-Man and Environment Prehistoric and Quaternary Stu: =Fig. 22: Arrowhead Fig. 29: Multiple views ofa chert cubical weight Fig, 30; Camelian (etched and plain) beads VN. Prabhakar and J.C, Maj, Man and Environment XXXINC2): 13-41 [2014Preliminary Results of Excavation at Karanpura, a Harappan Settlement in District ‘WN. Prabhakar and 1.C. Maid, Man aa Envronment XXXIX(2}: 1341 [2014 © Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quetemary Stes Hanumangarh, Rajasthan V.N. Prabhakar and Jaseera C, Majid! Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, VGEC Complex, Chandkheda, Ahmedabad 1 Department of Epigraphy & Archaeology, Tamil University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu Abstract Karanpura is located on the River Chautang (ancient Drishadvati, a tributary of River Sarasvati) nearly 60 km west of Hissar and 6 km west of Bhadra on the Bhadra-Goga Medi road in District Hanumangarh, Rajasthan. The Excavation Branch I of the Archaeological Survey of India excavated the site for two field seasons, viz., 2012-13 and 2013-14. The excavation brought to light occupational remains of Early Harappan and Mature Harap- pan phases of Harappan civilization. The occupational remains of over 3 m evidenced a continuous occupation at the site starting around cirea 2800 BCE until around the end of second millennium BCE. The upper 1.5 m of occupational deposit had been removed by local villagers for agricultural purposes and it hence could be presumed that the end of the habitation occurred towards 2000 BCE. Nevertheless, the excavation has enabled us to understand the dynamics of Harappan culture and its spread into the areas watered by the tributary rivers like River Drishadvati for reasons of exploitation of various raw materials located in the northern Aravalli region. The access to these raw material sources might have been facilitated through the settlements located on the River Drishadvati to a larger extent. This paper puts forth the preliminary results of two seasons of excavation at this site, Introduction ‘The research carried out on the Harappan Civilization for nearly a century since its identification in 1924 hhas enabled hamessing of a vast data that has led to a better understanding on the origin, development and demise of this culture, More and more archaeological investigations have enabled identification of Harap- pan sites from the major rivers as well as from their tributaries. One such discovery is that of Karanpura, located on the River Chautang (Chatrang or Chitrang Nadi by locals) identified with River Drishadvati of Rigvedic times. The remains at Karanpura were first identified by R.C. Thakran (personal communication) in 2003 which was later confirmed by Vikas Pawar of M.D. University, Rohtak (Prabhakar 2013). The potential of this region for archaeological remains has been largely understood since the early 20th century itself. The investigations on the River Ghagger, gener- ally identified with River Saraswati for archaeological Reveived : 10-04-2014 Revised: 11-06-2014 ‘Accepted :22-06.2014 remains can be traced back to early decades of the 20th century, from the reports of Todd and Tessitori The site of Kalibangan figures first among the sites that were reported, which was first visited as ‘Ka- libung” by James Todd, followed by Tessitori who visited the site in 1916-19 and extensively recorded destruction due to removal of baked bricks, terra- cotta cakes of various shapes by an engineer named Warren in 1900 for use as ballast for the section of Jodhpur-Bikener railway connecting Suratgarh with Hanumangarh (Lal ef ai. 2003). It has been recorded that Tessitori also carried out some sporadic digging at the site which brought to light a square brick plat- form; a burial urn containing smaller vases, terracotta cakes, charred bones and ashes on the eastern mound; *ssa22 em wide well, with its lining made of trap- ezoidal bricks at the smaller mound’ (Lal et al. 2003); surface collection of pottery, terracotta cakes, beads and bangles. This was followed by the visit of Aurel Stein in 1941-42 who, even though, noticed the im- portance of the site for its remains and identified them as remnants of extensive kilns, failed to recognise it as a site of Indus Civilization (Stein 1942). Stein, who