Harappa
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Harappa is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, located beside a former course of the Ravi River; about 35km southwest of Sahiwal.
The modern town is built beside the remains of an ancient fortifed city, which was part of the Cemetery H and Indus Valley Civilisations. The city existed from about 3300 BC [1] until 1600 BC.
In 2005 a controversial amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders encountered large quantities of artefacts during initial construction work. A plea from the prominent Pakistani archaeologist Ahmed Hasan Dani to the Ministry of Culture resulted in a re-survey of the site and cancellation of the project amid accusations of corruption and incompetence.
Notes
[1] The earliest radiocarbon dating mentioned on the web is 2725+-185 BC (uncalibrated) or 3338, 3213, 3203 BC calibrated, giving a midpoint of 3251 BC. Maybe this comes from S.P.Gupta, 1993, "Longer chronology of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization", Puratattva, No. 23, 1992-93, pp. 21-29. [2] Mohenjo-daro is another major city of the same period, located in Sindh province of Pakistan.
External link
- Excavations of the city are described at http://www.harappa.com.
- Harappa amusement park scrapped (http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/001285.html)