World’s Largest Museum of Harappan Culture: The world’s largest museum of Harappan culture is being set up in Rakhigarhi in Haryana.

Key Points about the museum:

• This museum in Rakhigarhi will showcase about 5,000-year-old artefacts belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization.
• It will display photographs depicting Rakhigarhi’s history.
• The village of Rakhigarhi was part of the Indus Valley Civilization from 2600-1900 BC.
• The museum will give recognition to Rakhigarhi at the international and national levels.
• This in turn will increase job opportunities for the local communities.
• A special zone is being created in the museum for children to make them aware of the history in a recreational manner.
• The museum will also have an open-air theatre, galleries, and a library.

About Rakhigarhi:

• Rakhigarhi is a hamlet in Haryana’s Hisar district, some 150 kilometres from Delhi.
• The village is also a famous archaeological site from the Indus Valley civilization period.
• It was part of the Indus Valley Civilizaion from 2600 to 1900 BC.
• The place was one of the largest settlements of the ancient civilization located in the Ghaggar-Hakra River plain.
• However, the site remains largely unexcavated and only about five percent of the village has been excavated till date.
• The two villages Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Sahapur currently host the archeological remains of the Indus Valley site.

Excavation at Rakhigarhi:

• The ASI (Archeological Survey of India) started removing a village’s foundation for the first time in 1963 and advanced between 1998 and 2001.
• Another excavation took place in 2013, 2016, and 2022.
• During the initial excavations, seven mounds, RGR 1 to RGR 7, were found and these together make the largest settlements of the Harappan culture.
• Till 1998, some 56 skeletons have been discovered in the Rakhigarhi region.
• Among these, two skeletons of women were estimated about 7000 years oldwere found in mound number 7. 
• Along with this, a copper mirror, a number of shell bangles, and semi-precious stone beads were found in the hands of both the skeletons.
• The presence of shell bangles in the site provides evidence of trade links to faraway places such as Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
• Jewelry trade is among the most prominent in this site.
• People in this civilization are known to melt precious metals like copper, carnelian, agate and gold to make garlands of beads.

Development of 5 Iconic Sites:

During the Union Budget 2020, the Central Government announced the development of the following five iconic sites:-

1. Rakhigarhi (Haryana),
2. Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh),
3. Shivasagar (Assam),
4. Dholavira (Gujarat) and
5. Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu).

Museums will be developed in these sites with a total outlay of Rs.2,500 crore.

Indus Valley Civilization:

• The Indus Valley Civilisation covers an area of over a million square kilometers.
• It extends from Shortugai (Afghanistan) in the north to Daimabad (Maharashtra, India) in the south and from Sutkagan Dor (Pakistan) in the west to Alamgirpur (Uttar Pradesh, India) in the east.
• There are thousands of sites within this radius, some of which are very well known, including Harappa, Mohenjodaro in Pakistan, Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Dholavira (Gujarat), and Kalibangan (Rajasthan) in India.
• It is believed that Harappa, which was founded in the 1920s, is a 4700-year-old metropolis on the subcontinent.
• More cities were soon discovered after towns like Lothal, Dholavira, Mohenjo-Daro, and Kalibangan, which resulted in the development of the Harappan Civilization and the subsequent attribution of these locations as Harappan cities.
• The Harappan script remains undeciphered, leaving us with only tangible archaeological remains to discover and interpret the lives of its inhabitants.
• Well-planned cities to an advanced ceramic culture speak volumes of the objects and technologies that were used in their day-to-day routine 4,500 years ago.
• One aspect includes a range of beauty and grooming paraphernalia that were used by the Harappans