Indian researchers have for the first time connected the decline of Harappan city Dholavira to the disappearance of a Himalayan snow-fed river, which once flowed in the Rann of Kutch, according to a study.

An IIT Kharagpur statement said that a research team connected the dots between the growth and decline of Dholavira, the most spectacular and largest excavated Harappan city in India located in the Rann with a river which resembles the mythical Himalayan river Saraswati.

Where is Dholavira located?

Dholavira in Gujarat is a site of an ancient metropolitan town of the Harappan period. Dholavira was the largest port-town of the Harappans. It is located in Khadir island of the Rann of Kutch.

Archaeological excavations show that the township comprised of three parts of the castle, the middle town and the lower town. A unique feature of Dholavira is the presence of a 14-18 metre thick wall, apparently built as a protective measure.

What are the findings of the study?

The team consisted of researchers from IIT Kharagpur, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Deccan College PGRI Pune, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) and the Department of Culture, Gujarat.

The data suggests that mangroves grew around the Rann and distributaries of Indus or other palaeochannels (remnant of an active river filled by sediments) dumped water in the Rann near the southern margin of Thar desert, the IIT statement said.

“This is the first direct evidence of glacial-fed rivers which are quite like the mythological Saraswati, flowing in the vicinity of Rann,” said IIT Kharagpur’s Anindya Sarkar, who led the research.

Ravi Bhushan and Navin Juyal from PRL, Ahmedabad, dated the carbonates from human bangles, fish otolith and found that the site was occupied from 5,500 years back, the statement said.

The city expanded till 4,400 years followed by an abrupt decline nearly 4,000 years ago - as per the findings of ASI researchers R.S. Bisht and Y.S. Rawat, who were part of the team.

“Though the Dholavirans adopted excellent water conservation strategy by building dams, reservoirs and pipelines, they were pushed to the limit by a catastrophic mega-drought collapsing the city due to the drying up of the river,” Sarkar said.

He said Dholavira presents a “classic case for understanding how climate change can increase future drought risk” as predicted by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) working group.

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