Site plan of Harappa showing areas of excavation.
Harappa has a special place in Indus studies. It was there, a century and a half ago, that Charles Masson made the first references to Harappa and the Indus Civilization. Subsequent random discoveries, mostly of inscribed seals, eventually attracted the attention of the Indian Government but it was not until 1920 that the Archaeological Survey of India officially protected the site and opened a systematic program of excavations, (for reports on the preliminary work see Annual Reports of the ASI for 1920-21; 1923-24, 1924-25 and Sahni 1922).