Kalibangan excavations and the ploughed-field discovery

Record summary

Kalibangan was investigated by the Archaeological Survey of India from the 1950s, with major work under B. B. Lal and colleagues. The site produced Early and Mature Harappan levels, a fortified settlement, fire installations and a famous set of parallel furrows interpreted as a ploughed field. The field has been central to discussions of early agriculture, ritual practice and settlement planning in the Ghaggar-Hakra region. Uncertainties concern the dating and function of some fire features, the environmental history of the river system and how representative the excavated areas are of the wider settlement.