Harappan city of Dholavira situated in Gujarat’s Kachchh district is now UNESCO’S World Heritage Site. Also known as Kotada Timba, the site is one amongst the most prominent sites of the Harappan civilizations, It probably has the world’s oldest signboards in the form of prescriptions excavated in the form of stone inscriptions.
Dholavira: An Archeaological site which lives up the historical era
Dholavira, an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kachchh District, derives its name from a modern-day village one kilometre south of it which is situated 165 km from Radhanpur. Also known locally with the name of Kotada timba, the site contains ruins of an ancient Indus Valley Civilization/Harappan city. Dholavira’s is located on the Tropic of Cancer.
The 120 acres quadrangular city situated between two seasonal streams, the Mansar in the north and Manhar in the south was occupied from c.2650 BCE, which started declining slowly after about 2100 BCE. It was briefly abandoned then reoccupied until c.1450 BCE.
What is Dholavira?
Dholavira is one of the five largest Harappan sites and most prominent archaeological sites in India which belongs to the Indus Valley Civilization and is considered as having been the grandest and richest of cities of its time.
Being one of the two largest Harappan sites in India and the fifth-largest in the subcontinent, it passed through Harappan culture’s different states from circa 2900 BC to 1500 BC, while most others saw only the early or late stages.
Dholavira is divided into different parts which includes Raj Mahal of the Raja / Ruler, who is at the height, Habitat of other officers, which also had a protective wall and had two to five rooms. Also, a big factory of making pearls has been found in this town. Further, copper distilleries were found in fossils found here.
Archeological Survey of India (ASI) unearthed the site in 1967, but it has been systematically excavated only since 1990..