The meaning of Lothal (a combination of Loth and (s) thal) in Gujarati is “the mound of the dead”.
Incidentally, the name of the city of Mohenjo-daro (also part of the Indus Valley Civilisation, now in Pakistan) means the same in Sindhi.
Lothal stands out for its engineering marvels, including the world’s oldest dockyard, measuring 214×36 metres, with an innovative water-locking mechanism. Artefacts such as bead necklaces crafted from amethyst, axes and fish-hooks of copper or bronze point to maritime trade with ancient civilisations like Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia.
Lothal was one of the southernmost sites of the Indus Valley civilization, located in the Bhāl region of what is now the state of Gujarat. It is situated between the Sabarmati and Bhogavo rivers in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region.
The port city is believed to have been built in 2,200 BC. Lothal was a thriving trade centre in ancient times, with its trade of beads, gems and ornaments reaching West Asia and Africa.
Lothal was first discovered in 1954 by Archaeologist SR Rao, who discovered over 30 Harappan sites. It is he who identified the excavated Lothal structure as a dockyard.
According to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Lothal had the world’s earliest known dock, connecting the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati River.
Other evidence that Lothal served as a hub for maritime commerce came from the presence of seals — more than in any other site in Kathiawar/Saurashtra — that were likely used to seal documents or mark packages, the discovery of various items that were likely traded, a warehouse, and what Rao referred to as stone anchors for ships.
But not everyone was convinced. In 1968, anthropologist Lawrence S Leshnik posited the “port” was actually a reservoir for drinking water and irrigating crops. He held that the dimensions of the inlet for ships to dock were inadequate to support the draught (hull) of seafaring vessels. As was the depth of the “dock”. He also questioned the inlet’s orientation.
These doubts have been addressed by a new study by the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar (IITGn) that has found fresh evidence that can confirm the dockyard’s existence. The study has revealed that the Sabarmati River used to flow by Lothal (currently, it flows 20 km away from the location) during the Harappan Civilisation.
Lothal’s archaeological record indicates its settlements were rebuilt multiple times. Rao identified five distinct phases in the site’s stratigraphic record dated circa 2400-1900 BCE. At its peak, late 3rd millennium BCE, Lothal may have been home to 15,000 people.
The decline, and eventual destruction of Lothal, occurred due to catastrophic flooding, and the Sabarmati changing course.
As Rao noted in Lothal: A Harappan Port Town (1979), circa 2000 BCE, Lothal was submerged in a catastrophic flood — the acropolis was levelled and flood debris and silt destroyed buildings.
Although people remained on site, the settlement was reduced to “an ill-planned village lacking essential civic amenities”.
The most ancient civilisation of India, known variously as the Harappan, Indus or Indus-Sarasvatī Civilisation, was indeed remarkable in many ways. … [It showed how] a well-balanced community lives — in which the differences between the rich and the poor are not glaring. … In essence, the Harappan societal scenario was not that of ‘exploitation’, but of mutual ‘accommodation’. — B.B. Lal
100 years since the discovery of the Indus Valley civilization
1This year marks 100 years since the discovery of the Indus Valley civilization. The announcement of the discovery was made by Sir John Marshall, the English archaeologist and director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), on 20 September 1924.
He wrote in The Illustrated London News “Not often has it been to archaeologists…to light upon the remains of a long forgotten civilisation,”. “It looks, however, at this moment, as if we were on the threshold of such a discovery in the plains of Indus.”
However, in the decades preceding Marshall’s announcement in The Illustrated London News, several Indus sites apart from Harappa had already been explored. In 1921-22, Harappa came to be excavated by Daya Ram Sahni, while Mohenjodaro was dug up by Rakhal Das Banerji in 1922-23.
Both Sahni and Banerji discovered seals of the kind found by Cunningham decades earlier. But given that they were excavating two very different-looking places far away from each other, they were both unaware of the other’s find.
In June 1924, Marshall called for a special conference at the headquarters of the ASI in Simla, where the archaeologists of Harappa and Mohenjodaro assembled all the artifacts found by them in these two places.
It was soon evident that both these sites belonged to the same culture and civilisation, and Marshall announced his dramatic discovery to the world.
National Maritime Heritage Complex
National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) is under construction in Gujarat’s Lothal. India has collaborated with Vietnam to showcase India’s 4,500-year-old diverse maritime heritage. The proposed complex will have several components including a Lighthouse Museum and a five-dimensional theatre offering interactive experiences.