Craniofacial reconstruction of the Indus valley civilization individuals found at 4500-year-old Rakhigarhi cemetery

Despite academic efforts to study the Indus Valley civilization (IVC), there have as yet been no successful attempts to unveil the IVC people’s craniofacial appearance. We investigated the IVC cemetery area of Rakhigarhi site, which was estimated to be of 2273 ± 38 and 2616 ± 73 years BCE. By craniofacial reconstruction (CFR) procedure using computed tomography (CT) data of two Rakhigarhi skulls (A1 BR02 and A2 BR36), we successfully reconstructed the faces of the IVC individu-als who were buried about 4500 years ago. This is the first attempt to unveil scientifically accurate representations of IVC people’s actual facial morphology

Archaeological and anthropological studies on the Harappan cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India.

An insufficient number of archaeological surveys has been carried out to date on Harappan Civilization cemeteries. One case in point is the necropolis at Rakhigarhi site (Haryana, India), one of the largest cities of the Harappan Civilization, where most burials within the cemetery remained uninvestigated. Over the course of the past three seasons (2013 to 2016), we therefore conducted excavations in an attempt to remedy this data shortfall. In brief, we found different kinds of graves co-existing within the Rakhigarhi cemetery in varying proportions. Primary interment was most common, followed by the use of secondary, symbolic, and unused (empty) graves. Within the first category, the atypical burials appear to have been elaborately prepared. Prone-positioned internments also attracted our attention. Since those individuals are not likely to have been social deviants, it is necessary to reconsider our pre-conceptions about such prone-position burials in archaeology, at least in the context of the Harappan Civilization. The data presented in this report, albeit insufficient to provide a complete understanding of Harappan Civilization cemeteries, nevertheless does present new and significant information on the mortuary practices and anthropological features at that time. Indeed, the range of different kinds of burials at the Rakhigarhi cemetery do appear indicative of the differences in mortuary rituals seen within Harappan societies, therefore providing a vivid glimpse of how these people respected their dead

Box and scatter plots of votive pot numbers found in subadult and adult graves.

<p>Box and scatter plots of votive pot numbers found in subadult and adult graves.</p

Archaeological and anthropological studies on the Harappan cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India - Fig 8

<p>Box and scatter plots of votive pot numbers for (A) primary typical and atypical as well as (B) primary typical, secondary and symbolic graves from Rakhigarhi cemetery.</p

Distinct localities of Rakhigarhi excavation site.

<p>Distinct localities of Rakhigarhi excavation site.</p

Archaeological and anthropological studies on the Harappan cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India - Fig 15

<p>Prone-positioned individuals in (A) A2/BR33 and (B) B1/BR 01A.</p

Box and scatter plots depicting votive pot numbers from primary typical, brick-lined and prone-position graves.

<p>Box and scatter plots depicting votive pot numbers from primary typical, brick-lined and prone-position graves.</p

Classification of the Harappan burials discovered in Rakhigarhi cemetery.

<p>Classification of the Harappan burials discovered in Rakhigarhi cemetery.</p