The mounds of Rakhigarhi never fail to reveal their secrets. In this town in Haryana, 175 kilometers northwest of New Delhi, the subject of excavations since the 1960s, 11 mounds stand on an area of 350 hectares. One of them, number 7, houses a large Harappan cemetery, a true treasure for historians, linguists and anthropologists. Scientists are interested in this civilization established in the Bronze Age in the Indus River Valley.
In spring, archaeologists caused a sensation with the discovery of two skeletons in excellent condition, side by side, including that of a woman. “This is the first time we have come across female bones. Next to her skull were four shell bracelets, reminiscent of a very ancient ritual that consisted of burying deceased women with their wedding jewelry.enthuses Sanjay Kumar Manjul, who is responsible for the site on behalf of the federal state archaeological services.
According to the numerous ceramic vessels and bowls that surrounded them, the two skeletons date back to a period between 2600 and 1900 BC The so-called “mature” era of the Harappans, during which the Indus Valley was between 1 and 5 million inhabitants. At the same time, the Egyptians built their first great pyramids and the Mesopotamians their monumental temples.
Since the first human bones were discovered in 2005 in Rakhigarhi, 79 skeletons have been unearthed, of which 45 are complete. “More than a hundred burials still remain hidden under the mound”says Niraj Rai, director of the laboratory at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleolithic Sciences in Lucknow, northeast India, which analyzes the ancient DNA of these remains.
mixed blood
Archaeologists are clear that the ancient city of Rakhigarhi was more important than Mohenjo-daro or Harappa, the other two best-known Harappan cities. At its peak, this civilization extended from Kashmir to the banks of the Narmada in Gujarat, passing through most of what is now Pakistan.
It was in 2015 when the Rakhigarhi skeletons began to spark passions in India. That year, one of the skeletons discovered was able to provide usable genetic material, extracted from the petrosal bones of the inner ear. The team, led by American geneticist David Reich of Harvard University and Indian archaeologist Vasant Shinde of Deccan College in Pune, was able to redraw the Harappan family tree.
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