Bhirrana

The Harappan settlement at Bhirrana in Fatehabad district, Haryana, excavated by L.S. Rao from 2003. Radiocarbon dates from the lowest levels — pre-mature-Harappan Hakra ware pottery horizon — are among the earliest claimed for the tradition, pushing initial occupation back to c.7570-6200 BCE in Rao's reading. The dates have been contested by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer and Shireen Ratnagar as sampling issues or old-wood contamination, and the chronology is unresolved. Bhirrana's small-scale rural character — about four hectares — distinguishes it from the great Harappan cities, and the site is central to arguments about an indigenous origin of the Harappan tradition.