India - Gujarat - Archaeological remains of a Harappa Port-Town, Lothal

The archaeological remains of the Harappa port-town of Lothal is located along the Bhogava river, a tributary of Sabarmati, in the Gulf of Khambat. Measuring about 7 HA, Lothals thick (12-21 meter) peripheral walls were designed to withstand the repeated tidal flood, which probably resulted in the bringing the city to an end. Within the quadrangular fortified layout, Lothal has two primary zones – the upper and the lower town. The citadel or the upper town is located in the south eastern corner and is demarcated by platforms of mud-brick of 4 meters in height instead of a fortification wall. Within the citadel are wide streets, drains and rows of bathing platforms, suggested a planned layout. In this enclosure is a large structure, identified as a warehouse with a square platform and whose partly charred walls retains the impression of sealings, which were probably tied together, awaiting export. The remains of the lower town suggest that the area had a bead-making factory. In close proximity to the enclosure identified as a warehouse, along the eastern side where a wharf-like platform, is a basin measuring 217 m long and 26 meters in width, identified as a tidal dock-yard. At the north and southern end of the basis are identified an inlet and an outlet which would have aided in maintaining the adequate water level to facilitate sailing. Stone anchors, marine shells and seals possibly belonging to the Persian Gulf corroborate the use of this basin as a dockyard where boats would have been sailed upstream from the Gulf of Cambay during high tide.