Harappa is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, located beside a former course of the Ravi River; about 35km southwest of Sahiwal . The modern town is built beside the remains of an ancient fortifed city, which was part of the Cemetery H and Indus Valley Civilisations. The city existed from about 3300 BC (see note [1] below) until 1600 BC.

Background: Was Meluhha actually Harappa?

Certain texts from the early 3rd millennium BC suggest Meluhha was a kingdom adjacent to Magan/Egypt. However later texts (c. 2200 BC) seem to indicate that Meluhha was to the east, which suggests either the Indus valley or India. A number of scholars suggest that "Meluhha" was the Sumerian name for either India or the Indus valley civilization. Therefore, Harappa might be indicated. Besides the Indus valley civilization and India, another leading candidate is ancient Ethiopia.

Dentistry In Ancient India

In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh, Pakistan, made the startling discovery that the people of Indus Valley Civilization, even from the early Harappan periods (circa 3300 BC), had knowledge of medicine and dentistry! The physical anthropologist that carried out the examinations, Professor Andrea Cucina from the University of Missouri-Columbia, made the discovery when he was cleaning the teeth from one of the men. See History of medicine and Indus Valley Civilization: Science.

Notes

[1] The earliest radiocarbon dating mentioned on the web is 2725+-185 BC (uncalibrated) or 3338, 3213, 3203 BC calibrated, giving a midpoint of 3251 BC. Maybe this comes from S.P.Gupta, 1993, "Longer chronology of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization", Puratattva, No. 23, 1992-93, pp. 21-29.

[2] Mohenjo-daro is another major city of the same period, located in Sindh province of Pakistan.

External link

• Excavations of the city are described at http://www.harappa.com.