Harappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about 24 km west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River which now runs 8 km to the north. The current village of Harappa is less than 1 km from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a legacy railway station from the British Raj period, it is a small crossroads town of 15,000 people today.
The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of the Indus Valley Civilisation centred in Sindh and the Punjab, and then the Cemetery H culture. The city is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents and occupied about 150 hectares with clay brick houses at its greatest extent during the Mature Harappan phase, which is considered large for its time. Per archaeological convention of naming a previously unknown civilisation by its first excavated site, the Indus Valley Civilisation is also called the Harappan Civilisation.
The ancient city of Harappa was heavily damaged under British rule, when bricks from the ruins were used as track ballast in the construction of the Lahore–Multan Railway.