Archaeology
Harappan furnaces
T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

The star discovery of the year at 4MSR, the Archaeological Survey of India's site in Rajasthan, was this oval-shaped furnace lined with mud bricks. It was in furnaces such as these that the laborious process of making copper artefacts began. The furnace was used to smelt copper from the copper ore. It had a hole for inserting the tuyere for fanning the flame and holes on its sides for aeration. Beside the furnace is an anvil where the sheeted ore was hammered into ingots.
Photo: T.S. Subramanian

Boards announcing the names of 4MSR village near Bijnor. 4MSR is, as the crow flies, 7 km from the border with Pakistan. After Partition, Rajasthan Irrigation Department officials gave names such as 4MSR, 43GB and 86GB to newly created settlements for refugees from across the border.
Photo: T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

On the mound at 43GB around 50 km from 4MSR. Unlike 4MSR, the mound is heavily built up with houses and other structures, making excavation a real challenge. People of the Mature Harappan period settled on a big sand dune at 43GB, which became a mound after they abandoned it.
Photo: T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

The seal with a perfectly carved figure of a unicorn-it has been scooped out with precision on a thin slate of white steatlite-belongs to the Mature Harappan period. The ceremonial vessel in front of the unicorn is a puzzle. The seal has one Harappan sign on top and other signs that seem to have been scraped off. It has a perfectly made knob with a hole on the reverse and is a good example of seals of the Mature Harappan period.
Photo: ASI

Seven different seals were found at 4MSR in the 2017 round of excavations and they provided insights into the gradual development in the production of seals. The seal with triangular designs and a crudely made knob, with a hole through which to string a thread, belongs to the transitional phase between the Early Harappan and Mature Harappan phases.
Photo: ASI

Seven different seals were found at 4MSR in the 2017 round of excavations and they provided insights into the gradual development in the production of seals. The triangular seal with three concentric circles and no motifs on the other side belongs to the Early Harappan phase (c.3000 BCE-2600 BCE).
Photo: ASI

Hundreds of oblong (popular qamong archaeologists as idli-shaped), triangular terracotta cakes have been found at 4MSR and the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi in Haryana, 340 km away. While the oblong cakes were used to retain heat in domestic hearths and chulas for keeping milk and water warm, the painted triangular cakes were embedded as decorative pieces on walls and floors of houses.
Photo: ASI
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