New Delhi:
Recent breakthrough research shows that climate change was not the only reason behind the collapse of of the Harappan civilisation in the Indus-Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys. It also stressed that Harappans did not give up despite the decline in the monsoon. To suit it they changed their farming practices.
The research conducted by a team of researchers from IIT Kharagpur, Institute of Archaeology, Deccan College Pune, Physical Research Laboratory and Archaeological survey of India (ASI) shows that the civilisation itself was much older than thought, which they predict to be at least 8,000 years old.
In order to cope with the change in monsoon, they also changed their farming practices and switched from water-intensive crops when monsoon was stronger to drought-resistant crops when it was weaker.
The study suggests that other causes such as change in subsistence strategy, by shifting crop patterns rather than climate change was responsible for the Harappan collapse.
The major centres of this civilisation on the Indian sub continent include Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan and Lothal, Dholavira and Kalibangan in India.
All these findings come from a major excavated site of Bhirrana in Haryana that shows preservation of all cultural levels of this ancient civilisation from the pre-Harappan Hakra phase through the Early Mature Harappan to the Mature Harappan time.
To know how old a civilisation is, researchers used pottery, through which they came up with the finding that Harappa is as old as 8,000 years old.
