Lothal was a coastal city of the Indus Valley Civilization situated 450 miles southeast of the prehistoric city of Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, and in the northernmost area of the Gulf of Khambhat . (Click map to view.)
Lothal is located in Gujarat, India.
Prehistory
Cemeteries have been found in Lothal which indicate that its people were of Proto-Australoid and Mediterranean physiques. One of the graves in this cemetery has a man buried possibly along with his wife.
Ancient Seafaring
After the core of the Indus Valley civilization had decayed in Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, Lothal seems not only to have survived but to have thrived for many years to come. In Lothal, there is secondary evidence of sea-going craft. Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal and docking facility at this coastal city. See Indus Valley Civilization: Economy.
Oldest Known Harbor
Lothal is also considered as a part of the Indigenous Indian Civilisation, in perspectives of the Anti-Aryan invasion theory historians. Their claim is based on the inconclusive genetic evidence (due to less than 0.0001% variation in human genes) which is the main edifice to their theory. See also History of Pakistan.
This alternative interpretation has resulted in speculation over the origins of Indigenous Indian Civilisations, now with archaeological, carbon-dating methods and astronomical data using sophisticated methods that suggest that it might be the oldest harbor to be built on Earth. Their deductions, are that Lothal was built around 6000 BC, 3000 years earlier than any other known ancient river valley civilisation. One point of reference is that 6000 B.C.E. coincidentally marks the origin of the earliest known medical system -- the Vedic system of medicine -- also in ancient India. See History of medicine.
Noteworthy too is that Gujarat has a long tradition of ship breaking, especially in Alang.
See also
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