Lothal, Indus Valley Dockyard
F2. Maritime Culture, Heritage, Archaeology, Art and MuseumsDefinition
Bronze Age maritime structure in Gujarat.
A Harappan (Indus Valley) port town in Gujarat, India, excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India under S. R. Rao from 1955 to 1960. Its large baked-brick basin, roughly 214 by 36 meters, has been interpreted as a tidal dock connected to the Sabarmati estuary, which would make it among the earliest known engineered dockyards (about 2400 BC, Mature Harappan). The basin’s function as a dock versus an irrigation tank is debated. Lothal yielded a bead-making workshop and a Persian Gulf seal, evidence of seaborne trade.
Source: Archaeological Survey of India, Lothal excavations (S. R. Rao, 1955 to 1960), Gujarat