Rakhigarhi

Overview

Rakhigarhi in Haryana is the largest known site of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization, spanning 350 hectares across seven mounds. Excavations since 1969 (Suraj Bhan, then Amarendra Nath, then Vasant Shinde) have revealed sophisticated urban planning, drainage systems, granaries, and craft workshops. The site's fame rests on the 2019 ancient DNA study led by Vasant Shinde and David Reich's lab, which extracted DNA from a female skeleton dated to ~2,500 BCE. The results showed no Steppe pastoralist ancestry and no Iranian farmer ancestry — her genetic profile represents the primary ancestry source for modern South Asians. This finding is a data point in the Aryan Migration debate: Shinde interprets it as disproving AIT, while co-author Nick Patterson argues it's consistent with later Steppe migration after IVC decline. The larger study (Narasimhan et al., 523 individuals across Central and South Asia) shows Steppe-related ancestry spreading southward between 2,300 and 1,500 BCE.

Key Findings

• 1Largest IVC site at 350 hectares — larger than Mohenjo-daro
• 22019 ancient DNA: no Steppe ancestry in 2,500 BCE individual
• 3Genetic profile is the primary ancestry source in South Asia today
• 4Sophisticated urban planning with drainage, granaries, and craft workshops