Loteshwar
Loteshwar (लोटेश्वर) is a village and an archaeological site belonging to Indus Valley Civilisation located at Patan district, Gujarat, India.
Location
This site is locally also known as Khari-no-timbo and located on a high sand dune on left bank of Khari nadi, a tributary of Rupen river.[1]
Site of Indus Valley Civilisation
Loteshwar is recognised as ancient site occupied since sixth millennium BCE by hunter gatherer community and by fourth millennium BCE domestic animals like sheep and goat were also kept.[2]
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, M.S.University, Baroda carried out excavation at Loteshwar during 1990-91. The excavation revealed two different cultural periods with Period I belonging to Monolithic culture and Period II belonging to a culture having affinity with the Harappan culture.[3]
Period I: Period I, with 60 cm deposit on a sand dune, yielded large number of microlithic tools, flat sandstone "palettes", grinding stones and hammer stones.[1] Tools were made of chert, jasper, agate and quarts. Two burials were also found.[4]
Period II: Period II was represented by 80 cm deposits but deposits connected to habitation was about 20 cm to 25 cm thickness. Large number of pits (0.5 m to 2 m diameter, 0.5m to 2 m depth) which were invariably filled ashy soil, potshreds, animal bones and other insignificant materials were found and the significance of these large number of pits is not fully understood.[5]
Pottery collection from this site was predominated by gritty red ware and red ware, which were analogous in shape and style with similar pottery found at Nagwada and coarse redware and polycrome pottery found at Surkotada.[6] Red ware was usually well fired and made of fine clay.
Artefacts: Bowls and pots with shades of black and red on cream/white background, coarse red ware and grey ware with incised designs, terracotta pinched type lumps, mushtika type lumps, steatite micro beads, agate beads, carnelian beads, amazonite beads etc.[1] Terracotta objects found at this site included a figurine, bangles, clay lumps with impressions of reed etc.[7]
Pottery found at Loteshwar indicate a different type of culture,[8] distinct from Amri-Nal pottery. Ceramics found here are recognised to be of different nature from those of early Harappan period and suggest earlier pot-making activity in this area, study of which may require further productive archaeology.[9]
Other findings from Loteshwar include large amount of funeral remains in the form of skeletal remains of land animals like sheep, goat and cattle[5] and fish as well as turtle.[10]
Places of interest
There is a temple of Loteshvar Mahadev with a reservoir, Loteshwar Kund, in front, called pretgaya. A yearly fair, attended by about thousands of pilgrims, is held here on Phagun vad Amavasya (March - April). A bath in the pool, and certain religious ceremonies, are believed to draw out evil spirits and, at the same time, give them freedom, mukti, and absorption into the eternal Brahma.[11]
External links
References
- ↑ Mahapatra, S.K. (Ed.) (1995). Indian Archaeology 1990-91, A Review (PDF). New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 12–13.
- ↑ McIntosh, Jane R. (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley : New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 62,74,412. ISBN 9781576079072.
- ↑ Mahapatra, S.K. (Ed.) (1995). Indian Archaeology 1990-91, A Review (PDF). New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 12–13.
- ↑ Mahapatra, S.K. (Ed.) (1995). Indian Archaeology 1990-91, A Review (PDF). New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 12–13.
- ↑ Mahapatra, S.K. (Ed.) (1995). Indian Archaeology 1990-91, A Review (PDF). New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 12–13.
- ↑ Mahapatra, S.K. (Ed.) (1995). Indian Archaeology 1990-91, A Review (PDF). New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 12–13.
- ↑ Madella, M and 12 other writers. "Social and environmental transitions in arid zones: the North Gujarat Archaeological Project — NoGAP". World Archaeology Ed.Martin Carver.
- ↑ McIntosh, Jane R. (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley : New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 62,74,412. ISBN 9781576079072.
- ↑ McIntosh, Jane R. (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley : New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 62,74,412. ISBN 9781576079072.
- ↑ Mahapatra, S.K. (Ed.) (1995). Indian Archaeology 1990-91, A Review (PDF). New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 12–13.
- ↑ Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Cutch, Palanpur, and Mahi Kantha 2015, p. 342.
Back to Indus Valley Civilisation