Is the Harappan civilisation 2000 years older?

[Bang Galore]

The recent International Conference on Harappan Archaeology produced an unexpected announcement from archaeologists BR Mani and KN Dikshit, both of the Archaeological Survey of India, who claim that new dates from excavations show the Harappan culture began around 2000 years earlier than previously thought.

The ruins of the Harrapan city of Mohenjo-daro remained undocumented for over 3,700 years, until their discovery in 1922 by Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India. He was led to the mound by a Buddhist monk, who reportedly believed it to be a stupa. Image: Wikimedia commons

Redating of Harappan culture

Based on their research, which has yet to be fully published, the two archaeologists said in a presentation: “The preliminary results of the data from early sites of the Indo-Pak subcontinent suggest that the Indian civilisation emerged in the 8th millennium BC in the Ghaggar-Hakra and Baluchistan area.”

“On the basis of radio-metric dates from Bhirrana (Haryana), the cultural remains of the pre-early Harappan horizon go back to between 7380 to 6201 BCE”.

This announcement was made at the International Conference on Harappan Archaeology by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Chandigarh and contests the current theory that the settlements in the Indus region began around 3750 BCE.

Contemporary with the rise of civilisation in Mesopotamia

The preliminary findings from the Indus valley – if they are confirmed – would allow for the origin of Harappan Culture to be roughly contemporaneous with the rise of civilisation in Mesopotamia. The first definitive Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumer emerged in the Ubaid period around 6500 BCE.

A language connection?

The Sumerian texts that have been deciphered bear no relation to any nearby language, however there is a hypothesis that the people living in coastal Iran between the two civilizations spoke what is described as an Elamo-Dravidian language

Apart from the linguistic similarities, the Elamo-Dravidian Hypothesis (which is re-gaining credibility) rests on the assertion that agriculture spread from the Near East to the Indus Valley region via Elam. This would suggest that agriculturalists brought a new language as well as farming from Mesopotamia via Elam. This is supported by ethno-botanical data tracking including the Near Eastern origin and spread of wheat and other crops. (Fuller 2003).

Later evidence of extensive trade between Elam and the Indus Valley Civilisation suggests ongoing links between the two regions.

The recent excavations have been carried out at two sites in Pakistan and Bhirrana, Kunal, Rakhigarhi and Baror in India and there is potential that further work may alter the present chronologies.

Is the Harappan civilisation 2000 years older? : Past Horizons Archaeology

 

[Hellraiser007]

When ever some one asserts some conclusion they always say something came from outside to Indian subcontinent which is funny.

India is blessed with fertile land and rivers like no other country and these guys are saying agriculture came to India from outside which is quite contrary to believe.

 

[Joe Shearer]

The recent International Conference on Harappan Archaeology produced an unexpected announcement from archaeologists BR Mani and KN Dikshit, both of the Archaeological Survey of India, who claim that new dates from excavations show the Harappan culture began around 2000 years earlier than previously thought.

The ruins of the Harrapan city of Mohenjo-daro remained undocumented for over 3,700 years, until their discovery in 1922 by Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India. He was led to the mound by a Buddhist monk, who reportedly believed it to be a stupa. Image: Wikimedia commons

Redating of Harappan culture

Based on their research, which has yet to be fully published, the two archaeologists said in a presentation: “The preliminary results of the data from early sites of the Indo-Pak subcontinent suggest that the Indian civilisation emerged in the 8th millennium BC in the Ghaggar-Hakra and Baluchistan area.”

“On the basis of radio-metric dates from Bhirrana (Haryana), the cultural remains of the pre-early Harappan horizon go back to between 7380 to 6201 BCE”.

This announcement was made at the International Conference on Harappan Archaeology by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Chandigarh and contests the current theory that the settlements in the Indus region began around 3750 BCE.

Contemporary with the rise of civilisation in Mesopotamia

The preliminary findings from the Indus valley – if they are confirmed – would allow for the origin of Harappan Culture to be roughly contemporaneous with the rise of civilisation in Mesopotamia. The first definitive Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumer emerged in the Ubaid period around 6500 BCE.

A language connection?

The Sumerian texts that have been deciphered bear no relation to any nearby language, however there is a hypothesis that the people living in coastal Iran between the two civilizations spoke what is described as an Elamo-Dravidian language

Apart from the linguistic similarities, the Elamo-Dravidian Hypothesis (which is re-gaining credibility) rests on the assertion that agriculture spread from the Near East to the Indus Valley region via Elam. This would suggest that agriculturalists brought a new language as well as farming from Mesopotamia via Elam. This is supported by ethno-botanical data tracking including the Near Eastern origin and spread of wheat and other crops. (Fuller 2003).

Later evidence of extensive trade between Elam and the Indus Valley Civilisation suggests ongoing links between the two regions.

The recent excavations have been carried out at two sites in Pakistan and Bhirrana, Kunal, Rakhigarhi and Baror in India and there is potential that further work may alter the present chronologies.

Is the Harappan civilisation 2000 years older? : Past Horizons Archaeology

I hadn't read this, it is fascinating. Thanks for the reference.

The Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis remains very controversial, although it is regaining some credibility.

The backward extension in time agrees pretty much with Marija Gimbutas' dramatic re-writing of archaeology and anthropology.

 

[My-Analogous]

We are more then 7000 bc (9000 years old) civilization check it out

Mehrgarh is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley and between the now Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige, and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh—in the northeast corner of the 495-acre (2.00 km2) site—was a small farming village dated between 7000 BCE to 5500 BCE and the whole area covers a number of successive settlements. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected

Mehrgarh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia