A 3-season excavation in
Haryana’s Rakhigarhi by archaeologists from Deccan College, who worked with
Haryana government, ASI, ICHR, and a South Korean team, has unveiled a large burial ground that promises a very
detailed anthropological profile of the Harappan people.
The findings
The excavation yielded 53
burials, six of which were unearthed in 2014-15; the remaining in the 2015-16
digging season. The necropolis (a
cemetery, especially a large one belonging to an ancient city), dated to
between 2,500 BC and 2,000 BC, or the Mature Harappan Period, sprawls under a 1
hectare patch of land that has long been under cultivation by present-day
residents of Rakhigarhi. Some of the graves contained full skeletal remains,
and have been classified as primary
burials; in others, only a few human bones were found along with votive
pots (secondary burials); in yet
others, only pots were found (symbolic
burials that suggest that the person died elsewhere, and was symbolically
interred here).
In all, the excavation unearthed
at least 46 sets of complete or partial skeletal remains — 41 in primary
burials; five in secondary burials. The researchers subcategorised the primary burials into “typical” and “atypical” cases.
Typical cases — single bodies buried in
supine position (The supine position means lying horizontally with the face
and torso facing up, as opposed to the prone position, which is face down) inside a plain pit — outnumber atypical ones, which have brick-lined
graves, multiple bodies, or prone-positioned burials.
Of the 46 sets of skeletal
remains, 37 were subjected to anthropological examination and DNA tests.
Seventeen were determined to be over 18 years of age (adults); eight were
“sub-adults”, that is, younger than 18; and the ages of 12 could not be
determined. Two of the sub-adults were children aged between 2 and 5 years. Of
the 17 whose sex could be determined, seven were found to be males, and 10 were
females.
The tests
The findings were analysed at
Deccan College, Pune, and at the DNA lab at the Centre for Cellular and
Molecular Biology in Hyderabad. Deccan
College has a research collaboration for the Rakhigarhi project with the
College of Medicine at Seoul National University, and the DNA tests were
conducted at the Hyderabad lab by South Korean scientists. The DNA was extracted
using a new technique that involves rupturing the petrous bone, a small bone
between the jaw and the ear. Only teeth or jaw bones have so far been
considered for extracting DNA.
Dr Dong Hoon Shin, one of the
South Korean scientists, posted online that the investigation involved, “1) gross anthropological study
(determination of sex and age, identification of any pathological signs in
bones, forensic investigation for race determination, etc.); 2) paleoparasitological study (analysis of
soil sediments on hipbones, determination of any presence of parasite eggs,
drawing of tentative conclusions on parasitic infection of Harappan people); 3)
aDNA mitochondrial, Y-chromosomal,
autosomal and stable-isotope analyses (obtainment of information on
maternal and paternal lineages); 4) first-ever facial reconstruction of approximately 4,500-year-old Harappan
person (based on DNA and forensic data…).”
The significance
This isn’t the first time that
such burials have been found at a Harappan site — the most signficant necropolis was found in Harappa itself; burial
grounds have also been discovered in Lothal
(Gujarat); Kalibangan (Rajasthan); Farmana (Haryana), Sanauli (UP), and
during a previous Archaeological Survey of India excavation in Rakhigarhi in 1997-2000.
It is important to note, however,
that the numbers of known Harappan sites are over 2,000, and funerary findings
are, therefore, still sparse. While Harappan studies have focused primarily on
urban design, crafts and trade, funeral customs say a lot about a community,
what its people value, its social heirarchy, gender relations, and how it
treats its children. Forensic-anthropolgical studies of remains can reveal much
about what a people ate, their longevity, and why and how they died. Studies of
funeral customs can reveal links between peoples across space and time.
There are five big known centres of the Harappan civilisation — three in Pakistan
(Harappa and Ganweriwala in Punjab, and Mohenjo Daro in Sindh), and two in
India (Dholavira and Rakhigarhi). While the study authors are careful to
underline that “the Harappan
Civilization’s normative form or forms of body disposal remains unclear to us,
(and) we have to allow for the possibility that diverse groups… had distinctive
mortuary customs”, in Rakhigarhi, a distinctive practice was “the burial of the
body without any process of reduction”.
Peculiar features
The paper has noted pit burials with multiple bodies, and prone (face down)
burials as significant departures from other Harappan necropolises. Most
burials pits, however, had only set of remains, and the body was fully extended
in the supine (face up) position, with the head to the north. Some graves had
pots in them, others had none.
In some graves, some votive pots
had animal bones, which may have been from meat placed with the body as an
offering to the dead. In secondary burials — pots containing human bones — the
remains bore no signs of charring, thus ruling out cremation as a practice.
One atypical burial contained
five sets of remains in one pit. According to the study, all were buried at the
same time — the two skeletons found in the pit, that is primary burials, were
excellently preserved, and appeared to be male. The others were secondary
burials, and contained human bones in pots. This multiple-individual grave had
a higher number of “grave goods” than in any other burial pit found at
Rakhigarhi.
What the finds indicate
The burial structures and grave
goods of the Rakhigarhi necropolis were “determined to be generally humble in
nature”, says the study, with their differences being “possibly reflective of
ritual status and/or the dynamic situation prevailing at the time of the
individual’s death”. Brick-lined burials
(as opposed to plain pits) were among the most elaborately constructed graves,
and possibly implied a high social or ritual status.
Significantly, every individual found in a brick-lined pit was
determined to be female, leading the study authors to ask whether these women
played a special role in the community. Brick-lined graves also included more votive pots than did typical
interments; however, women in typical burials got fewer votive pots than men,
leading the study to ask if there were “discriminatory” attitudes toward women
in general.
Prone-position bodies, a rarity in archaelogical finds, are usually
held to be those that the community did not like. However, in Rakhigarhi,
these individuals seem to have got elaborate burials with numerous grave goods.
Two burials had been done on a bed of pottery, which may be indicative of high
social status.
Combined with other finds, including a goldsmith’s workshop, a complex
of mud-brick structures, and the usual Harappan antiquities — potsherds,
terracotta, agate and steatite beads, stone and copper artefacts — the
necropolis confirms the earlier belief that there was a sizeable community at
Rakhigarhi.
Credit: Indian Express Explained
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