The excavations at Harappa undertaken from 6th December 1924 to 6th April 1925 were Daya Ram Sahni’s last undertakings at the site. His report appears in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey for the year 1924-25 (henceforth ARASI 1924-25, pp. 73-80), published in 1927.

Sahni, who began the digging of Harappa in 1920-21, continued his excavations “at the low mound F’ near the banks of the old bed of the Ravi river ‘and the lofty mound A-B’ that rose abruptly to its south (Sahni 1927: 73). In mound F he excavated a large area Ae on the western edge, and sunk “four large pits”, each 50’ square, “in a line in the southern portion of mound B” (ibid: 79).

He reported that the buildings brought to light, in 1924-25, were somewhat better preserved than those that had been exposed the previous year. Among them was “what appears to have been a temple with stout brick walls in Mound B (Plate XXV, b [Excavations on Site B from S.W.])” and “another large sized structure (Plate XXIV, c [Parallel Walls])”, a “double series parallel walls without connecting walls of any kind”, in Mound F (ibid: 74). The latter he emphasized was the “most important architectural discovery of the year” (ibid: 76).

ARASI 1924-25 records that “105 negatives were exposed by the photographer of the Superintendent, Hindu and Buddhist Monuments, and consisted mainly of views of the excavations at Harappa which were under his supervision”, and that “36 of antiquities from Harappa” were included in the DGA’s photographic collection (1927: 174).

The collection catalogued here, for Harappa.com, comprise 110 photographs, in at least three albums of the ASI’s Punjab Circle, nos. 31 to 33. Of them around 49 are in ARASI 1924-25 in plates XXIV (a-e), XXV (a-d), XXVI (a-d), XXVII (a-i) and XXVIII; 10 photographs of structural remains, 48 of antiquities and 1 of a large collection of bones. Photographs of excavations at Mound F appear first, followed by those of Mound B (or Section B of Mound A-B), Terracotta and other Objects, and Seals and other Objects. Approximately, three excavation photos and all object images, such as of a ring stone, shell ladle, copper jar, terracotta snake, a double headed bust of a lion of terracotta, and terracotta figurines and seals and sealings appear in the final report that was authored by Madho Sarup Vats (1940) in the list of plates in Vol. II.

- Dr. Sudeshna Guha

References
Sahni, Daya Ram. 1927. ‘Harappa, Explorations, Northern Circle’, Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1924-25 (pp. 73-80), Calcutta: Govt. of India Central Publication Branch.

Blakiston, J.F. (Ed.). 1927. ‘Section X, Departmental Routine Notes: Photographs, Lahore’ Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1924-25 (pp. 169-178), Calcutta: Govt. of India Central Publication Branch.

Vats, Madho Sarup, 1940. Excavations at Harappa: Being an Account of Archaeological Excavations at Harappa Carried Out Between the Years 1920-21 and 1933-34, Vol. 1. Delhi: Manager of Publications.