Ancient context
A 2017 joint roundtable conference by Rasika Research & Design, INTACH, Center for Art and Archaeology, Sushant School of Art and Architecture at Ansal University and Deccan College affirmed the whole 550 hectares (1,400 acres; 5.5 km2; 2.1 sq mi) Rakhi Garhi IVC archaeological site a living museum. Highlighting the significance of Rakhigarhi, speaker Surbhi Gupta (Director, Rasika Research & Design) announced at the conference, "What Giza is to Egypt, and Athens is to Greece, Haryana should be to India." [4]
Rakhi Garhi site with 550 hectares (1,400 acres; 5.5 km2; 2.1 sq mi) area is the largest IVC site in the world, which is about double the size than that of next largest site Mohenjo Daro, asserts Professor Dr. Vasant Shinde, Vice Chancellor of Daccan College and in-charge of Rakhi Garhi excavation. He further informed about the 6,000 years old pre-Harappan IVC site and 5,000 years old human skeletons found during the excavation, "the scientific data collected on the basis excavations here have strongly pointed that Rakhigarhi, a metropolis, was perhaps the capital of its times about 5,000 years ago. The scientists have, for the first time ever, succeeded in extracting DNA from the skeletons of the Indus Valley Civilisation. We have collected evidences of massive manufacturing and trade activities in this town, which revealed the economic organisation and the foreign links of people here. They had trade links with people in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Baluchistan and even Afghanistan. The city flourished during the early Harappan era dating back to around 3,300 BC and existed till 2000 BC.” [5] NASA and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) undertook the joint study of artifacts found at Rakhi Garhi during 2011-16 excavations, estimated to be 6,000 years old, older than 3,500 years old Harappan civilization. [6] NASA and ISRO will also carry out a joint in-stu site inspection to verify the claims of 6,000 years old Pre-harappan phase of Rakhi Gahri IVC being the oldest and largest civilization in the world, [7] though the joint two month long excavations by Haryana State Archaeology Department, Indian Archaeological Society and National Museum in May 2017 at much smaller nearby 7,570-6,200 BCE [8] IVC site of Kunal were initially estimated to be 1,000 years older than Rakhi Garhi. [9] [10]
Past excavations
In 1969, site was first studied and documented by Dr. Suraj Bhan, Dean of Indic studies at Kurukshetra University. In 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000, site was excavated for the first time by Dr. Amrender Nath, former director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who later published his findings in scholarly journals and was convicted by Central Bureau of Investigation special court in 2015 to two and half years rigorous prison sentence for fraud for falsifying the bill payments for 1990s Rakhigarhi excavations. [11] From 2011-16, team led by Dr. Vasant Shinde of Deccan College carried out several excavations and published their findings in scholarly journals. [12]
