The most important evidence of the pre-Indus civilization sequence in Gujarat has emerged principally at Dholavira located on an island of the present shallow Rann of Kutch. As the combined course of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra used to flow into this Rann in protohistory, the present area of Dholavira could be an island surrounded by deeper water or this could be a part of the delta system built by this combined flow. The point is uncertain.
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TABLE IV.8 |
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Stage I: |
fortification (southern arm properly traced—11.1 m basal width, extant height 4 m, originally higher-rubble stones set in mud mortar)—the use of mud-bricks in the ratio of 1:2:4—copper metallurgy–stone-dressing–lithic blade industry—shell-working–terracotta cakes, bangles–stone beads–perforated jars and dish-on-stands among pottery types. |
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Stage II: |
addition of 2.8 m thick mud-brick wall built against the inner face of the earlier fortification—expansion of settlement. |
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Stage III: |
A, B and C—right from the beginning ‘diagnostic Indus civilization elements present’. |
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Stage IV: |
marks the classical Indus civilization stage at Dholavira. But it is Stage III which marked the period of transition to this civilization at the site. The fortification wall around the settlement of the earlier two stages was widened on the inner side by c. 4.5 m. The existing walled settlement was converted into a distinct complex showing two separate but adjoined fortified areas: the higher ‘castle’ on the east and the lower ‘bailey’ on the west. The buildings of Stage II, which lay to the north of the ‘castle-bailey’ complex, were cleared and an open space—perhaps a ceremonial ground—created in that place. Further north, the ‘middle town’ with its own fortification walls was laid out. Finally, the outer fortification wall of Dholavira came up during this stage and a remarkable system of water reservoirs, which took advantage of the 13 m north-east–south-west gradient of the site and were partly rock-cut, followed the inner alignment of the peripheral wall. That Stage III marks the phase of transition to the mature Indus civilization is also shown by the presence in this level of square or rectangular uninscribed steatite seals with Indus motifs, the occurrence of a potsherd with two Indus script signs painted on it and a typical Indus ‘weight’.21 |