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Source: The post is based on the article “Lothal, ‘oldest dock in the world’, to get heritage complex: Features, significance of the project” published in Indian Express on 20th October 2022.
What is the News?
The Prime Minister has reviewed the construction of the National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) site at Lothal, Gujarat.
About Lothal
Lothal was one of the southernmost sites of the Indus Valley civilization located in the Bhāl region of what is now the state of Gujarat.
The port city is believed to have been built in 2,200 BC.
Lothal was a thriving trade center in ancient times with its trade of beads, gems and ornaments reaching West Asia and Africa.
The meaning of Lothal (a combination of Loth and (s) thal) in Gujarati is “the mound of the dead”.
Archaeologist SR Rao led the team which discovered a number of Harappan sites at the time, including the port city of Lothal.
Features of Lothal: Lothal had the world’s earliest known dock, connecting the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river.
– National Institute of Oceanography in Goa discovered marine microfossils and salt, gypsum crystals at the site indicating that seawater once filled the structure, and it was definitely a dockyard.
– In later excavations, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) unearthed a mound, a township, a marketplace and a dock.
