Harappa Museum is an archaeology museum based in

Harappa Harappa (; Urdu/ pnb, ) is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The Bronze Age Harappan civilisation, now more often called the Indus Valley Civilisation, is named after the site, which takes its name from a mode ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It is located about 7 kilometers from

Harappa railway station Harappa railway station (Urdu and pa, ) is located in Harappa village, Sahiwal district of Punjab province of the Pakistan. See also * List of railway stations in Pakistan * Pakistan Railways Pakistan Railways ( ur, ) is the national, ...

, and is 17 kilometers west of

Sahiwal Sahiwal (Punjabi language, Punjabi and ur, ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 21st largest city of Pakistan by population and the administrative capital of both ...

. Founded in 1926 as a small site museum, it shifted to its present building in 1967 which was constructed by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

History

The Indus Valley Civilization

The

Indus Valley civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...

was a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

civilization which lasted from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE in regions now watered by the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

and its tributaries

Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...

, Chenab,

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

Sutlej The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

, and Beas. More than four hundred of its sites have been discovered so far, with Harappa and Mohenjo-daro being its major urban centres. It is also known as the Harappan civilisation, after its type site Harappa.

Early discoveries

The ancient mounds of Harappa were first visited by

Charles Masson Charles Masson (1800–1853) was the pseudonym of James Lewis, a British East India Company soldier and reporter, independent explorer and pioneering archaeologist and numismatist. He was the first European to discover the ruins of Harappa nea ...

in 1826 who went on to describe them in his book ''Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and The Punjab.'' Alexander Burns in then visited the site in1831.

Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly ...

, who went on to become the founder and director general of the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...

in 1861, made two trips to the site in 1853 and 1856, and estimated the perimeter of the entire site to be around 3 km (5 km if the adjacent fields were taken into consideration). He found out that some of the mounds had been dug up, and the bricks were being used for the construction of the Lahore–Multan railway line.

The first excavations

The Archaeological Survey of India formally sent out archaeologists to investigate the site (as well as the one at Mohenjo-Daro) in the early 20th century.

Daya Ram Sahni Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni CIE (16 December 1879 – 7 March 1939) was an Indian archaeologist who supervised the excavation of the Indus valley site at Harappa in 1920 to 1921 But the first report of Harappan excavations came out in 192 ...

conducted the first excavations at the site from 1921 to 1925. Another round of excavations took place under

Madho Sarup Vats Pandit Madho Sarup Vats (12 April 1896 – 7 December 1955) was an Indian archaeologist and Sanskrit scholar who served as the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1950 to 1954. Pandit Vats is, especially, well kn ...

from 1926 to 1934.

K. A. Nilakanta Sastri Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri (12 August 1892 – 15 June 1975) was an Indian historian who wrote on South Indian history. Many of his books form the standard reference works on the subject. Sastri was acclaimed for his scholarship and ...

led another round in 1937. Trenches were laid on the site between 1944 and 1946 by

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales an ...

Post-Independence

After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, Dr. Mohammad Rafique Mughal conducted excavations at Harappa in 1966, further augmenting the information available about it. On 26 March 1967, the museum was shifted to its current building inaugurated by the Minister for Education, Health, Labour, and Social Welfare,

Kazi Anwarul Haque Kazi Anwarul Haque (also spelled Huque) was a Bangladeshi police officer, bureaucrat, and technocrat minister. Early life Haque was born on 8 February 1909 in Dhaka, East Bengal, British Raj. His father was a notable writer, Kazi Imdadul Huq. In ...

. From 1986 to 2001, the American archaeological mission carried out the Harappa Archeological Research Project at the site in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, with

George F. Dales George Franklin Dales Jr. (August 13, 1927 – April 25, 1992), was an archaeology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and later the University of California, Berkeley, where he chaired the South and Southeast Asian Studies department. ...

serving as one of the co-directors.

Collection

The museum consists of two galleries containing various artifacts that reveal the evolution and development of the arts,

crafts A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

, and technology of the Indus Valley Civilization. There are thirty showcases on display currently. Some of the objects include ones made from copper and bronze,

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

figurines, toys, skeletons, and everyday items made from ivory, shell, and clay.

References

Tourist attractions in Sahiwal Archaeological museums in Pakistan Museums in Punjab, Pakistan {{Pakistan-museum-stub