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the-south-asian.com June / July 2005 |
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June /
July
2005 Real Issues
Lifestyle
Books Between
Heaven and Hell
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Page 1 of 6
HARAPPA – ENIGMA OF THE INDUS CIVILIZATION Introduction : From Here to Modernity.
South Asia is home to a major number of key ancient civilization sites
collectively called the Indus Valley Civilization, a term coined by Sir
Mortimer Wheeler in the early 1920s . The term is somewhat limited because
the Indus valley civilization steatite seals and evidence of trading links
between the Mesopotamian-Sumerian cultures, the Gulf states [ Oman
Bahrain,etc ] and the Indus valley extending up to Gujrat in the Ran of
Kutch is now well established. Only 5 % of these sites have been excavated. Of the well known sites,
MohenjoDaro & Harappa are in Pakistan . Kalibangan lies east of Harappa in
India along what was the Saraswati River – a 6th Punjab river
that existed around 2000B.C. and whose flow was disrupted [ Saraswati named
after the Indian goddess of learning] by earthquakes before which Saraswati
river either joined the Sutlej & Ravi rivers near Bahawalpur or it drained
into the Rann of Kutch. Landsat satellite imagery has confirmed the
existence of the old Saraswati river bed. Lothal further south in Gujarat in
the Indian Rann of Kutch was a major port city of those ancient days. In 1970 Mehrgarh [dating from 8500 BC to 2500 BC] was excavated by the
French archaeologists. Mehrgarh is located in Kachi plains close to the
mouth of the Bolan Pass, next to the west bank of the Bolan River near
Dhadhar village some 30 kilometers from Sibi in Balochistan. The three sites from the Indus Valley civilization - Mehrgarh, Rehman
Dheri, and Harappa-- together these 3 sites represent the entire sequence of
the civilization as it developed from the 7th millennium BC neolithic
village of Mehrgarh into the earliest planned town of Rehman Dheri and then
into the great city of Harappa – the enigma and epitomy of the Indus
civilization. Six archaeological sites in Pakistan are on the UNESCO world heritage
list, including Moenjodaro, the historic monuments in Thatta, the
archaeological remains in Taxila, the Buddhist ruins of Takht-i-Bhai, the
city remains at Sehri Bahlol, Rohtas Fort and the Lahore Fort/Shalamar Bagh.
Except Rohtas, all these historical sites were put on the WHL in 1981. [See
earlier article by Dr Coningham in senior lecturer in South Asian
Archaeology, Bradford University, UK. http://www.the-south-asian.com/Sept2001/South%20Asian%20World%20Cultural%20heritage1.htm]
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