Harappan site unearthed in Rajasthan's Thar

Until now, Pilibanga in northern Rajasthan was the state's most prominent Harappan site (Image Courtesy: TOI)

A New discovery beneath the dunes of Thar's scorching crust has added to the ongoing academic discussion on the extent of Harappan sites and what may have possibly lead to its decline.

A report by the Times of India mentions unique characteristics of a civilization that was believed to be one of the greatest in recent memory. Red shards glinting in desert sand. A kiln with a central column, long buried. Chert blades and terracotta cakes from a civilisation 4,500 years old, mentions a report by TOI.

A Harappan site has surfaced at Ratadiya Ri Dheri in Jaisalmer district, marking the first known Indus Valley settlement in Rajasthan's arid region. Located 60km from Ramgarh tehsil and just 17km northwest of Pakistan's Sadewala — where Harappan traces were earlier found — this find bridges a vital archaeological gap between northern Rajasthan and Gujarat, reported the same publication.

In 2020, Indian researchers, for the first time connected the decline of a Harappan city to the disappearance of a Himalayan snow-fed river which once flowed in the Rann of Kutch, according to a study.

An IIT Kharagpur statement said that a research team “connected the dots between the growth and decline of Dholavira, the most spectacular and largest excavated Harappan city in India located in the Rann with a river which resembles the mythical Himalayan river Saraswati”. The team consists of researchers from IIT Kharagpur, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Deccan College PGRI Pune, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) and the Department of Culture, Gujarat.

Until now, Pilibanga in northern Rajasthan was the state's most prominent Harappan site — discovered by Italian Indologist Luigi Pio Tessitori in the early 20th century and excavated in the 1960s. Ratadiya Ri Dheri pushes the frontier southward into the heart of India's desert, claimed the TOI report.