Harappa was excavated in 1921 by which archaeologist?
- A.R. D. Banerji
- B.Sir John Marshall
- C.Daya Ram Sahni
- D.Mortimer Wheeler
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Daya Ram Sahni. He dug at Harappa on the bank of the Ravi in 1921, and the finds from that season identified a wholly unknown urban culture, which was named after the site. Option A, R. D. Banerji, made the companion discovery a year later in 1922, when he excavated Mohenjo-daro on the Indus and found the same seals and bricks, proving that the culture was spread over a vast area.
Option B, Sir John Marshall, was Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India at the time. He directed the work of both men and announced the discovery to the world in 1924, but he did not himself open Harappa. Option D, Mortimer Wheeler, came much later, in the 1940s; he is remembered for the theory that invading Aryans destroyed the cities, an explanation now rejected by most historians.
Read the full article: Indus Valley Civilisation: Sites, Town Planning and Decline
Practice Questions
View allThe Great Bath of the Indus Valley Civilisation was found at which site?
- A.Harappa
- B.Mohenjo-daro
- C.Lothal
- D.Kalibangan
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The Great Bath stands in the citadel of Mohenjo-daro in Sindh. It is a brick tank about twelve metres long and seven metres wide, with flights of steps at two ends, small rooms around it and a layer of natural tar below the floor to stop water from seeping away.
Read the full explanation →The only Harappan site with an artificial dockyard has been identified at which place?
- A.Lothal
- B.Surkotada
- C.Chanhudaro
- D.Banawali
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Lothal lies on the Bhogava, a tributary of the Sabarmati in Gujarat, and its eastern side holds a large brick basin connected to the river by a channel.
Read the full explanation →Evidence of a ploughed field, the earliest in the subcontinent, was found at which Harappan site?
- A.Dholavira
- B.Kalibangan
- C.Rakhigarhi
- D.Alamgirpur
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Kalibangan stands on the dry bed of the Ghaggar in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. A field there, belonging to the pre-Harappan level, carries two sets of furrows crossing each other at right angles, showing that two crops were grown in the same plot at the same time.
Read the full explanation →Bricks used in Harappan houses were made in which fixed ratio of length, breadth and thickness?
- A.1:2:4
- B.2:2:1
- C.4:2:1
- D.3:2:1
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A Harappan burnt brick was four units long, two units broad and one unit thick, and the same proportion turns up at sites hundreds of kilometres apart.
Read the full explanation →In Mesopotamian records, the Indus region was referred to by which name?
- A.Dilmun
- B.Magan
- C.Meluha
- D.Sindon
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Mesopotamian texts list Meluha among the lands that sent ships carrying carnelian beads, ivory, timber and copper, and the goods named there match what Harappan sites produced.
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