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Dholavira as World Heritage Site

Posted on July 28, 2021 by admin1  1994

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Recently, the Harappan city of Dholavira has been named the 40th Indian site on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

Major Highlights

  • UNESCO’s latest announcement comes just days after the inclusion of Ramappa Temple, Telangana as 39th site from India, on its list of Heritage Sites.
  • Dholavira had been on UNESCO’s tentative list since 2014 and India submitted the nomination dossier for “Dholavira: A Harappan City to the World Heritage Centre” in January 2020.
  • Significance
    • The two newly inscribed Sites offer great insight into the knowledge and ways of life of earlier societies, customs and communities of India.
    • With this successful nomination, India has 40 world heritage properties overall, which includes 32 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed property.
    • The development has made India enter the Super-40 club for World Heritage Site inscriptions.
      • It is a group of countries that have 40 or more World Heritage Sites and apart from India, this now contains Italy, Spain, Germany, China and France.
    • Also, India has added 10 new world Heritage sites since 2014 which is a testimony to the Government’s steadfast commitment in promoting Indian culture, heritage and the Indian way of life.

About Dholavira

  • Dholavira, known locally as Kotada (which means large fort), is located on Kadir island in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
    • Unlike other Harappan antecedent towns normally located near to rivers and perennial sources of water, the location of Dholavira in the island of Khadir was strategic to harness different mineral and raw material sources (copper, shell, agate-carnelian, steatite, lead, banded limestone, among others) and to facilitate internal as well as external trade to the Magan (modern Oman peninsula) and Mesopotamian regions.
  • It is one of the most remarkable and well-preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BCE.
  • It is the 6th largest of more than 1,000 Harappan sites discovered so far.
    • Dholavira along with Lothal, are two of the most remarkable excavations of the Indus Valley Civilisation or Harappan culture, dating back to about 4,500 years ago. Dholavira is larger than Lothal.
  • It was unearthed by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1967, but has been systematically excavated only since 1990.
    • Artifacts include terracotta pottery, beads, gold and copper ornaments, seals, fish hooks, animal figurines, tools, urns, and some imported vessels that indicate trade links with lands as far away as Mesopotamia.
    • Also found were 10 large stone inscriptions, carved in Indus Valley script, perhaps the world’s earliest sign board.
      • These are among the most important discoveries about the Indus Valley Civilization, but remain tantalizingly undeciphered.
  • The property comprises two parts: a walled city and a cemetery to the west of the city.
    • The walled city consists of a fortified Castle with attached fortified Bailey and Ceremonial Ground, and a fortified Middle Town and a Lower Town.
      • A series of reservoirs are found to the east and south of the Citadel, which had a large well and buildings.
      • In the middle town, various types of craft activities such as bead making, shell working and pottery making were carried out.
    • The great majority of the burials in the Cemetery are memorial in nature.
      • Substantial evidence of habitation outside the fortification wall was seen during the excavations.
  • It is set apart by its unique characteristics, such as its water management system, multi-layered defensive mechanisms, extensive use of stone in construction and special burial structures.
    • Here sandstone was used with mud-bricks for making buildings.
    • It must have been an important stopping point on busy maritime trade routes. 
    • Dholavira had an excellent rain water harvesting system which was a feature not present in other Harappan Civilization sites.
    • Dams were built across these to channelize their water into reservoirs.
  • It flourished for nearly 1,500 years, representing a long continuous habitation. 
    • Like Lothal, it passed through all the stages of the Harappan culture from circa 2900 BC to 1500 BC, while most others saw only the early or late stages.
  • Significance
    • It was an important urban centre and is one of the most important linkages with the past.
    • Occupied for over 1,500 years, it not only witnesses the entire trajectory of the rise and fall of this early civilization of humankind, but also demonstrates its multifaceted achievements in terms of urban planning, construction techniques, social governance and development, art, manufacturing, trading and belief system.
    • With extremely rich artefacts, this well preserved urban settlement depicts a vivid picture of a regional centre with its distinct characteristics that also contributes significantly to the existing knowledge of Harappan Civilization as a whole.
    • The configuration of this city is an outstanding example of a planned city with segregated urban residential areas based on possibly differential occupational activities and a stratified society.
    • Technological advancements in water harnessing systems, water drainage systems as well architecturally and technologically developed features are reflected in the design, execution and effective harnessing of local materials.
    • It is an exceptional example of a proto-historic Bronze Age urban settlement pertaining to the Harappan Civilization and bears evidence of a multi-cultural and stratified society.
    • The expansive water management system shows the ingenuity of the people to survive against the rapid geo-climatic transformations.
      • Water diverted from seasonal streams, scanty precipitation and available ground was sourced, stored, in large stone-cut reservoirs which are extant along the eastern and southern fortification.
      • To further access water, few rock-cut wells, which date as one of the oldest examples, are evident in different parts of the city, the most impressive one being located in the citadel.
      • Such elaborate water conservation methods of Dholavira are unique and measure as one of the most efficient systems of the ancient world.

(Image Courtesy: Frontline)

 

 

(Image Courtesy: Frontline)

Other Major Harappan Sites

Harappa
  • In the 1920s, it was the first site to be excavated by archeologists like Daya Ram Sahni, M.S. Vats and Mortimer Wheeler.
  • It is located on the bank of the Ravi in Montgomery district of Western Punjab (undivided British India).
  • The mounds of Harappa cover an extensive area of about 150 hectares.
    • The citadel mound lies to the west, with a lower but larger lower town to its south-east. The citadel was surrounded by a mud-brick wall with massive towers and gateways. The citadel has raised structure on platforms.
    • Excavations have shown that the lower part of the town had various workshops where shell, agate, and copper artifacts were made. The lower part had houses, drains, bathing platforms, and perhaps a well.
  • Harappa is known as the city of granaries as it had 12 of them.
    • Scholars believe that the presence of so many granaries points to the seasonal or low productivity of grains or a large population or changing of the floodplain of river Indus.
  • There are no clusters of sites around Harappa. It is an intriguing fact.
  • There has been evidence of coffin burial found in Harappa city in H pattern showing they may have been attacked in H pattern by invaders.
  • It has been identified with Hariyupiya city in the Rig-Veda.
  • It has evidence of direct trade and interaction with Mesopotamia in the form of seals.

Mohenjo-Daro
  • Mohenjo-Daro or the “Mound of the dead” lies in Larkana district of Sindh (Pakistan), about 5 km away from the Indus.
  • It is the largest site of the Harappan Civilization.
  • It was discovered by archeologists Rakhaldas Banerji and Sir John Marshall.
  • Its excavations revealed findings like the Great Bath, Great Granary, a large assembly hall, temple-like structure, the seal of Pashupati and a bust of a bearded man.
  • It is the most glaring example of town planning in the Harappan civilization. The city is divided into citadel and lower city.
    • The citadel has been elevated not for defensive purposes but as a part of a civic design to create an elevated symbolic landscape. According to some scholars the defensive nature, however, cannot be ruled out.
      • In the southern part of the citadel mound, there is a large building roughly square in shape. This is divided into five aisles by rows of rectangular brick piers. This is believed to be an assembly hall.
    • In the lower part of the city, outside the fortified citadel, a number of shops and workshops associated with copper working, bead making, dyeing, pottery making and shell working were identified during excavations.
  • Horizontal and vertical excavations show that people went on building and rebuilding houses at the same location for a long time. Scholars believe that this might be due to regular floods at Mohenjo-Daro.
  • Great Bath
    • It is an example of a great engineering marvel. It is 14.5 × 7 m × 2.4 m in size with a staircase leading down into the tank. The orientation of the staircase is north to south.
    • The floor and walls of the tank were water tight. This was done by the help of a thick layer of bitumen on the edges and finely fitted bricks on the floor.
    • This is believed to be one of the earliest examples of waterproofing in the world. The floor has slopes towards the southwest corner with outlets to a large drain for draining out water from the bath.
    • There are a series of rooms along the eastern edge of the building in which a well is present to supply water to the Great Bath.

Kalibangan
  • Kalibangan or the city of black bangles lies on the banks of the dry bed of the Ghaggar river, in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan.
  • This city got its name after thick clusters of black bangles lying all over the surface of its mounds. It has evidence of early and mature Harappan phases.
  • It is divided into citadel and lower town and both the citadel and the lower town are fortified.
  • Another significant finding in Kalibangan is the large number of fire altars.
    • The fire altars were the sacrificial pits in which ritualistic sacrificial offerings were made into the fire. Scholars are of the view that this area seems to have been associated with community rituals.
  • Another important feature is the burial ground in the south-west of the citadel. There are some circular pits with grave goods (pottery, bronze mirrors, etc.) but no human remains. This was a deviation from the burial pattern of the Harappan Civilization.
    • Scholars often relate this practice to the burning of the corpses and the pits signify the belief of Harappan people in the afterlife.
  • A large number of bangles of terracotta, shell, alabaster, steatite, and faience have been found at the Kalibangan site. This indicates that Bangle making was an important craft at this site.

Kot-Diji
  • Kot-Diji is situated on the left bank of the Indus River opposite to Mohenjo-Daro.
  • This site was excavated by F.A. Khan.
  • This site is considered to be the forerunner of the Indus Civilization. Evidence suggests that this area had a pre and mature Harappan phase.
  • It consists of two parts namely the
 
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