RAS question
The earliest evidence of a ploughed agricultural field in the world was found at which site in Rajasthan?
Correct answer: (C) Kalibangan.
Kalibangan in Rajasthan has yielded the earliest evidence of a ploughed agricultural field in the world.
Explanation
Kalibangan is the relevant site because its Harappan levels produced evidence of an agricultural field, and the Press Information Bureau states that Professor B. B. Lal's excavations at Kalibangan, Rajasthan, revealed the earliest agricultural field anywhere in the world. The field showed a crisscross pattern of furrows. That pattern matters because it indicates planned cultivation rather than a casual or isolated agricultural trace. It also suggests that two crops were grown together, one along the furrows and another across them. So the answer is not just a general association with the Harappan civilisation; it is the specific field evidence from Kalibangan.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Balathal is a Chalcolithic site in Udaipur district, but the evidence for the earliest agricultural field is tied to Kalibangan, not Balathal.
- (B) Ganeshwar is known for copper objects, whereas the question asks for the site that yielded the ploughed-field evidence.
- (D) Ahar is associated with Chalcolithic culture and copper smelting, not with the earliest ploughed agricultural field at Kalibangan.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan's protohistoric archaeology, especially Harappan evidence from Kalibangan. It recurs in RAS because Rajasthan's ancient sites are a fixed part of state history and culture questions.