radiocarbon data have to corrected for non-linearity sometimes called

MASCA correction. This may push the dates back by 200 to 300 years

but does not change the findings.

DNA does NOT show that Indians migrated to Europe 900 years ago.

They migrated more like 9000 (nine thousand) years ago taking a

northern and northwestern route. There was another migration some

5000 years westward by a more southerly route via Iran and


5/6

Mesopotamia (Iraq)and the Levant. Both have their imprint in the form

of Sanskritic terms and other traces in languages and archaeology and

literature.

This, which follows from natural history and genetics (DNA analysis) is

the exact reverse of the account given by Western historians (and their

Indian followers) for over a century. They called it the Aryan Invasion

Theory. Science has demolished both the Aryans and their supposed

invasion.

from: N.S. RajaramPosted on: Aug 6, 2013 at 16:07 IST

Congratulations to the entire archaeology team on a fantastic job. You

have uncovered a part of humanity itself. Astounding finding. Thanks to

the Government for supporting this work. I hope they come up with

incentives to thank them.from: Ram S

Posted on: Aug 6, 2013 at 11:26 IST

Great news. Hope the artifacts - coins - beads etc land in the museum

and not in the priate dealer hands (who sell those to make money).

from: Avinash Baranwal


Great job by the archaeological team. Very good article. Hope all

the precious artifacts of our ancient heritage are protected

well. There should be a master plan to connect up the work at

this site with that at other major sites to get an updated

picture of this great civilization. Appropriate funding (equal to

the cost of 1 IPL team) should be allotted for careful spending

on this (how much is understanding our heritage worth?). With

excellent computing facilities and tools now available, the Indus

Valley script should finally be decoded with a new thrust by a

team of experts. Please follow-up with a series of articles.

from: shiva


It is no surprise that such sites are being found in india as the advanced

society already finds mention in the oldest scriptures of the world viz

puranas vedas story of mahabharat etc; The destruction & drcay

started after 9th century AD & continues till date. Perhaps our

forefathers of the harrapan age also migrated to europe as recently


6/6

compated dna suggests. No such sites preceding harrapan time era have

been found there.

from: H SachdevaPosted on: Aug 6, 2013 at 09:29 IST

(The above news item was extracted from Hindu news online website. The link is

provided below:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/excavations-reveal-khirsara-a-major-industrial-

hub-of-harappan-era/article4994878.ece?homepage=true#comments

All the above content was copied by 06/08/2013 21:48 IST )

News Item in the Hindu About Excavations at Khirsara

Documents

Transcript of News Item in the Hindu About Excavations at Khirsara