Research and findings by archaeologists suggest that a village in Haryana, in northwest India, may be on top of a rare archaeological site both larger and 500 years than Mohenjo-daro - perhaps the best-known human settlement of the Indus Valley civilisation.
     Excavations indicate the settlement witnessed all the phases of the Harappan civilisation - the early Harappan (3200-2700 BCE) as well as the Mature Harappan (2700-1800 BCE) - a unique site which promises to "reveal new civilisation contours by pushing the Indus Valley civilisation by a thousand years or more," says Vijai Vardhan, Haryana's principal secretary for archaeology and museums. "The area and dimensions of Rakhigarhi make it possibly the largest Indus Valley civilisation site in the Indian sub-continent," Vardhan adds.
     The excavation at the site so far has revealed all the defining features of the Indus Valley civilisation - potters kiln, wheel-made pottery baked to red colour, Indus script on seals and other layout features and other traditions of the civilisation. "Archaeologists have visited the site and from the finds so far and use of technology, they are of the opinion that the site should be excavated," Vardhan says.
     Mohenjo-daro was discovered in 1922, and recognised as the earliest known city of the Indian sub-continent. Haryana is home to over 100 early Harappan sites.

Edited from Business Standard (24 June 2013)