A 5,000-year-old stepwell has been found in one of the largest Harappan cities -Dholavira, in Kutch. The well is three times bigger than the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro.
Discovered in the eastern reservoir of Dholavira by experts from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) working with a IIT-Gandhinagar team, the site represents the largest, grandest and the best furnished ancient reservoir found so far in the country . It is rectangular and 73.4m long, 29.3m wide and 10m deep, while the corresponding dimensions of the Great Bath in Pakistan's Sindh are 12m, 7m and 2.4m. Another site, the ornate Rani ki Vav in Patan -dubbed the queen of stepwells -is already on the Unesco World Heritage Site list.
“We will conduct spot analysis in December as various surveys have indicated other reservoirs and stepwells may be buried in Dholavira,“ V N Prabhakar, visiting faculty at IIT-Gandhinagar and ASI's superintending archaeologist, told TOI.
“We also suspect a huge lake and an ancient shoreline are buried in the archaeological site that is one of the five largest Harappan sites and the most prominent archaeological site in India belonging to the Indus Valley civilization,“ he said.
Experts will investigate the advanced hydraulic engineering used by the Harappans for building the stepwell through 3D laser scanner, remote sensing technology and a ground-penetrating radar system.
“We will study how water flowed into the well and the idea behind water conservation,“ said Prabhakar. The archaeologists will also excavate various tanks, stoneware, finely furnished brick blocks, sanitation chambers and semiprecious stones hidden at the site.
Precious stones, like carnelian, were in great demand during the Harappan era. Gujarat was the hub of bead and craft manufacturing industries. “Agate carnelian beads were also coveted,“ Prabhakar said.
