An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c38.259

v2.c38.259

The excavator’s date for the mature Harappa culture, Pd I, of Lothal is from 2450 to 1900 B.C., and for the decadent phase, Pd II, 1900 to 1600 B.C. He would also like to place the advent of the Harappa culture in Gujarat at about the same time as its beginnings in the Indus valley. Three ¹⁴C dates are available for Phase III B: 2010 ± 115, 2005 ± 115 and 1995 ± 115 B.C. one for Phase IV A: 1895 ± 115 B.C.; and two for Phase V: 1865 ± 110 and 1800 ± 140 B.C. Another series of dates, two for Phase I—2080 ± 135 and 1555 ± 135 B.C.—and one for Phase II—1895 ± 115 B.C.—are dismissed by him as inconsistent. Agrawal and Kusumgar, 1974, p. 103, would on the other hand put the Harappa culture in the nuclear zone (Indus region) to 2300-2000 B.C. and in the peripheral zone (including Lothal) to 2220-1700 B.C. adding however that depending on the final consensus on the magnitude of ¹⁴C/ ¹²C variations the whole date-bracket might have to be pushed slightly backward in time. In view of the current tendency of placing the beginnings of the culture earlier than what was customary in the forties to the sixties Rao’s dates may be taken as a good working hypothesis, though it must be added that the coevality of the beginnings of the culture in the Indus province and at Lothal is open to doubt; so also is a long duration of 300 years for the decadent phase thereof, Pd II, at Lothal.