The Harappan Civilisation covered a very large area, larger than the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. Except in the Ghaggar-Hakra region, the settlements were very thinly spread out.

The Harappa, Ghaggar and Mohenjo-daro axis, historians believe, represents the heartland of the Harappan civilisation. Most of the Harappan settlements are located in this region which is a flat stretch of land having similar subsistence pattern.

Sites like Nowsharo, Judeierjo-daro and Ali-Murad have been reported from the inhospitable and dry Kachi plains to the west of the Indus system.

The settlements of Sutka-Koh and Sutkagendor on the Makran coast are the known western bound­aries of the Harappans. The Harappan settlements at Shortughai, farthest from the Harappan heartland, in north-eastern Afghanistan appear to have been isolated colonies of the Harappans.

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The eastern border land of the Harappan civilisation is repre­sented by Bargaon, Manpur and Alamgirpur in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, located in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab.

Manda in Jammu and Ropar in Punjab represent the northern extremities of the Harappans in India. The settlements of Daimabad in Maharashtra and Bhagatrau in Gujarat might have formed the southern frontier of the Harappans.

Major sites in Pakistan are Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Kot Diji, Ali Murad, Sutkagendor, etc. In India, major sites are at Rupar (Punjab), Banwali (Haryana), Rangpur and Surkotada (Gujarat), Kalibangan (Rajasthan), and Alamgirpur (western Lothal U.P.). According to scholars, the largest Harappan city, Mohenjo-daro, had a population of 35,000 or so.

It is worth mentioning that Dholavira in the Bhachan taluka of Kutch district in Gujarat is the latest and one of the largest Harappan settlements to be discovered in India.

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Dr. J.P. Joshi and Dr. R.S. Bisht of the Archaeological Survey of India were involved in the excavation. Dholavira, unlike other sites, has three principal divisions.