Lothal was one of the southernmost sites of the ancient Indus Valley civilisation,located in the Bhal region of the Indian state of Gujarat. Construction of the city is believed to have begun around 2300 BCE
Lothal Dt Ahmadabad, Gujarat
A mound in village Saragwala sandwiched between the Sabarmati and the Bhogavo, 10 km up the Gulf of Cambay, though the distance might have been shorter in ancient times. The compact mound rising about 6 m was discovered by S.R. Rao in 1954 and excavated by him on behalf of the ASI from 1954 -55 to 1962-63
The 7 m thick occupational debris has been divided by the excavator into two Periods, A and B, the first belonging to the mature Harappa culture and the second to a decadent stage thereof.
The lower town provided accommodation for craftsmen-coppersmiths, goldsmiths, shell-workers and bead-makers, their shops and working-places marked by the remains of their craft.
The technological skill of the people is attested by bronze drills of the auger type with twisted grooves, besides flanged ones, needles etc.
The main residence, of which no trace is left, stood on a 3.5 m high podium, 126 x 30 m, with three streets and three lanes, and had a brick-lined well and elaborate drainage system attached to the baths
Lothal had two other notable features distinguishing it from earilier Indus cities-a dock and a warehouse. The former, has been taken to be a dock to berth ships sailing into it at high tide
The top of the city-wall flanking its e., wider here than elsewhere, has been taken to be a wharf or loading-platform
As many as 65 terracotta sealings recovered from the warehouse bore impressions of Indus seals on th obverse and of packing material such as bamboo matting, reed, woven cloth and cord on the reverse. substantial part of the warehouse was destroyed in P,III and was never rebuilt. All this elaborate infrastructure for external trade amply reflected in other finds from Lothal.
A circular steatite seal of the class known as Persian Gulf seal found aqundantly at Failaka and Rasal Qaila (Bahrain) on the Persian Gillf, is a surface find at Lothal, evidently the Persain Gulf sites were inter mediary in the Indus trade with Mesopotamia.
Conversely some of the Indus-like seals found it Mesopotamia may have been imports from Lothal.
In addition to the Indus stone cubes of standard weights. Lothal had another series of weights conforming to the Heavy Assyrian standard for international trade.
Lothal might also have been the intermediary station for the import to the Indus valley of gold from Kolar (Mysore) gold-fields, some semiprecious stones from the Deccan plateau and shell from the w. coast and in turn might have depended on the Indus valley of such items as copper and chert, their sources being nearer the Indus then Lothal.
The cemetery of Lothal lay t,o the n.-w. of the lower city beyond the peripheral wall. Twenty graves-each a rectangular n.-s. pit-were identified. The bodies were kept in an extended position, except three which hild the bodies lying on the side.
One of the skulls as trephined, "either shortly before death or post ortem. The graves were poorly furnished with pottery. . The graves belonged to Phase III, the earlier cemeteries remaining identified and the later one being washed away by floods.
The excavator's date for the mature Harappa culture, Period I, of Lothal is from 2450 to 1900 B.C., and for the decadent phase, Period II, 1900 to 1600 B.C.
Lothal web.archive.org/ asi_exca_imp_gujarat.asp sites lothall marwan rangpur Surkotada
The Lothal site was nominated, in April 2014, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its application is pending on the tentative list of UNESCO
When British India was partitioned in 1947, most Indus sites, including Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, became part of Pakistan. The Archaeological Survey of India undertook a new program of exploration, and excavation. Many sites were discovered across northwestern India. Between 1954 and 1958, more than 50 sites were excavated in the Kutch (notably Dholavira), and Saurashtra peninsulas, extending the limits of Harappan civilisation by 500 kilometres (310 miles) to the river Kim, where the Bhagatrav site accesses the valley of the rivers Narmada and Tapti. Lothal stands 670 kilometers (420 miles) from Mohenjo-daro, which is in Sindh.[10]