Dholavira (Gujarati: ધોળાવીરા) is an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat in western India, which has taken its name from a modern-day village 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of it. This village is 165 km (103 mi) from Radhanpur. Also known locally as Kotada timba, the site contains ruins of a city of the ancient Indus Valley civilization.[1] Earthquakes have repeatedly affected Dholavira, including a particularly severe one around 2600 BCE.[2]
Dholavira's location is on the Tropic of Cancer. It is one of the five largest Harappan sites[3] and the most prominent of archaeological sites in India belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization.[4] It is located on Khadir bet island in the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary in the Great Rann of Kutch. The 47 ha (120 acres) quadrangular city lay between two seasonal streams, the Mansar in the north and Manhar in the south.[5] The site was thought to be occupied from c.2650 BCE, declining slowly after about 2100 BCE, and to have been briefly abandoned then reoccupied until c.1450 BCE;[6] however, recent research suggests the beginning of occupation around 3500 BCE (pre-Harappan) and continuity until around 1800 BCE (early part of Late Harappan period).[7]
The site was initially discovered by a resident of Dholavira village, Shambhudan Gadhvi, in early 1960s who made efforts to bring government attention to the location.[8][9][10] The site was "officially" discovered in 1967-68 by J. P. Joshi, of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and is the fifth largest of eight major Harappan sites. It has been under excavation since 1990 by the ASI, which opined that "Dholavira has indeed added new dimensions to personality of Indus Valley Civilisation."[11] The other major Harappan sites discovered so far are Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Ganeriwala, Rakhigarhi, Kalibangan, Rupnagar and Lothal.
It was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Dholavira: a Harappan City on 27 July 2021.[12]
^Gopinath, P. Krishna (15 July 2017). "Ruins on the Tropic of Cancer". The Hindu.
^Lal, B. B., & General, F. D. (2010). HOW DEEP ARE THE ROOTS OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION?--An archaeological and Historical Perspective.
^Cite error: The named reference frontline was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Where does history begin?". 19 October 2017.
^Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Dholavira: A Harappan City - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
^Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. p. 17. ISBN 9780759101722. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
^Sengupta, Torsa, et al. (2019)."Did the Harappan settlement of Dholavira (India) collapse during the onset of Meghalayan stage drought?" in Journal of Quaternary Science, First published: 26 December 2019.
^Namit Arora (18 January 2021). Indians: A Brief History of A Civilization. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5305-287-4.
^Avikunthak, Ashish (31 October 2021). Bureaucratic Archaeology: State, Science and Past in Postcolonial India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-51239-5.
^Vasa, Pulin. "Nani Rayan | Read jain books online at Jainebooks.org". jainebooks.org. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
^"Excavations-Dholavira". Archaeological Survey of India. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
^"'Long overdue': Indians celebrate as Dholavira gets UNESCO World Heritage tag". The Indian Express. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
Dholavira (Gujarati: ધોળાવીરા) is an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat in western India, which...
functioned as a barrier against floods. Ruins like Mohenjo-Daro in Sindh and Dholavira in Gujarat had settlements with some of the ancient world's most sophisticated...
beads are identical with beads found in the Indus Civilization site of Dholavira. Egyptian necklace with biconical carnelian beads, rolled strips of sheet...
Ganeriwala in the Cholistan Desert, Dholavira in western Gujarat (declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021 as "Dholavira: A Harappan City"), and Rakhigarhi...
the breeding field of the flamingoes, is the ancient excavated city of Dholavira from the Harappan civilization, attracting archeologists from all over...
discoveries at Dholavira was made in one of the side rooms of the northern gateway of the city, and is generally known as the Dholavira Signboard. The...
amateur geologist from Gujarat who discovered the Indus valley site of Dholavira in the early 1960s. During the Kutch famine in 1960s, Shambhudan Gadhvi...
have settled in the Rann of Kutch around 3500 BCE. The Indus city of Dholavira, the largest Indus site in India, is located in the Rann of Kutch. This...
of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Oxford University Press. 1998 "Will Dholavira ruins rewrite history of ancient theatre? by Robin David". The Times of...
and western India. Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation...
to reservoirs of the cities of the Indus Valley civilization such as Dholavira and Mohenjo-daro. The stepwells were constructed in the south western...
state). The most important sites are Lothal (the world's first dry dock), Dholavira (the fifth largest site), and Gola Dhoro (where 5 uncommon seals were...
dams, such as Sadd-el-Kafara Dam for flood control. In modern-day India, Dholavira had an intricate water-management system with 16 reservoirs and dams....
Dholavira, a metropolitan city of the Indus Valley civilization, located on Khadir island in the Kachchh District of Gujarat, India. The site was occupied...
– First European explorer of Harappa Mohenjo-daro Mehrgarh Ganeriwala Dholavira Lothal Harappan architecture Mandi, Uttar Pradesh Sheri Khan Tarakai Sokhta...
control of prime agricultural land. The fortification varies by site. While Dholavira has stone-built fortification walls, Harrapa is fortified using baked...
with chambers found in India, which likely represent a "proto-stupa". In Dholavira, an archeological site associated with the Indus Valley Civilization,...
Saurashtra. They included cities like Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Kalibangan, Dholavira, ports like Lothal, Sutkagen-dor and Sokhta Koh and numerous villages...
Harappan Town-Planning, Proportions and Units, with Special Reference to Dholavira" (PDF). Man and Environment. 33 (1): 66–79. Archived from the original...
which had ghats for transporting goods for trade, via Lothal port and Dholavira, as far as Mesopotamia (ancient cities of Elam and Sumer). India portal...
noted for the excavations of Indus Valley sites at Kalibangan, Lothal and Dholavira. The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act was passed...
the major urban centres of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 40 Indus Valley sites have been discovered...
(180-million-year-old fossils). Petrified wood has also been discovered in Dholavira in Kutch, Gujarat, dating back to 187–176 million years. Japan – there...
(first site with genetic testing), Sanauli, Farmana, Kalibangan, Lothal, Dholavira, Mehrgarh, Harappa, Chanhudaro, and Mohenjo-daro. Wider context of the...
forms of stepwell and reservoir were also built in India in places like Dholavira as far back as the Indus Valley civilisation. This baoli, with 108 steps...
1954 and 1958, more than 50 sites were excavated in the Kutch (notably Dholavira), and Saurashtra peninsulas, extending the limits of Harappan civilisation...
terracotta citizens in a pit adjacent to the Terracotta Army, a walled city at Dholavira, and a 2,900-year-old sweat lodge in Cuello.: 160–162 Two different groups...
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