Multi-grain ladoos from Harappa civilization excavated from Harappan site

Yes, that’s a fact! According to a study of the materials discovered while excavating in Rajasthan, it has come to the limelight that the Harappan people, nearly 4000 years ago, used to have multigrain high-protein ladoos. The joint scientific study that the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow has conducted, was off late published in the ‘Journal of Archeological Science: Reports.

According to a report, during the excavation, seven ladoos were unearthed at a Harappan archeological site in the year 2017 at 4MSR (earlier famed as Binjor) in the western region of Rajasthan, near the Pakistan border.

In this context, Rajesh Agnihotri, a senior BSIP scientist exclaimed that ASI has excavated seven big-size brown balls of ladoos, a hand-held (a tool used in shaping wood), and two bull figurines at the Harappan site in the Anupgarh district of Rajasthan. He further stated that the foodballs that dated back to nearly 2600 BCE, were found intact as a hard structure had been placed in such a way that it provided a roof over them and protected it from getting smashed.

He further said that one of the most interesting things about these ladoos was that its connection with water has transformed the slurry into purple. Then, for the purpose of scientific analysis, they gave the samples of the ladoos to BSIP.

In the initial stage, they presumed that the ladoos were connected to the occult activities as the figurines were also discovered in the close areas.

He also said that the team was curious because of the fact that their shape and size were made by man, which further instigated them to get deeper into and discover the composition. Initially, they thought that these food balls were non-vegetarian food items.

But, after microscopic analysis, they concluded that those food balls consisted of wheat, barley chickpea and other oilseeds.