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RAS question

Who excavated the Kalibangan site systematically in 1961-69?

Correct answer: (C) B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar.

B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar of the Archaeological Survey of India conducted the systematic excavations at Kalibangan associated with the 1961-69 field seasons.

  1. (A)

    R.E.M. Wheeler

  2. (B)

    Amlanand Ghosh alone

  3. (C)

    B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar

  4. (D)

    Luigi Tessitori

Explanation

Kalibangan is tested in RAS because it anchors Rajasthan within the Harappan archaeological map. B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar of the Archaeological Survey of India were the archaeologists who conducted systematic excavations at the site from 1961 to 1969. After Amlanand Ghosh’s 1951-52 explorations, ASI carried out excavations at Kalibangan for nine field seasons in 1960-1969 under B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar among the named supervisors. Those excavations brought out the pre-Harappan and Harappan phases, fire altars and the famous ploughed field, which is why option C matches the excavation history rather than the earlier discovery or exploration history.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) R.E.M. Wheeler is linked with Mohenjo-daro, not with the systematic 1961-69 excavations at Kalibangan.
  • (B) Amlanand Ghosh identified or explored the site earlier, but the systematic Kalibangan excavation phase was carried out by ASI archaeologists B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar.
  • (D) Luigi Tessitori first noticed the Kalibangan mounds in 1917, which is a discovery-stage association, not the 1961-69 systematic excavation.

Concept

This tests the Rajasthan History and Culture syllabus area on Harappan sites in Rajasthan, especially the distinction between discovery, exploration and excavation. It recurs in RAS because Kalibangan’s excavators and finds are standard factual anchors for ancient Rajasthan.

Source

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