India gets its 40th World Heritage Site: DHOLAVIRA

• India’s nomination of Dholavira, the Harappan City in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
• India submitted the nomination dossier for Dholavira: A Harappan City to the World Heritage Centre in January, 2020.
• Dholavira: a Harappan city, is one of the very few well preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BCE.

Dholavira

• Dholavira became the fourth site from Gujarat and 40th from India to make the list.
• it is, however, the first site of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) in India to get the tag.
• Dholavira, known locally as Kotada (which means large fort), sprawls over 100 hectares of semi-arid land at the north-west corner of the island of Khadir, one of the islands in the Great Rann of Kutch.
• It was discovered in 1967 by archaeologist Jagat Pati Joshi.
• The site’s excavation between 1990 and 2005 under the supervision of archaeologist Ravindra Singh Bisht uncovered the ancient city, which was a commercial and manufacturing hub for about 1,500 years before its decline and eventual ruin in 1500 BC.
• The property comprises two parts: a walled city and a cemetery to the west of the city.
• The walled city consists of a fortified Castle with attached fortified Bailey and Ceremonial Ground, and a fortified MiddleTown and a Lower Town.
• A series of reservoirs are found to the east and south of the Citadel.
• The great majority of the burials in the Cemetery are memorial in nature.
• The configuration of the city of Dholavira is an outstanding example of planned city with planned and segregated urban residential areas based on possibly differential occupational activities, and a stratified society.
• Technological advancements in water harnessing systems, water drainage systems as well architecturally and technologically developed features are reflected in the design, execution, and effective harnessing of local materials.
• Unlike other Harappan antecedent towns normally located near to rivers and perennial sources of water, the location of Dholavira in the island of Khadir was strategic to harness different mineral and raw material sources (copper, shell, agate-carnelian, steatite, lead, banded limestone, among others)
• It was also meant to facilitate internal as well as external trade to the Magan (modern Oman peninsula) and Mesopotamian regions.
• Dholavira is an exceptional example of a proto-historic Bronze Age urban settlement pertaining to the Harappan Civilization (early, mature and late Harappan phases) and bears evidence of a multi-cultural and stratified society during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE.
• This city flourished for nearly 1,500 years, representing a long continuous habitation.
• The expansive water management system designed to store every drop of water available shows the ingenuity of the people to survive against the rapid geo-climatic transformations.
• Water diverted from seasonal streams, scanty precipitation and available ground was sourced, stored, in large stone-cut reservoirs which are extant along the eastern and southern fortification.