Mortuary Traditions and Cultural Interaction: Early Harappan (c. 3200 – 2600 BCE) Cemetery Practices at Juna Khatiya, Gujarat, Western India

Rajesh Sasidharan Vasantha1, Abhayan Girija Sasidharan1, Francesc Conesa2, Juan José García-Granero3, Subhash Bhandari4, Charusmita Gadekar5 and Jaypalsinh Jadeja6

Juna Khatiya in Kachchh, Gujarat, is the largest known Early Harappan (c. 3200-2600 BCE) cemetery in India, extending over approximately 16 hectares. Excavations conducted between 2019 and 2022 by the Department of Archaeology, University of Kerala, in collaboration with a number of institutions, documented more than 500 burials, of which 202 were systematically excavated. The cemetery reveals diverse burial modes: primary, secondary, symbolic, cremation, and joint burials, along with stone masonry graves of varied forms and pit burials. The placement of grave goods, ranging from one to 60 ceramic vessels, shell bangles, and shell, stone and terracotta beads, indicate codified ritual behaviour and material knowledge. The individual burial of a young cattle in a built grave and recovery of isolated mandibles further suggest complex ritual frameworks involving animals in mortuary practices. The absence of a large associated habitation site implies that Juna Khatiya served as a shared cemetery for multiple settlements. Variations in grave goods across localities, the inclusion of children’s burials, and the lack of a fixed burial orientation reflect flexible yet socially regulated ritual systems adapted to local ecological and social conditions. By examining these features as expressions of technological, spatial, and symbolic knowledge, this paper reassesses cultural interaction in the Early Harappan context. It questions whether such practices reflect diffusion across the Greater Indus region or regionally generated knowledge shaped by environmental and social needs. Ethnographic parallels from modern-day burial ground in Khatiya village further point to long-term continuities in mortuary traditions.