Rakhigarhi: The largest known Harappan metropolis in the world is struggling to preserve the rare, over 5,000-year-old, mud bricks being excavated. Grappling with a tedious tender process and lack of preservation options, the excavators are now re-burying the structures excavated.
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About 150 km from Delhi, only a freshly painted small blue board gives directions to the 'iconic site'. Declared as one of the five archaeological sites to be developed as «iconic sites» by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2020-21 budget speech, Rakhigarhi is crying for help. The long-promised museum is built but not operational. The site covers the villages of Rakhikhas, Rakhishahpur and their adjoining fields in Hisar. ET travelled to the site to find the challenges facing archaeologists and disappointed villagers.
PRESERVATION CHALLENGE
Much has been written about the significance of Rakhigarhi. But what has escaped chronicling is the challenge to preserve and conserve the rare mud brick structures being unearthed. Rakhigarhi mounds, named RGR 1 to 7, are not contiguous but interspersed with villagers' dwellings. The villagers have known excavation teams since 1960s. An excavator told ET, «The rate of weathering of mud bricks is faster than that of stone. We cannot expose them and leave them unlike sites like Dholavira, where there are
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