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THE LAND OF THE DEAD:
Lothal is the name of an ancient mound situated in the revenue
jurisdiction of Saragwala Village in Dholka Taluka of
Ahmedabad
district in Gujarat state. The word 'Lothal'
meaning 'place of the dead' in Gujarati language is said to have been
formed by combining the words 'Loth' and 'thal' (sthal).
Lothal is essentially a single culture site. The Harappan Culture in all
its variant forms is well represented here. The Harappans were attracted
to Lothal not only by its sheltered harbour with a rich cotton and
rice-growing hinterland but also by its bead-making industry.
With
the birth of a planned Harappan port-town in Phase II, Lothal enjoyed
great prosperity owing to foreign trade. It became a busy industrial
centre importing pure copper and producing bronze belts, fish-hooks,
chisels, spearheads and ornaments, which were supplied through normal
trade channels all over the western province and beyond.
THE FINDS:
The excavations revealed five phases of seemingly continuous occupation.
Of these, the first four are the premature Harappans and the fifth, the
later phase of the culture. The settlement was rectangular on plan and
consisted of two parts; the citadel and the lower city.
Of the structures exposed within the citadel, the warehouse is built on
high podium with sixty-four blocks of mud-bricks. Baked and twisted clay
sealings of normal Indus type, presumably fallen from the stores bales had
been recovered from the ducts between the blocks. The lower city contained
apart from the residential sector, the market as also the industrial area.
The
most individualistic structure was an oblong basin covered on all sides
with baked-brick, and having necessary gaps for a sluice gate, inlet,
etc., which is identified as a dock for small ships. The occurrence of a
circular seal of Persian Gulf style at the site points to the existence of
maritime trade with west Asia.
The finds include a number of seals, chert blades and fishhooks of copper
or bronze. There are some new shapes and designs in the pottery, which are
considered to be non-Indus and show regional manifestation.
Beyond the city wall on northwest of the settlement, there was the
cemetery. The people buried their dead in an extended position in oval or
rectangular grave-pits in which pottery and other objects were also
interred. The unique feature of the burials at Lothal, however, is the
occurrence, in some of the graves, of skeletons of two persons.
THE
TOWN PLAN:
The Indus dichotomy of dividing the city into a citadel or Acropolis and
a Lower Town was followed in planning Lothal. The Ruler and his entourage
lived in the acropolis where houses were built on 3m high platforms and
provided with all the civic amenities including paved baths, underground
drains and a well for potable water.
The Lower Town, which also enjoyed civic amenities, was subdivided into
two sectors. The north-south arterial street flanked by shops was the main
commercial centre in which the rice merchant and ordinary craftsmen lived
together. The residential sector lay to the east and west of bazaar.
CIVIC CONSIDERATIONS:
While planning the town, Lothal engineers accorded high priority to two
other needs, the fulfillment of which depended upon the economic
prosperity of the inhabitants. The first one was a dock for berthing ships
and the second a warehouse for storing and examining cargo.
The dock built on the eastern flank of the town is an engineering
feat of the highest order. Its very location away from the main current
avoided silting but at the same time ships could have access to the dock
in high tide.
The second need, namely the warehouse, arose from the large
volume of cargo, which Lothal had to handle. Hence, a warehouse was built
close to the acropolis on a 3.5 m high podium of mud-bricks to serve as a
clearing-house for incoming and outgoing cargo. 
HOW TO GET THERE:
Air: Nearest airport is
Ahmedabad .
Rail: Situated at a distance of 6 km from Lothal-Bhurkhi Railway
Station on the Ahmedabad Bhavnagar
meter gauge section of the western Railway.
Road: It is well connected by an all weather road with Bhurkhi,
Ahmedabad, Dholka and other major towns such as Bhavnagar and
Rajkot.
For travel
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