Dholavira as World Heritage Site

In News

Recently, the Harappan city of Dholavira has been named the 40^th 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 39^th 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 3^rd to mid-2^nd millennium BCE.
• It is the 6^th 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)