Previously it was believed that agriculture began in West Asia in a region known as the Fertile Crescent with the domestication of barley and wheat. Later a new Fertile Crescent was discovered in China where rice cultivation began much before agriculture in West Asia. Archaeology in Lahura-Deva site in Uttar Pradesh had recently found carbonised material containing grains of cultivated rice along with wild grass and it was considered to be proof that rice cultivation started in India much before in China.
Now according to American and Taiwanese researchers rice domestication happened in multiple sites, independently

While there is consensus that rice had its roots in Asia, whether it was domesticated in southern China alone or at multiple locations has been under debate.
In a bid to trace the ancestral roots of rice — a cereal eaten by more than half of the world’s population — plant geneticist Barbara Schaal at Washington University and her colleagues analysed the genetic make-up of wild and cultivated rice varieties.
Their studies show that the indica variety was domesticated south of the Himalayas within a region spanning eastern India, Myanmar and Thailand, while the japonica variety was domesticated from wild rice in southern China.
“We now have strong evidence for multiple sites of domestication of rice,” Schaal told The Telegraph over the telephone.
The new studies also suggest that an additional — third — domestication event might have occurred in India, giving rise to a minor variety of rice called “aus” — a drought-tolerant strain cultivated in India and Bangladesh.
The two major rice varieties grown worldwide today — Oryza sativa indica and Oryza sativa japonica — owe their origins to two independent events of domestication thousands of years ago, American and Taiwanese researchers said. [Rice roots lie in east India]

The Haryana Archaeology Department found something significant recently – some huge bricks 4500 years old.

Huge bricks belonging to the ancient Indian Kushan Dynasty have been found near the famous Kurukshetra battlefield, around which the Indian epic, Mahabharata, involving a fatricidal conflict between the Pandavas and Kauravas, is centered. [4,500 year-old bricks found near `Mahabharata’ battlefield Kurukshetra]

Around 4500 years back, Indus Valley Civilization was in existence in the region. The Kushan Empire existed from 1st – 3rd centuries. Either the archaeologists or newspaper reporters have no clue about the chronology of Indian history.

Recently a neolithic stone, shaped like a hand held axe which had some Indus valley signs on it, dating to between 2000 BC – 1500 BC was found near Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu. Does this mean that the people of Tamil Nadu and people of Indus Valley shared the same language. Some experts think so. Some people who are not experts, like Karunanidhi also think so for political reasons. Who would have thought that archaeology would be an election issue?

Taking note of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa’s remarks calling him a ‘traditional enemy’, in an obvious reference to her Brahmin caste, Karunanidhi told an election rally here that recent archaeological findings of Indus valley scripts in Mayiladuthurai in Nagapattinam district indicated that the people who lived in Tamil Nadu belonged to the Dravidian race similar to those who lived in the Indus valley[MK vows to develop Dravidian culture]

Finding a stone with Indus script in Tamil Nadu does not prove that people belong to the same race, for all you know, it could have been left behind by travellers or traders. As Michael Danino writes

Language apart, I wish to stress that the implication made in the articles (and relayed a few days later by a prominent politician of Tamil Nadu) to the effect that the Harappan civilization is “Dravidian” is wholly baseless and has long been rejected. Some of the reasons for this include: (1) the absence in the archaeological record of any clear southward migratory pattern, especially through the Deccan; (2) the phenotypical continuity between the Harappan physical types and today’s types in the same region, which precludes any massive southward migration; (3) recent genetic studies pointing to the indigenous origin of Dravidians in the South; (4) the absence of any Dravidian names in the toponymy and hydronymy in India’s North-West; (5) the growing consensus among linguists that Brahui (a Dravidian dialect in Baluchistan) is an import of the historical period into the region, not an ancient relic; (6) finally the fact that the Harappans could not have migrated to the South and reverted from an advance Bronze Age culture to a Neolithic or Megalithic one, forgotten all about their typical crafts and techniques, pottery designs, urbanism.[Michel Danino at India Archaeology]

The Indus Valley civilization flourised between the time period of 3300 – 1700 BCE. Around 1900 BCE, people started leaving and the cities started to decline. There are many reasons attributed for this decline, and the theories include tectonic activity along the Indo-Asian plate boundary, or flooding. Another reason could be the disappearance of the Ghaggar-Hakra river system which was part of Sarasvathi. Then there is the infamous Aryan invasion theory.
Now according to new research, it was not Aryans, but monsoons, which were responsible for the demise of the Indus Valley Civilization. Geologist Anil Gupta of IIT Kharagpur studied the effect of monsoons over the past 10,000 years and have come to the conclusion that a strong monsoon helped the civlization grow, while a weakening monsoon might have led to its decline.

The Arabian Sea sediments and other geological studies show that the monsoon began to weaken about 5,000 years ago. The dry spell, lasting several hundred years, might have led people to abandon the Indus cities and move eastward into the Gangetic plain, which has been an area of higher rainfall than the northwestern part of the subcontinent.
“It’s not high temperatures, but lack of water that drove the people eastward and southward,” Gupta said.
About 1,700 years ago, the monsoon began to improve again, leading to increased farm produce for several centuries and contributing to the relative prosperity in India during the medieval ages, from AD 700 to 1200. [Indus cities dried up with monsoon]

A Neolithic stone shaped like a hand held axe, dating to between 2000 BC – 1500 BC has been found near Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu. What makes this find more interesting is the fact that this stone has Indus Valley signs on it. This is one great find since this brings out evidence that the Indus script had reached Tamil Nadu around the same time the Indus civilization was in its glory.

According to Mr. Mahadevan, the first sign on the celt depicted a skeletal body with ribs. The figure is seated on his haunches, body bent and contracted, with lower limbs folded and knees drawn up. The second sign showed a jar. Hundreds of this pair have been found on seals and sealings at Harappa. Mr Mahadevan read the first sign as “muruku” and the second sign as “an.” In other words, it is “Murukan.” The earliest references in Old Tamil poetry portrayed him as a “wrathful killer,” indicating his prowess as a war god and hunter. The third sign looked like a trident and the fourth like a crescent with a loop in the middle.[Discovery of a century” in Tamil Nadu via email from Anand Krishnamoorthi]

Does this mean that Harappans and the people of Tamil Nadu shared a same language? Iravatham Mahadevan, an expert on Indus Valley script thinks so.

He said: “`Muruku’ and ‘an’ are shown hundreds of times in the Indus script found at Harappa. This is the importance of the find at Sembiyan-Kandiyur. Not only do the Neolithic people of Tamil Nadu and the Harappans share the same script but the same language.” In Tamil Nadu, the muruku symbol was first identified from a pottery graffiti at Sanur, near Tindivanam. B.B. Lal, former Director-General of ASI, correctly identified this symbol with sign 47 of the Indus script. In recent years, the muruku symbol turned up among the pottery graffiti found at Mangudi, near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, and at Muciri, Kerala. But this was the first time that a complete, classical Indus script had been found on a polished Neolithic stone celt, Mr. Mahadevan pointed out.[ Significance of Mayiladuthurai find]

Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation consists among other stars, the formation called the Big Dipper, a group of seven bright stars. In Hindu mythology, these are known as Saptarishis. Now a representation of Ursa Major has been discovered on a piece of rock at Mudumula village of Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh. This representation has been dated to 500 B.C, the time of Buddha.

The representation of the group of stars was found on a square table-like rock with a flat slanting top. “This appears to have been deliberately planted by the megalithic people to plot the Great Bear constellation, also known as `Ursa Major’ and referred to as `Saptarshi Mandala’ in Indian astronomy,” Dr.Rao said.
The group of seven stars, four of which appear like a rectangle and a tail-like formation with three stars, has been mapped on the rock in the form of cup-marks. The Great Bear constellation was used by several communities especially the caravans and sea voyagers to identify the `Pole Star’, located above the north pole and thus locate the exact north. [Signature of the sky in rock]

The ruins of the Harappan Civilization (3300 – 1600 BCE) are being found all over North India now. Recently a Harappan burrial site was found in Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. There was a mummified body wearing copper bracelets and the site had pottery and other artifacts dating back to the Indus Valley civilisation. Then a site dating back to 2500 BCE was found in Bagasara in Gujarat. This site, considered to be a parallel rural civilization to Harappa was found to have a shell making workshop, fortifications, and knives with bone handles. Then another site was found in Farmana Khas in Haryana.
Now a well developed site has been discovered in Rapar area of Gujarat’s Kutch District.

In the excavation, structure of a strong outer wall, some 9.5 metre high, foodgrains like rice, wheat, barley, lentils etc were recovered from some 30 trenches, Director of excavation team Jeevan Singh Kharakwal said on Friday.
“The first phase excavation indicates a well developed and mature Harappan town,” he said.
The trenches also revealed some sections of streets or lanes suggesting the kind of town that might have existed. Kharakwal said that deposits were found at various depth of 10 to 12 metres indicating four different cultural stages.
During excavation, the team also discovered microliths weighing around 134 grams made of steatite (soapstones) and pottery belonging to mature Harappan and late Harappan period. [Harappan town excavated in Gujarat]

Who was the first man to get a molar drilling? Turns out to be a person living in Mehrgarh site in western Pakistan about 9000 years back. He must have gone to the dentist to get his teeth cleaned after eating a mastodon. Then the doctor would have suggested deep cleaning as that is the only way dentists make money even now. The patient must have suggested that deep cleaning would be painful since anesthesia was not discovered and before he could complete, the doctor would have knocked him unconcious with a mastodon tusk. Anyway the process was done and his teeth was drilled.

All 9 of the Mehrgarh dental patients were adults — 4 females, 2 males, and 3 individuals of unknown gender — and ranged in age from about 20 to over 40. Most of the drilling was done on the chewing surfaces of their molars, in both the upper and lower jaws, probably using a flint point attached to a bow that made a high-speed drill, the researchers say. Concentric ridges carved by the drilling device were found inside the holes.
The drilling may have been done to relieve the pain and damage of tooth rot, but only 4 of the total of 11 teeth showed signs of decay associated with the holes. The scientists say it is clear that the holes were not made for aesthetic reasons, given their position deep in the mouth and on the erosion-prone surface of the teeth.
While there is no evidence of fillings, the researchers believe something was used to plug the holes because some of them were bored deep into the teeth. What that filler substance was is unknown. The holes ranged in depth from a shallow half-a-millimeter to 3.5 millimeters, deep enough to pierce the enamel and enter the sensitive dentin. [Man Was Enduring the Dentist’s Drill 9,000 Years Ago]

Soon we will find archaeological evidence that the patient is still waiting for payment by the insurance company.

When we say Indus Valley Civilization, we usually refer to the sites of Mohenjo-Daro and Harrappa located in present day Pakistan. Those are not the only ones though for Harappan sites have been discovered in other parts of India as well. Recently the first Harappan burrial site was discovered in Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. In 2004, a Harappan site was found in the town of Bagasara in Gujarat. This site which dates back to 2500 B.C was found to have a shell making workshop, fortifications, and knives with bone handles.
Now archaeologists have found the ruins of a city dating back to Harappan times at Farmana Khas in Haryana.

He said that with the discovery of the ruins of Indus-Saraswati Harrapa civilisation on the banks of ancient course of river Yamuna, the belief has been further strengthened that it has been the civilisation of the people, who belonged to the era of Rigveda. The ruins related to the same civilisation have also been found at Sanoli in Uttar Pradesh along the ancient course of river Yamuna. [Harappan city buried in Haryana’s Rohtak district]

He said the site of the discovery, popularly known as Daksh Khera, was spread over 32 acres and the ruins were under a three-metre high hillock. He said the city would have been located on the banks of the river Yamuna, that could have been flowing through the area in ancient times. Ruins from the Harappan era have also been found at Sanoli in Uttar Pradesh along the ancient course of river Yamuna, he said. [Ruins of Harrappan city found in Haryana]

When it comes to building a chronology of events in India’s history, a student is confused by the wide variation in dates of certain events. For example, when did Mahabharata war happen? Was it 1924 B.C or 3137 B.C? When did Adi Shankara live? Was it 8^th century CE or 5^th century B.C? Partly such confusion exists due to the existence of multiple methodologies that exist (Puranic genealogies, archaeological evidence etc), and they often contradict each other. Partly the confusion is due to the fact even now people don’t understand that when something is 3000 years old, it does not date to 3500 B.C.
While most of us learned that Chandragupta Maurya lived around the 3^rd century B.C, there is a set of people (via DesiPundit) who believe that he lived in 1534 B.C. This means that if we choose 1924 B.C as the date for Mahabharata war, then the Mauryan empire was established just 300 later. Then what happened to Buddha? Oh well he lived just 100 years after Mahabharata.
What can help in solving this mystery is some archaeology. Specifically if we can find out when humans settled in the areas where the Mauryan empire was located, then some of these dates can be ridiculed and there is some effort in this direction in West Bengal.

The state archaeology department recently found the site, on the banks of Piyali riyal in South 24 Parganas district. “We would begin excavation in winter at Tilpi near Joynagar in South 24 Parganas which could be an early historic site of pre-Mauryan period,” West Bengal Archaeology and Museums Department director Gautam Sengupta told IANS.
“This could prove that human habitation existed in the area between 3rd century BC and 3rd century AD,” Sengupta said. The Maurya dynasty ruled India between 321 and about 240 BC. “We discovered the site recently and came across some terracotta articles, copper coins, stone beads and other artefacts. Excavation is likely to reveal more artefacts and those can be compared with our previous findings to ascertain the occupational history of the area,” he added.
“This new site is on the banks of Piyali, which is again a part of the river system of Vidyadhari, on the banks of which Chandraketugarh was discovered in the early years of last century,” he said. Chandraketugarh is located in North 24 Parganas district and its history dates back to almost 3rd century BC, even before the Maurya dynasty came up.
The archaeological significance of the Chandraketugarh area came to light in the early years of the last century when road-building activities exposed a brick structure and artefacts.From all indications Chandraketugarh was an important urban centre, most probably a port city. The new site at Tilpi could be linked to Chandraketugarh, Sengupta said.[Excavation near Kolkata to unearth pre-Mauryan history via IndiaArchaeology]