National

Rakhigarhi In Photos | Where The New And The Ancient Coexist

The ASI excavations at Rakhigarhi in Hisar, Haryana, conducted at seven mounds, have revealed a millenia-old city from the Harappan civilisation. The dig has uncovered the mortal remains of people, which can be dated back to nearly 4,600 years. While there are furious debates over the origin of the present-day population of India due to the DNA patterns found in these remains, little is being done by the government and their bodies like ASI, to preserve the findings from these excavations. All the mounds, barring one, remain barely protected with tarpaulin sheets and the artefacts from the sites have been stored in a temporary storage room near Mound No. I. The museum, meant to house these precious artefacts, is still under construction even after 10 years since its sanction. It remains to be seen whether the enthusiasm of the government in using the findings of Rakhigarhi to establish an "unbroken continuity" from the genetics of the Harappan people to the present-day Indians, will translate into genuine efforts to preserve the valuable findings from this lost civilisation.