An island in the Rann, a water system and cenotaphs of six types: Dholavira

Background

Dholavira is a Harappan city on the dry island of Khadir, near Kutch in Gujarat, ringed by the Great Rann of Kutch. The settlement was occupied from 3000-1500 BCE and spreads over about 100 hectares. It was discovered in 1968 and counts among the well-preserved urban settlements of South Asia from that age. The walled city holds a heavily fortified castle, a ceremonial ground, and streets and houses of differing quality that point to a layered social order. Its cemetery carries cenotaphs of six types, and digs have turned up bead workshops and objects of copper, shell, stone, terracotta, gold and ivory. The city is known for one of the earliest planned water conservation systems and for signboards written in the Indus script. Dholavira sits on the Tropic of Cancer and is larger than Lothal, the other well known Harappan site in Gujarat. UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage List at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee, held at Fuzhou in China.