New artefacts found at Moenjodaro

M.B. Kalhoro

LARKANA: A team of archaeologists, working on a drain to flush out rainwater from the DK-G area of an explored part of Moenjodaro, found some ancient artefacts and cultural objects on Sunday.
Rainwater stagnates in several parts of the world heritage site each year and causes immense damage.
Well-defined structures of old drains were discovered along with certain old artefacts during the digging.
‘We had gone just half a metre down the level of surface of the old structures in the DK-G area and found the material of cultural value,’ Moenjodaro director Qasim Ali Qasim told Dawn.
An object called ‘elliptical lid’ was also found and according to Moenjodaro curator Irshad Rid, it was something new for archaeologists.
He said that prior to this digging no such object had been found at any site of the Indus valley civilisation.
The curator said the last excavation of the site was done between 1927 and 1931 by E. J. H. Mackay, special officer for excavation of the Archaeological Survey of India. Since then, he said, no excavation in this portion had been done.
He said that the new finds could be related to the late period of Moenjodaro.
Mr Rid said that the ‘elliptical lid’ might have been used for keeping ‘holy water’ or ‘ceremonial water’. ‘A miniature used for keeping medicines was also discovered at the site,’ the curator said.
He expected to find more remains during the drain digging as some portions of the defined drain area were low-lying.
The team, he said, would do the digging in an area about 100 feet long with the aim of constructing a drain so that rainwater could be disposed of in the old circular drain.
Also, pieces of charcoal were found which, according to Mr Qasim, would be the authentic source to establish the age of the structures.
He said that Pakistan needed fine and delicate technology to analyse the new finds without which it would be difficult to determine the age and utility of the objects.
When asked about reasons for undertaking new digging, he said it was for constructing a drain and to study the phenomenon of the ‘First Street’ of the site.
The presence of old remains and structures in the area under study showed that it was a congested area, compelling the people to encroach upon the main street and construct houses.
Mr Qasim said that Unesco wanted to undertake a new phase of excavations at Moenjodaro to understand different aspects of this gigantic pre-historic city.
He said he had received a letter on Saturday from Unesco and was busy preparing a comprehensive plan for a new chapter of excavation.
He said that many questions related to Moenjodaro were yet to be discussed and answered. Therefore, it was necessary to work on the site with a scientific approach, he added.

Courtesy: DAWN