5,000-Year-old stepwell Discovered
A 5,000-year-old stepwell has been found in one of the largest Harappan cities, Dholavira, in Kutch. It is part of a reservoir that is three times bigger than the Great Bath at Mohenjo Daro.
Located in the eastern reservoir of Dholavira by experts from the Archaeological Survey of India working with IIT-Gandhinagar, the site represents the largest, grandest, and the best furnished ancient reservoir discovered so far in the country.
It’s rectangular and approximately 241 ft. long, 96 ft. wide, and 31 ft. deep. Another site, the ornate Rani ki Vav in Patan, called the queen of step-wells, is already on Unesco list.
“We will conduct spot analysis in December as various surveys have indicated other reservoirs and step-wells may be buried in Dholavira,” V.N. Prabhakar told TOI.
“We also suspect a huge lake and an ancient shoreline are buried in the archaeological site that’s one of the five largest Harappan sites and the most prominent archaeological site in India belonging to the Indus Valley civilization,” he added.
Experts will investigate the advanced hydraulic engineering used by Harappans for building the stepwell through a 3D laser scanner, remote sensing technology and ground-penetrating radar system.
