Lothal

Lothal was one of the southernmost sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, lying in the Bhal region of the Indian state of Gujarat near the Gulf of Khambhat. Construction of the planned city is believed to have begun around 2300 BCE, replacing an earlier riverside village. The Archaeological Survey of India discovered the site in 1954 and excavated it between 1955 and 1960. Lothal was an important trade centre whose workshops produced beads, gems and ornaments that travelled to West Asia and Africa. A large rectangular basin beside the mound has been read by the Archaeological Survey of India as one of the earliest known docks, although other archaeologists argue it was mainly an irrigation tank and that the town was comparatively small. Floods and storms are thought to have contributed to its decline.