Two human skeletons dating from the Harappan era, 5,000 years old, found in a mound in the village of Rakhigarhi, in Hisar, India, on March 11, 2015. MANOJ DHAKA / AFP The mounds of Rakhigarhi never end reveal their secrets. In this village 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 real treasure for historians, linguists and anthropologists. Scientists are interested in this civilization established in the Bronze Age in the Indus River valley. In the spring, archaeologists caused a sensation with the discovery of two skeletons in excellent condition, lying side by side, including that of a woman. “This is the first time we have come across female bones. Next to her skull, there were four shell bracelets, which is reminiscent of a very ancient ritual which consisted of burying deceased women with their wedding jewelry,” enthuses Sanjay Kumar Manjul, site manager for the account of the archaeological services of the federal state. According to the numerous ceramic vases 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 had 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 other burials are still hidden under the mound,” says Niraj Rai, director of the laboratory at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleolithic Sciences in Lucknow, in northeast India, who is analyzing ancient DNA from these remains. Mixed blood Archaeologists are clear that the ancient city of Rakhigarhi was more important than Mohenjo-daro or Harappa, the two other better-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 that the skeletons of Rakhigarhi began to unleash passions in India. That year, one of the skeletons discovered was able to provide usable genetic material, taken from the petrous 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. You have 62.91% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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