Lothal- Our History Starts Here Part – 2

Posted on by Rakesh Rai
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As per planned trip I came back from Dholavira at 7 PM to Ahmadabad at my brother’s house
and next day we planned to visit Lothal with family by car. Lothal is just 75 KM from Ahmadabad. Road is good and wide. Just in 2 hours we reached Lothal. On way did not see any boards on road indicating direction of Lothal and we had to take help of GPS. Anyway we reached Lothal village. It looked to be a bit far flung but still well reachable by car. Buses do not ply for Lothal. You have to take your own conveyance for Lothal from Ahmedabad. On way you can get very good restaurants just 6-7 KM from Lothal.

Note that all archaelogical sites in Gujarat are closed on Friday. This site is nominated for UNESCO World Heritage but not yet listed by UNESCO.

 

The museum is well maintained and I say is a rich museum and it is the only source of information to tourists as there are no guides in Lothal as the excavation site is not so big.

In front of Lothal Museum with Brothers family. Museum and Lothal site is closed on Friday.

We can cover the excavation settlement within 40 minutes. But it is good if we spend some time here contemplating and imagining about our forefathers who lived here.

It is heard that villagers nearby knew about the ancient human habitat here.
When I saw this big tank it did not look like dock or any possibility of connecting to any river. It looked like some tank for irrigation system. But as per ASI it was connected to Sindh river. Anyway now the upper three layers are repaired by new bricks.So it lost its ancientness. Do not know why ASI did this.

According to Geophysicist reaseach 30 KM of Lothal an ancient tributary of river Bhogavo existed.

Then why Lothals did not settle near the river? Due to fear of floods or due to abundant availability of rocks which they used to make beads? The answer is debatable.This big dockyard is regarded by archaeologists as an engineering feat of the highest order. It was located away from the main current of the river to avoid silting, but provided access to ships in high tide as well.

Some archaeologists say it was dockyard and some say as irrigation tank, But more logically it seems to be dockyard. It is 720 feet long.

Acropolis and lower town

Acropolis looked so small that to me it looked like a prototype of pre Harappan  civilization.

Acropolis or citadel- here lived the higher class of society which controlled the town. We may call them ruler. The city was divided into a citadel, or acropolis and a lower town. The rulers of the town lived in the acropolis, which featured paved baths, underground and surface drains (built of kiln-fired bricks) and a potable water well.

 

Industrial area- Small dome it seems is furnace used to burn good quality bricks.

No stone structure were found in Lothal construction in all area of 50 miles.

Bricks of Pre-Harappan site developed at Lothal- Sun dried bricks were used for building houses. It seems wood was scarce in that region so they used baked bricks only for baths, floors and drains. Some rooms were also constructed using baked bricks as those belonged to elite section of society. All bricks measured exact size of 11″X5.5″X2.5″.

 

Bhatti- A closer look
Kiln – Used to make beads

Pottery (red wares) at Lothal

The pots I touched and these are a strong as stone.

Pottery

 

Pottery

 

Pottery

 

Well near Industrial area. It is not so deep. No water now in this.
Drainage as seen in Industrial area.

The lower town was subdivided into two sectors. A north-south arterial street was the main commercial area. It was flanked by shops of rich and ordinary merchants and craftsmen. The residential area was located to either side of the marketplace. The lower town was also periodically enlarged during Lothal’s years of prosperity

Lower town- Worker class lived here.

Burial system at Lothal

At Lothal 21 graves were found. Not more than five pots were found by side of graves. The pits were 8’X3.5’X1.5′ in case of joint graves while 7’X2.5’X1.5′ in case of single grave. Mostly joint grave was for husband and wife or siblings who died at same time. Some proofs are found self-immolation (sati pratha) was wife was in vogue. The heads were laid in north and slight tilted towards east.

Cemetery-About 21 graves were found at excavated site. These are just about 1 KM from lower town.

Pots kept inside the graves. Sometimes they were kept on head side and sometimes on waist side.

The bead Industry at Lothal

There was advanced industry of making beeds which were also exported.

Beeds less than 1 MM. This foto is through lens.
Beads
Bangles and ear rings.
Many types of seals are found in Lothal site.

Religion

The people of Lothal worshiped a fire, Lord Shiva, bull, tree and serpant. This is based on the sign on seals.

Epilogue

Lothal, this particular exposed site is indeed a very small ancient settlement inhabited from 3700 BC to about 1900 BC. With the red wares and its raw material found Lothal seemed to be pre-Harraapan and harappan site. it is said even when core of Indus valley civilization died out , the habitat at Lothal continued for long time in 7 phases. Phase -I was most advanced. Though this is a small excavation, it is a complete Indus valley civilization in different variances. The exact periods are not certain. The complete Lothal city was in 50 miles vicinity.

Later Harappan was a form of downfall of pre-Harappan time. In this downfall time  few people who returned to Lothal after floods or other natural calamity could not reconstruct and repair their city, but surprisingly continued to stay and preserved religious traditions, living in poorly built houses and reed huts.

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Dholavira Lothal