摘要: Justification of Outstanding Universal Value　　The archaeological remains of the Harappan port-town of Lothal is located along the Bhogava river, a tributary of Sabarmati, in the Gulf of Khambat. Measu

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

　　The archaeological remains of the Harappan port-town of Lothal is located along the Bhogava river, a tributary of Sabarmati, in the Gulf of Khambat. Measuring about 7 HA, Lothals thick (12-21 meter) peripheral walls were designed to withstand the repeated tidal flood, which probably resulted in the bringing the city to an end. The site provides evidence of Harappa culture between 2400 BCE to 1600 BCE.

　　The excavated site of Lothal is the only port-town of the Indus Valley Civilisation. A metropolis with an upper and a lower town had in on its northern side a basin with vertical wall, inlet and outlet channels which has been identified as a tidal dockyard. Satellite image show that river channel, now dried, would have brought in considerable volume of water during high tide which would have filled the basin and facilitated sailing of boats upstream. The remains of stone anchors, marine shells, sealings which trace its source in the Persian Gulf together with the structure identified as a warehouse further aid the comprehension of the functioning of the Lothal port.

　　Set in the dried river bed, along a silted bed of the channel (where occasional) tidal water can still be seen, in the archaeological site of Lothal the typical heirarchial town planning systems and the dockyard is discernable. The remains have been consolidated post excavation and is in stable state of conservation.

　　The defined zones within a fortified enclosure, i.e. the combination of an upper and lower town where the former is characterised by heirarchial layout of street and infrastructure of a dockyard aunthenticate Lothals as a Harappan port town. The identification of the tidal creek rough which boats would have sailed upstream, the controlled (water) inlet and outlet system provided in the humongous basin and the marks of flooding which ultimately resulted in rendering it non-functional provide physical evidence of the working systems of the tidal port.

　　The availability of antiquities whose origin is traceable to the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia and the presence of what is identified as a bead making industry further attributes Lothal as an industrial port town of the Harappan culture.

　　The site is located in a rural agricultural landscape with scanty vegetation and with traces of the dried tidal channel through which boats sailed upstream. The excavated remains are protected and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, whose mandates are defined as by Ancient Monuments and Sites Remains Act'1958 (amended in 2010).

　　Criterion (v): The excavated site of Lothal is the only port-town of the Indus Valley Civilisation. A metropolis with an upper and a lower town had in on its northern side a basin with vertical wall, inlet and outlet channels which has been identified as a tidal dockyard. Satellite image show that river channel, now dried, would have brought in considerable volume of water during high tide which would have filled the basin and facilitated sailing of boats upstream. The remains of stone anchors, marine shells, sealings which trace its source in the Persian Gulf together with the structure identified as a warehouse further aid the comprehension of the functioning of the Lothal port.