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.
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.
Acropolis and lower town
Acropolis looked so small that to me it looked like a prototype of pre Harappan civilization.
No stone structure were found in Lothal construction in all area of 50 miles.
Pottery (red wares) at Lothal
The pots I touched and these are a strong as stone.
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
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.
The bead Industry at Lothal
There was advanced industry of making beeds which were also exported.
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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