The turbulent saga of a whole Harappan city that survived in this Kutch region for 1,400 years has finally been pieced together by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
After digging intensively for six years, archaeologists have sewn up the story of a fortified city ruled by fiercely protective men from 2900 BC to 1500 BC.
"Dhola Veera is unique because it has told us the whole story of a civilisation," says the project director, Mr R.S. Bisht. "Of its humble beginnings, the rise to glory, the golden period and, finally, the degeneration and collapse when the sophisticatedly planned city turned into a cluster of huts."
The magnificent ruins lie here on a remote stretch, surrounded by the formidable Rann of Kutch, 250 km from Bhuj. The Harappan settlement here is one of the five significant sites unearthed so far. Mohenjodaro and Harappa lie in Pakistan; while the other two are in Rajasthan and Hissar, in Haryana.
The Harappans here, archaeologists conclude, were a prosperous lot, with their merchants trading in copper, semi-precious stones, spices and artefacts with favourable markets, including Mesopotamia.
The site stretches over 50 hectares of semiarid land. Built atop a mound is a heavily fortified citadel; followed by a middle town and a lower town. The division of the city could indicate a social hierarchy.
The most amazing construction, the citadel, is built with elaborate gates, one of which has a unique 10-letter inscription in the Harappan script. This was probably the living quarters of the ruling family. Attached to this is a bailey where, perhaps, the castle staff lived.
"The heavy fortification and the fact that such a remote, almost insulated, site was chosen for the settlement means that the rulers were a very protective lot," says Mr Bisht.
Outside the settlement is a burial ground, with some unique sepulchral constructions.
The ASI tea, digging here has even unearthed a vast open space, possibly a stadium, with steps surrounding it in the style of the Greek amphitheatres.
The story starts with the first batch of the Harappans, already adept at the skills typical of the civilisation, trickling into this semi-arid land either by land routes or sea. Archaeologists are still undecided whether this terrain was any different then, but Mr Bisht believes that there is a chance that the sea lay where the Rann is now.
The early Harappan man in Kutch built a fortification and raised mud houses. Later, the settlement extended northwards and the third stage of Dhola Veera's rise saw the city growing in size, with well laid-out residential blocks flanking the main street. The citadel was developed in this phase.
"A heavy earthquake seems to have then hit the city but the Harappans reconstructed their city with even better planning. This was the golden period of the city's history, when the art of making pottery, seals, and jewellery became refined," says Mr Bisht.
There is then an intriguing period when the Harappans deserted the site for reasons that have yet to be traced. They returned, but the settlement shrank back towards the citadel again. After 100 years, the city was again deserted.
Excavations from this last stage reveal that the urbane and sophisticated characteristics of the city had disappeared. Hutments were built with no formal planning, some located even in the middle of the streets.
"It is hard to say what
the reasons of Dhola Veera's collapse were: perhaps another quake, perhaps
the area just dried up. But Dhola Veera collapsed at the same time as the
other civilisations across the world," says Mr Bisht.
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