An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s7.10

v1.c9.s7.10

About 30 years back the writer explored stretches of the dried-up beds of the SARASVATĪ (the explored part presently known as the Ghaggar after the larger river into which the Sarasvati discharged itself) and of the DṚṢADVATĪ (Chautang), both in Dt Ganganagar of n. Rajasthan, respectively between the Indo-Pakistan border up to above Hanumangarh, a tahsil town on the Ghaggar, and up to Bhadra, another tashil town on the Chautang (Ghosh, 1952, pp. 38-42; 1953, pp. 31-4). At SOTHI on the Dṛṣadvatī he found a class of pottery which he called the Sothi Ware and an examination revealed that the Ware was present at almost all the Harappa sites (some 25 in number) in the Sarasvati valley. Extensive excavation at KALIBANGAN in the same valley by the ASI from 1961 to 1969 showed that the culture represented by this pottery had not only a fortified settlement of its own, later on rebuilt as a Harappa citadel (KLB-1), but occurred simultaneously with typical Harappa material in the adjacent lower city (KLB-2). The ‘pre-Harappa’ Sothi culture is now designated Kalibangan I and the mature Harappa Kalibangan II. However, the fact that Sothi/Kalibangan I pottery persisted up to half the height of KLB-2 (*IAR 1960-1*, p. 32;