One of the two major cities of the Harappan civilization of the 3rd millennium bc. Whereas Mohenjo-Daro is situated in the southern Sind province, Harappa is on the middle Ravi plain of the northern Punjab. Unfortunately the site was largely destroyed during the last century by the extraction of bricks for ballast for the LahoreMultan railway, then under construction. Smaller than Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa originally covered <43 hectares and may have housed 20-25,000 people. Like Mohenjo-Daro, it consisted of a citadel mound to the northwest and a more extensive group of mounds to the east, representing the ruins of the lower town. The citadel was defended by a wall, about 14 metres wide at the base but tapering upwards; we know virtually nothing about the buildings on the citadel. In the area between the citadel and the river a group of 12 small granaries was excavated; they were arranged in two rows separated by a central passage. The combined floor space of these granaries is close to that of the earliest phase of the large granary on the Mohenjo-Daro citadel. In the same area were at least 18 circular brick platforms with holes in the centre, probably used for pounding grain. Two lines of small oblong dwellings not far away may have housed workmen. The whole area seems to have been used for the preparation and storage of grain and the accommodation of those who worked on it. Another important discovery at Harappa was the so-called R37 cemetery, one of the few known cemeteries of the Indus Valley civilization. Here 57 citizens had been buried individually, in the extended position; with them were numerous pottery vessels, personal ornaments and sometimes toilet articles.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied