Excavations Kalibangan The Harappans - 1960 to 1969, Part-1 (An Old and Rare Bookk)

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Foreword I am very greatly delighted to present to scholars the second book entitled Excavations at Kalibangan; The Harappan, Part-L, which embodies the account of valuable contributions of the excavations. In this series the first book on Early Harappans had already been published in 2003 by the Archaeological Survey of India as Memoir No 98.

In fact. after the partition (in 1947) extensive explorations were carried out in various places to search Harappan sites in India. since both the major Harappan sites. Mohenjodaro and Harappa, remained with the present-day Pakistan. Kalibangan was the first Harappan site which was explored and subsequently excavated after Independence. in 1960-69.

The excavations at Kalibangan have undoubtedly produced very good results and established Fabric A to F in pottery. added a unique finding of the earliest ploughed field from the early Harappan period and traces of earliest earthquake marking the end of the early Harappan and Harappan. Scale. cylindrical seal. charging bull. inscribed pottery. fire-alters. wells. bathing platforms. Itnga-wtth-yonl, plumb bob. etc. are the noteworthy findings. along with the plans of citadel. the city and burial ground. from Harappan Period.

However. for this long-pending report and its enormous delay. the senior author. Prof. B. B. Lal, states in the Preface of the book: "Better Late than Never". The completion of the report has only been possible due to painstaking approach of the authors. after their retirements: Prof. B. B. La1 and Late Shri Jagat Pati Joshi. both former Directors General of Archaeological Survey of India. This Part-Ion the Harappans throws light on chronology; three-mounds concept of the settlement; fortified citadel and city; stratigraphy and structures; chess- board plan of the city; ritual platform. fire-altars. wells; representative pottery. plain as well as decorated. with their design-repertoire; cylindrical seal. square seals and sealtngs, with scientific studies of steatite seals; crafts and industries. The academic community which has eagerly been waiting for this report for a long time will surely welcome it.

I have great pleasure in placing on record my appreciation of my colleagues in the Archaeological Survey of India. for their joint efforts for the completion of the report. My special thanks are due to Dr. B. R. Mani, Additional Director General. Dr. D. N. Dtmrt, Director (Publication), Shri Daljit Singh. Superintending Archaeologist (Publication), Shri Vishnu Kant. Assistant Superintending Archaeologist, Delhi Circle. Dr. Sujeet Nayan, Assistant Superintending Archaeologist (Publication), Shri Hoshiar Singh. Production Officer (Publication), Shri Abinash Mohanty. Assistant Archaeologist and others who have provided assistance with ardent zeal in bringing out this publication. Mis. Aravali Printers. New Delhi. deserve my thanks for their co-operation and publishing this book.

Preface The first volume of the report on the excavations at Kalibangan was prepared in 2000 and published by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2003. In it we had given an account of the settlement in so far as it related to the Early Harappan times (Period I). In the present volume, which consists of two parts, we place before the reader an account of the Mature Harappan settlement (Period II). We once again deeply apologize for the inordinate delay in the publication of these two volumes, which has been due to reasons beyond our control, as mentioned in the Preface to earlier volume. However, "Better late than never" is the maxim which gives us some solace, and we earnestly hope that the archaeological fraternity will forgive- us for the delay.

As in the case of the earlier volume, in the present one too the credit of organizing the work must go primarily to Shri Jagat Pati Joshi. He has taken pains to piece together the field-drawings. making them presentable. He has also analyzed the stratigraphy of the site, paying attention to each and every trench. Along with Ms Madhu Bala, he has examined the vast store of antiquities recovered from the site, selecting them for the purpose of this report and writing on them. Ms Madhu Bala has also written the chapters on small finds and pottery. Shri A.K Sharma was in charge of the cemetery area and has contributed a detailed chapter on the burials, besides KS. Ramachandran who has written on some of the pot-burials excavated by him. Prof. Bala Subramaniam of lIT and Jagat Pati Joshi have contributed a chapter on Harappan measuring instruments from Kalibangan. Way back, in 1955, the late Shri A. Ghosh had carried out explorations in certain parts of the Ghaggar and Drishadvati valleys and had duly recorded his findings in a diary. Since the material is related to the subject-matter of this Report, an opportunity is taken to include here his field-notes, along with a paper on the subject, which he presented at the All India History Congress, Jaipur, on December 29, 1951. Shri R.K Sharma, has carried out detailed scientific studies of the fragments of the seals at the science laboratory of the Archaeological Survey of India, Dehradun (Uttarakhand).

Because of such a diverse authorship, it is but natural that the style of presentation and language vary from chapter to chapter. Further, since the report had to be submitted to the Director General, ASI, by the dead-line of May 2007 and most of the chapters poured in just before that, no worthwhile editing was possible. Thus, the reader is requested to look more for the contents of the chapters rather than go into the nuances of the style and language.

As the senior most amongst the contributors, I have great pleasure in' placing this report in the hands of the reader, hoping once again that we would be forgiven for the extraordinary delay.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages