RAS question
Kalibangan in Rajasthan is significant for:
Correct answer: (D) Evidence of the earliest ploughed field and fire altars.
Kalibangan in Rajasthan is significant for evidence of the earliest known ploughed field, with criss-cross furrow marks, and for its fire-altars.
Explanation
Kalibangan, in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan on the now-dry Ghaggar, identified in the ASI report with the ancient Sarasvati, is a major Harappan site excavated in 1960-69. The ASI excavation report highlights two features that make it especially important for ancient Indian history: a ploughed field with criss-cross furrow marks, assigned to the Early Harappan period, and fire-altars among the noteworthy Harappan-period findings. The ASI report also notes that Kalibangan has Early Harappan and Harappan occupation, a fortified citadel and city plan, and traces of an early earthquake marking the end of the Early Harappan and Harappan sequence. Kalibangan's distinctive archaeological value rests on its ploughed-field evidence and fire-altars.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The ASI report mentions a burial ground at Kalibangan, but the site's defining significance is not a largest cemetery; it is the ploughed field and fire-altars.
- (B) Bronze weapons do not explain Kalibangan's distinctive archaeological evidence, which centres on the Early Harappan ploughed field and Harappan fire-altars.
- (C) Gold ornaments are not the reason for Kalibangan's site-specific significance; the ASI excavation evidence points instead to agricultural furrow marks and ritual fire-altars.
Concept
Kalibangan belongs to Harappan archaeology and Rajasthan-specific site evidence. RAS repeatedly asks such facts because Kalibangan connects Rajasthan's geography with the wider Indus-Sarasvati civilisation sequence.