Farmana (Daksh Khera)
Farmana Harappan Cemetery · Daksh Kheda
Early Harappan → Mature Harappan 3500–2000 BCE·Indus Valley (Sothi-Siswal / Harappan)·🇮🇳 Haryana, Rohtak District, Meham Block (Farmana–Seman–Bhaini Chandrapal), India
About
About Farmana (Daksh Khera)
Largest Harappan necropolis in Haryana (c.2600–2000 BCE) at Daksh Khera near Farmana, Rohtak — 18.5 ha settlement plus 1.2 ha cemetery mound with 70 burials (extended, flexed, secondary) excavated 2006–09 by Vasant Shinde (Deccan College) & Toshiki Osada (RIHN Kyoto). The walled Mature Harappan town with bead workshops and barrack structures straddles a former Drishadvati channel; cemetery yielded shell-bangle adorned female burials and palaeopathology showing leprosy, reframing Harappan mortuary variability vs Rakhigarhi R37.
Why it mattersLargest Harappan cemetery after Rakhigarhi Mound 7; statistically robust burial population for Harappan demography and health.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why two distinct burial postures — status or kin group?
- 02Leprosy in Harappan period — indigenous or contact?
Theories
- 01Farmana as second-order Harappan admin town bridging Rakhigarhi and Harappa core
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3500 BCE Early Harappan Sothi; mature 2600–2000 BCE
- Period
- Early Harappan → Mature Harappan 3500–2000 BCE
- Culture
- Indus Valley (Sothi-Siswal / Harappan)
- Builders
- Harappan urbanists
- Purpose
- Provincial Harappan town and cemetery controlling Rohtak plain
- Abandoned
- c.1900 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 2006–09 Shinde–Osada Indo-Japan excavation
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3500–2600 BCE
Sothi Early Harappan village
c.2600–2000 BCE
Walled Mature Harappan town 18.5 ha + Daksh Khera cemetery 70 burials
2006–09
Indo-Japan excavation reveals cemetery; archaeobotanical studies 2012–14
On the ground
Structures & features
29.0394° N · 76.3061° E · 215 m · 2 mapped features
Daksh Khera Cemetery
necropolis70 burials with shell bangles and pottery at head/feet
29.0397° N · 76.3057° ESettlement mound (Farmana proper)
settlementWalled town with bead workshop and fortified gate
29.0390° N · 76.3065° E