A joint team of archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Deccan College has discovered a massive storage facility at a newly identified Indus Valley site near Hisar, Haryana. The structure, dubbed the 'Spice-Trade Depot,' consists of a series of large, interconnected mud-brick rooms containing hundreds of intact terracotta jars. Chemical residue analysis has confirmed the presence of black pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric, marking the first time such a large cache of culinary spices has been found in a domestic Indus context.
This discovery suggests that the Harappan civilization had a much more formalized internal spice distribution network than previously theorized. Dr. Sanjay Kumar, the lead excavator, stated that the layout of the depot indicates a centralized system for weighing and labeling goods, possibly for redistribution to larger urban centers like Rakhigarhi and Mohenjo-daro.