An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s9.23

v1.c9.s9.23

Situated on the bank of the Bhogavo river, a tributary of the Sabarmati which in turn falls into the Gulf of Cambay, LOTHAL has to offer something which adds a new dimension to our knowledge of the Indus civilization. It is a dockyard [14.8], located along the e. periphery of the town and measuring 216 m from n. to s. and 36 m from w. to e. It was lined with a burnt-brick wall, 1·2 m in thickness and 4·3 m in extant height. In the s. part of the e. wall there was a 7 m wide gap opening into a channel which joined the dockyard with the Bhogavo river. It is surmised that during high tides boats would start from the Gulf of Cambay, an inlet of the Arabian Sea, come up along the Sabarmati and Bhogavo rivers and the channel and enter the dockyard through this gap. The excess water of the high tides would spill out through a controlled sluice located in the s. wall, there always remaining a minimum amount of water necessary to keep the boats floating. After unloading the merchandise on the adjacent wharf and load-ing outgoing material, the boats would make use of a subsequent receding tide to go downstream to the sea.