When brick kiln workers stumbled upon human skeletal remains at Chandayan village, some 100 km from Delhi, no one had any inkling that it could be the first ever habitation from the later phase of Harappan civilisation to be found in the state.
The early Harappan phase lasted from 3300 BC to 2600 BC, the mature phase from 2600 BC to 1900 BC and the late phase from 1900 BC to 1600 BC.
"The artefacts came to light when labourers were digging farmland to collect clay for making bricks," Superintending Archaeologist of Archaeological Survey of India A K Pandey told PTI.
"This is for the first time that a habitation of late Harappan era has been found in UP...Though a burial ground was found in Sinauli in the past," he said.
"It was a chance discovery when some labourers found a skeleton with copper crown on his head while digging mud for bricks," Pandey said.
The crown is a thin strip of copper with two leaves of the metal and a Carnelian bead - a semi-precious stone typical of the remains found at other Harappan sites.
"The crown indicates that the skeleton was probably that of a local chieftain or village head. We have discovered terracotta pottery too. But these are crudely crafted and not of very fine quality," Pandey said.
The ASI then began extensive exploration of the site in the second half of last year in Baraut tehsil of Baghpat district on the plains of river Hindon, he said.
