In which village did the archaeologist B.B. Lal conduct excavations in relation to Mahabharata?

Hastinapura

The Mahabharata, similar to other significant epics, vividly portrays battles, forests, palaces, and settlements. In 1951-52, the archaeologist B.B. Lal conducted excavations in a village named Hastinapura in Meerut (Uttar Pradesh). The question arose whether this village was the same as the Hastinapura mentioned in the epic. Although the similarity in names could be coincidental, the site's location in the Upper Ganga doab, where the Kuru kingdom was situated, hints that it might have been the capital of the Kurus as described in the text.

Lal's excavation revealed five occupational levels, with the second and third phases being of particular interest. In the second phase (c. twelfth-seventh centuries BCE), Lal noted that the houses showed no definite plans, but he encountered walls made of mud and mud-bricks. The presence of mud-plaster with prominent reed-marks suggested that some houses had reed walls plastered over with mud.