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Excavation · c. 2400–1900 BCE; excavated 1955–60

The dock at Lothal

Found
Lothal, near Saragwala, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat; found in 1954 and excavated by S. R. Rao of the ASI
Kept at
In place, with the ASI site museum at Lothal

A brick basin more than 200 m long beside a Harappan port town, which its excavator read as the world’s oldest known tidal dock.

What it says

The basin is walled in burnt brick, with an inlet channel and a spillway to hold water at the right level. Beside it stood a warehouse on a high platform where sealings were found. The town had a bead factory working carnelian and agate, and a seal of the Persian Gulf type came from its levels. Rao read the basin as a dockyard; a few scholars argued it was a tank for water. The dock reading is the one most widely held.

What it proves

It shows Harappan Gujarat trading by sea with the Gulf more than four thousand years ago.

Evidence for

Lothal

Lothal

The Sindhu–Sarasvati Civilisation

Harappan sea trade

Evidence

Rock shelters of BhimbetkaExcavation
Paintings from the Mesolithic to the medieval period; found 1957

Rock shelters of Bhimbetka

Hundreds of sandstone shelters where people lived and painted for thousands of years, the oldest gallery of human art in Bharat.

The drilled teeth of MehrgarhExcavation
c. 7000–5500 BCE; published 2006

The drilled teeth of Mehrgarh

Eleven molar crowns from nine adults with neat holes drilled into them, the earliest evidence of dentistry on living people anywhere.

Bhirrana excavationsExcavation
Earliest layers claimed c. 7500–6000 BCE (contested); excavated 2003–06

Bhirrana excavations

A Sarasvati-valley settlement whose levels run from Hakra ware pit-dwellings up to a mature Harappan town, and whose earliest dates are argued over.

The ploughed field at KalibanganExcavation
Early Harappan, c. 2800 BCE; excavated 1960s

The ploughed field at Kalibangan

The oldest ploughed field yet excavated anywhere, with its furrows still visible in a grid.

The reservoirs of DholaviraExcavation
c. 3000–1500 BCE; excavated 1990–2005

The reservoirs of Dholavira

A Harappan city in a dry land that lived by catching every drop: dams on two seasonal streams fed a chain of reservoirs cut into the rock around the town.

Harappa excavationsExcavation
c. 3300–1900 BCE; excavated from 1921

Harappa excavations

The first city of the civilisation to be dug, which gave its name to the whole culture.

Mohenjo-daro excavationsExcavation
c. 2600–1900 BCE; excavated from 1922

Mohenjo-daro excavations

The largest city of the Sindhu valley, laid out in a grid of baked-brick streets with covered drains and a great bath on its citadel.

Fire altars of KalibanganExcavation
Mature Harappan, c. 2500–2000 BCE; excavated 1961–69

Fire altars of Kalibangan

Rows of small clay-lined fire pits on raised brick platforms, with a well and bathing floors beside them.