Sarasvati Civilization

[Husky]

1. njsaryablog.blogspot.com/2016/01/harappan-interments-at-rakhigarhi.html

Friday, 29 January 2016

Harappan Interments at Rakhigarhi, Haryana

This is a nice study on Rakhigarhi, it has also given some intriguing parallels of funeral customs which are found in the Vedic texts.

Harappan Interments at Rakhigarhi, Haryana

Abstract :



The excavations at Rakhigarhi ( 29° 17' 30" N ; 76° 06' 50'' E ) have reported skeletal series of the Harappans both from cemetery and habitation area. Interment archaeology is quite unique as it unfolds a distinct funerary mechanism for highlighting gender, besides other mortuary features commonly recorded at Kalibangan and Farmana.

Yog. academia.edu/20195157/Harappan_Interments_at_Rakhigarhi_Haryana

The above entry by blog owner Nirjhar007 seems to imply that aDNA from skeletons at IVC may have a chance to turn out to be meaningful. Ah, didn't read the following well last time: burial and cremation were both done in Harappa, but after 2000 BCE cremation seems to have become more common. That sounds more promising for IVC aDNA then.



varnam.nationalinterest.in/2009/09/a-4000-year-old-lepers-tale/

Another point is regarding the burial; after 2000 BCE, burial was uncommon except for some special cases like infants and spiritual people. Harappan skeletons were both cremated — there is evidence at Sanauli at least — and buried, but true burials are very few compared to expected numbers. Many archaeologists believe that cremation must have been widely practised by Harappans. Also, at Dholavira and other sites, dozens of graves turned out to be without any bones which implies symbolic burials.

2. Belongs in this thread too (post 469 of the Unmasking AIT thread):

"Chimera" in Vedic tradition mirrored in IVC iconography, and discussions about Greek "chimera"