Explore the Indus Valley Civilization at Lothal in Gujarat State in India

If you have a hobby of knowing about the old Indus's valley civilization, you must visit Lothal, situated in the State of Gujarat in India. It is situated just 50 miles away from Ahmedabad, near the town of Tarapur. Lothal presents world's oldest urban culture civilization of its time. The Archeological excavations found out this site in the year 1954. The findings were found exactly similar to the cities of Mohen Jo Dero and Harappa, which are now in Pakistan. It is believed that the city of Lothal was one of the largest cities in around 2^nd millennium B.C. in this entire area.

You can easily reach Lothal by a hired car or a taxi in just around an hour from Ahmedabad. You can see Lothal in about 4 to 6 hours and can reach back to Ahmedabad by the same day evening. There is no provision of good hotels and good restaurants are also not available here at Lothal. So, you will need to bring bottled mineral drinking water and the packed lunch with you from Ahmedabad. There are some small restaurants but they can perhaps only supply hot beverages like tea and coffee with some local snacks. The government guide service is available at Lothal at nominal rates of around Rs.100 for the entire visit.

The findings at Lothal indicate neat street layout at right angle to each other in the whole city. The central chalk is also present with a main market street that is comparatively wider than all other streets. The houses are also made in the same design throughout the city and are in two floors. The ground floor had an underground water tank for preservation of rain water and also a large sitting room with a small kitchen. The scientific underground drainage system is also worth seeing. This proves that the hygiene concepts were given great importance even in those days. The excavation has also found out a large dock yard that was big enough for docking of the largest ships. This indicates that Lothal was one of the largest ports of that time. The lot of business was taking place from here and the people leaving here were mainly of business class. The large swimming pool was also found out that has a capacity of around 500 people at a time. The city of Lothal shows high degree of town planning and the city layout is very neat and clear. There are indications that people leaving here worshipped fire and the sun. The presence of one sun temple also proves this fact.

The most unusual find of Lothal is the two human bodies from the single grave. This indicates that there was a practice of double burial in those days. The double burial can be of husband/wife, owner/servant or the king/minister. Most of the graves found here are bigger in size confirming this aspect of double burial. These two bodies found from here, are kept at the central Archeological museum at Ahmedabad. There is also an Archeological museum here. This museum remains open on all days except Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm. This museum contains earthen pots, jewellerry, the plates/dishes, and the metallic utensils of that time. The imaginary view of the city as it was looking at that time is also kept here at the museum. It was a big city in those times and was flourishing with people. Nothing much has been found out about the eating habits of the people at that time. The sharp knives found in typical shapes do indicate that the knives were used mainly as weapon. You must plan your visit to Lothal during the winter months of October to March. Or else, make sure to reach here by around 9am in the morning and start back by around 1 pm so as to beat the strong afternoon summer heat.

Visiting Lothal can take you in the civilization, around 3000 years behind, just within an hour's drive from Ahmedabad. The lovers of ancient civilizations must visit Lothal in India to enrich their knowledge about those golden old days.